ANNOUNCEMENT - "Tell The Truth, Cenk" A Two-Part Documentary About The Young Turks' Union-Busting — First 46 Minutes Now Available
For more than two-and-a-half years I've been working on a documentary about the The Young Turks' union-busting and the lies Cenk Uygur told his audience about the origins of TYT Union. Please watch.
“Our trademark is honesty.” - Cenk Uygur
LOS ANGELES, CA (Feb 29, 2024) — "Tell The Truth, Cenk" is my 2-part documentary series correcting the record and calling out Cenk Uygur and The Young Turks for lying to their audience about how TYT Union formed and for the subsequent cover-up of any reporting on Cenk's union-busting activities and employment practices. The audience deserves clarity on why a prominent progressive CEO and politician's union-busting, NLRB cases and employment of anti-worker law firms were not deemed newsworthy enough to warrant coverage on The World’s Largest Online News Show that bills itself the “Home of Progressives.”
My contention is that what animated the cover-up is that an honest accounting of TYT Union's formation would invite scrutiny of Cenk Uygur's employment practices.
This is a story Cenk Uygur is afraid you and his audience will learn and that is precisely the reason it must be told.
YouTube Video — “Tell The Truth, Cenk” - First 46 Minutes
Substack — SOURCES & CREDITS for first 46 minute chunk
update — May 24 2024 — YouTube Video - Middle 38 Minutes
Clip — The NLRB Notice The Young Turks Didn’t Want You To See (4min)
Clip — NY Times Smear Of Cenk Uygur Roils Up The Ethical Dark Web (5min)
Clip — The Young Turks Employs Anti-Worker Law Firms (5min)
See below for links to support the completion of this project.
MY DEMAND: Tell the truth, Cenk.
I am calling on TYT's audience, friends throughout the labor movement and anyone who’s ever had a boss to join me in demanding a retraction of the false narrative Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian and The Young Turks spread about the origins of the union. It did not originate as a political ploy by Nancy Pelosi to disrupt Cenk's run for Congress. We did not deserve to have our integrity, intelligence and motivations publicly smeared for simply exercising our Constitutional right to collectively organize.
IMPORTANT POINTS:
- I am not speaking for, nor attempting to represent, TYT Union. I was laid off a month before they came forward however because I was instrumental in starting it I am an original source on its origins. See: @TYTUnion on Twitter/X.
- In my various roles at The Young Turks over the years I never once saw or heard anything to make me question the honesty or credibility of any host or reporter on any other stories they covered. However: as to how and why TYT Union formed as well as the subsequent cover-up, The Young Turks' have committed a breach of journalistic ethics and a stark violation of their own professed principles. The truth was easily verifiable and was not told.
Here’s my Announcement post on Patreon.
THE FILM — PART ONE
TYT Union's courageous two-month battle, described as ‘surprisingly brutal’ by Alex Thompson in Politico, against their boss forms the backbone from which the film explores the politics, media, ethics and power dynamics that arise from the unique circumstance of a media owner seeking public office on a progressive platform — Cenk’s 2019-2020 bid to become a United States Representative (CA-25 special election to replace Katie Hill) — while attempting to deny his own workers their fundamental right to collectively organize.
Cenk Uygur's dishonesty provides a vehicle for revealing the truth of the universal worker struggle in the age-old fight for fairness, dignity and respect.
Over two-and-a-half years in the making, the documentary is not yet complete but because Cenk Uygur is running for President of the United States and because I'm completely broke and worn-out, I am shifting production to a public phase. Following the first big chunk (46min) will be another ~30min chunk in a month. There will also be clips and podcasts in hopes of garnering enough attention and assistance to finalize the FULL VERSION, which will add roughly 20 - 30 minutes to the run-time. I look forward to conversations with interested parties, sharing the process and receiving feedback from supporters. It’s a group project now.
MORE IMPORTANT POINTS:
- Besides easy-to-ignore tweets and comments, Cenk Uygur, a longtime proponent of transparency, openness and corporate accountability, has never once been questioned or confronted about his union-busting or his employment practices. I nominate TYT employees Nina Turner, Ana Kasparian and John Iadarola. Ben Mankiewicz, Dave Koller and Michael Shure as well. Hello!? Somebody!
- All claims in the film are supported by publicly-available documentation, corroborating reporting and direct knowledge of what happened.
- I financed this project with a workers comp payout (woodworking injury), a mountain of rent debt and countless unpaid hours researching, writing, editing and wondering if this will all be for nothing.
- I would welcome assistance from any California employment attorneys active in the labor movement. My current financial situation does not permit me access to legal advice.
- I am not demanding an apology as I do not believe Cenk Uygur is of the character to do so sincerely.
THE FILM — PART TWO
With enough support, production on the 2nd film will begin later this year. Run-time TBD.
Expanding on themes from “Tell The Truth, Cenk — Part One,” Part Two will explain in detail the conditions that drove the origin of the union and will widen the lens to examine the scope of the topic and highlight similar struggles countless millions of workers throughout the world face every day.
I am withholding details for now but I'm confident TYT knows exactly the narrative I'm planning to tell and I invite and encourage them to come forward with it before I do. It’s a subject matter in line with the kind of reporting they do on other companies and would be relevant to an audience interested in worker rights, justice and accountability. The high ground is theirs. Tell the truth, Cenk.
I CAN’T DO THIS ALONE — PLEASE HELP
When I sold my business and moved across the country to work for TYT in 2013, I had no inkling that a decade later I would find myself in this position but after a lot of lost sleep, I am confident this is a fulfillment of the principles that drove my interest in contributing to a “progressive” media organization in the first place — a strong sense of justice, honesty, fairness and a deeply held conviction you must stand up to bullies.
In addition to the cost I've paid in time, stress and health, publicly challenging an employer in this manner guarantees I will face vastly diminished employment prospects for the rest of my life. This is one of the many unwritten ways the powerful compel our obedience. As an independent digital producer, video editor, podcaster, comedian, animator, political junkie guy who's long-aspired to professional filmmaking, that might not be a problem if enough find my work worthy of support.
Multiple ways of donating are available — please do so! — and click/smash all the usual buttons but more than anything please spread the word. I’m as bad at promotion as I am good at video editing. This is where you come in. This is your part of the project. Your voice is needed. Please use it. Be respectful and show grace.
There is nothing the powerful hate more than being held accountable and this project is a sadly rare opportunity for us to do just that using nothing more than the thing Cenk tried to hide: the truth.
But it's only possible if enough hear the call and rally to my side. I’m tired. I’m terrified. I need your help.
Solidarity forever,
-Hank Thompson
I will be releasing updates on my podcast as well as via Twitter, Bluesky, Patreon and Substack. Thank you for your interest.
“Tell The Truth, Cenk — PART ONE”
Chunk 1 - First 46 Minutes (97% complete)
CLIP - The NLRB Notice The Young Turks Didn’t Want You To See - 4min
Chunk 2 - 30+ minutes (link when available; est. early April)
FULL VERSION - Late summer? — includes polished versions chunks 1, 2 and another 30-ish minutes. It’s researched, outlined but largely unedited.
“Tell The Truth, Cenk — PART TWO”
(release and run-time time TBD)
If similar in style to part one, it’s likely to be shorter (under an hour) but a lot can happen between now then. I have notions of a larger film, too. Could include interviews, filming and travel, better animations/graphics if I can upgrade my workstation, etc. But that’s getting ahead… I dread having to do it, truthfully, but it’s important. I am open to partnering with production companies or collabing with bigger YouTube channels.
DONATE AND SHARE
Donation:
Patreon.com/WinnersAndLosers
Ko-Fi.com/WinnersAndLosers (no acct req’d - accepts Paypal, Apple Pay, Google Pay)
Paypal Direct
Reach out if there is some other way you’d like to use. I’m open to doing a Kickstarter or GoFundme but figured I’d gauge interest levels first.
As I stated above, please get the word out.
Thanks.