Filmmaker John Waters likes to point out that he built his career on negative reviews, including some from his hometown newspaper, The Baltimore Sun. He also has been lauded by the newspaper, which named him 2002 Marylander of the Year, among other accolades.This fall, Waters turned the tables and criticized the newspaper after learning that managers decided to dissolve the Features Department and reassign its reporters.Like many readers do when they have a complaint, Waters wrote a Letter to the Editor about the decision, which took effect Oct. 28. His letter hasn’t been published in the newspaper, but columnist Dan Rodricks read it aloud during a Baltimore Sun Guild Byline Strike Kickoff Rally on Monday. The Guild also posted it on X (@baltsunguild), and it has been reposted more than 1,300 times.The Letter to the Editor that the Baltimore Sun won't publish: pic.twitter.com/llpEOKL5O8— Baltimore Sun Guild ☀️ (@baltsunguild) November 4, 2024 Guild leaders disclosed recently that staff writers represented by the union would withhold their bylines for a week, starting Nov. 3, to protest changes under new owners David Smith and Armstrong Williams and push for a fair contract. Their motto is: “Save the Soul of The Sun.”Waters is part of a growing contingent of prominent figures in Baltimore’s arts and culture communities who have criticized The Sun’s decision to eliminate the Features Department. Others include American Visionary Art Museum co-founder Rebecca Hoffberger; Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance executive director Jeannie Howe and restaurateur Tony Foreman.Here is what Waters wrote:To the Editor:It is with great astonishment, sadness and anger that I read the Sunpapers will no longer have a Features Department. The reassignment of Features reporters to general news desks will inevitably diminish coverage of the arts scene. Is thisthe final nail in the coffin of a newspaper that was once internationally recognized and read by world leaders?Since my movie-making began in 1964, the Sun has covered me critically (both very negatively and very positively) and editorially (my first defender when the Baltimore Museum of Art took heat for using taxpayer money to finance an early. “pre-Hairspray,” film retrospective.)I can’t imagine having had this career without the support of my hometown newspaper and feel sorry for any young creative lunatics who hope to get their start here in Baltimore. H. L. Mencken just puked in his grave.Sincerely,John Waters‘Dance of death’In a news release issued last week, guild leaders said the dissolution of the Features Department marks “the first time since at least 1888 the newspaper won’t have even one reporter dedicated to covering the city’s cultural life.”Affected by the reassignments are features reporter Mike Klingaman; dining reporter Amanda Yeager and arts reporter Mary Carole McCauley. “The Sun will continue to cover news developments in the arts and food industries, but not the features, exhibit advances and reviews that make up the soul of features reporting,” the guild noted.Hoffberger told the Guild that without the Sun’s “lavish in-depth arts and architecture coverage of my idea for the American Visionary Art Museum back in 1991, there may well have never been an AVAM.”Foreman referred to the demise of the Features Department as “the last move in what feels like a dance of death to any independent journalistic spirit that The Sun had.”Howe said it was “unconscionable and bad business for The Baltimore Sun to eliminate coverage of arts and culture,” given that the culture sector contributes $11.7 billion a year to Maryland’s economy.‘Devastated’Guild leaders have encouraged readers to write to the Sun’s owners if they disagree with the decision to eliminate the Features Department. They registered their own objections in the release sent out last week:“The Guild is devastated for the chefs, artists, musicians and business owners who are no longer considered worthy of coverage by their hometown newspaper – and for readers, who will lose information they can use to decide how to spend their money and their time.”In the end, they said, the Guild’s stance is simple: “if the Baltimore Sun isn’t covering culture, it isn’t covering Baltimore.”