MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF

WWW.NUJ.ORG.UK | APRIL-MAY 2021

DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism Contents

Main feature 14 Strains of stress Mental health and journalism News afety has been on all our minds over the 03 BBC moves jobs out of London past year amid the pandemic. But while the coronavirus threat is Specialist teams to be relocated thankfully receding at the moment, 04 From Brixton to BLM there are many other risks that A persepective on combatting racism Sjournalists face on a daily basis. The demands of a exacting, deadline-driven 05 R each closes newsrooms job which can involve dealing with traumatic news events take Radical move to homeworking their toll on mental health as our cover feature by Samir Jeraj 07 Members stressed by the pandemic explores. Survey finds isolation and anxiety And increasingly journalists are facing physical and verbal intimidation for just doing their jobs as Neil Merrick reports “in his feature. We also have a report from the TUC’s women’s Features conference on an NUJ motion about the spiralling abuse of 10 Spotlight on Liverpool women journalists. How journalism is faring in the city Help is hopefully at hand to tackle intimidation after the creation of a government-launched national plan for the safety 12 Pandemic of abuse of journalists. The NUJ contributed to the drafting of the plan How we can make journalism safer and will help monitor how journalists are protected in the 16 Weathering a storm future. Looking back to 1921 In the wake of ’s resignation, Raymond Snoddy looks at other high-profile departures and the reasons behind them. Regulars And on a lighter note now Spring is here, our regular media anniversary feature looks at the rise of the weather forecasters. 21 Technology Wishing everyone a return to more normal life. Stay safe. 24 Obituaries 25 And finally...

Christine Buckley Editor @mschrisbuckley

Editor NUJ Arts @nuj.org.uk 72 Acton Street Page Design London WC1X 9NB Surgerycreations.com [email protected] 20 [email protected] www.nuj.org.uk Advertising Tel: 020 7843 3700 Ray Melanie Richards Manchester office Tel: 07494975239 [email protected] Snoddy [email protected] Glasgow office Page 19 Print [email protected] Warners Cover picture Letters and www.warners.co.uk Dublin office [email protected] Gary Neill Distribution Steve Bell GB Mail ISSN: 0022-5541 Page 22-23 www.gb-mail.co.uk ” theJournalist 02 | news 400 jobs moving out of inbrief... RECORD COMPLAINTS OVER PIERS MORGAN London in BBC shake-up Two episodes of Good Morning Britain in which Piers Morgan made THE BBC is shifting 400 roles moves, raising expectations comments about the Duchess of BBC out of London including that there could be a series of Sussex’s interview with Oprah whole specialist teams in one high-profile departures. Winfrey that led to him quitting the of the biggest changes to its There are plans to create show, have attracted the most structure. 150 jobs will be 56 new roles mostly in digital Teams covering complaints to the TV regulator ever. scrapped rather than moved and and because some Ofcom said the episodes triggered out of the capital. programmes will be regularly the environment, 57,121 complaints, surpassing the The cuts are part of 520 job broadcast from outside technology and previous record of 44,500. losses across news that were London. announced last year and part Paul Siegert, NUJ national education will of a £800 million savings broadcasting organiser, said: “ FACEBOOK FACES package across the BBC. News “We welcome more diversity move to Leeds, LAWSUIT IN FRANCE is being asked to save £85 number of 6Music’s staff. and creating more content Cardiff, Glasgow and Reporters Without Borders, the million. A third of Radio 4’s Today out of London is a good freedom of expression campaign ’Teams covering the programme will broadcast thing, as is extra investment Birmingham group, has filed a lawsuit against environment, technology, outside London. in apprenticeships. However, Facebook in France. It claims that and education, will move to and Radio 4’s PM will also it’s strange that at the same the platform is not providing the Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow, and regularly go to other regions. time the BBC is talking about ‘safe’ online space that it promises Birmingham. The proportion of the TV the importance of getting out for journalists and the public. Daytime programmes on budget spent outside London of London and investing in Radio 1, Radio 2, and 1Xtra will increase from 50 per cent the regions as a means of will be broadcast from to 60 per cent in the next better serving the audience, it BURSARIES ON OFFER elsewhere in the UK. seven years. has also axed 450 posts in AT Radio 3’s leadership team Some specialists have English regions and cut £25 The Guardian Foundation is offering will go to Salford along with a voiced doubts about the million from that budget.” bursaries for aspiring journalists to study for an MA in journalism. The awards aim to help those who face Plan to ensure journalists’ safety financial difficulty in studying, and those from backgrounds that are THE NUJ has welcomed a national plan sets out a range of measures attack and threaten journalists are under-represented in the media. safety plan for journalists which was designed to ensure freelance and staff brought to justice. The application deadline is launched by the Government in journalists are protected and A survey of NUJ members last year May 22. See https://workforus.the response to the growing intimidation supported. It also calls on social media found that more than half of guardian.com of reporters, photographers and other platforms to do more to stamp out respondents had experienced online media workers. The National online abuse, and on the criminal abuse and nearly a quarter had been Committee for the Safety of Journalists’ justice system to ensure those who physically assaulted or attacked.

Delegate meeting deadline International drive UNION branches have until from 6.6 per cent to 12 per on Belarus May 14 to put late notice cent depending on members’ More than 50 leaders of journalists’ unions and motions to the postponed incomes. delegate meeting, which is Many of the motions in the associations across Europe have written to European being held online on May 21 agenda are already being governments and heads of state to express their and 2. Late notice motions implemented because deep concerns about the intensification of are to enable the agenda, there was no opposition from the repression of journalists in Belarus. The which was finalised early last the NEC. initiative was organised by the European year, to be updated. Federation of Journalists to mark Freedom The union’s national Day in Belarus on March 25. There are executive council (NEC) is currently 12 journalists in jail in Belarus and asking delegates to approve since the elections, which were an increase in subscriptions held last August 2020 some 480 after failing to achieve an journalists have been detained. increase at the last delegate meeting in April 2018. The proposed increases range

theJournalist | 03 news From Brixton to Black Lives Matter: international resistance to racism Johannesburg-based broadcaster Jacqui Hlongwane spoke about her late mother, Jane Hlongwane, who was general secretary of the Steel Engineering and Allied Workers’ Union and a Black Consciousness Movement activist, and growing up in apartheid South Africa: “As black children, we had to go to a As black children, different school and even a separate swimming pool.” Hlongwane wanted to make a difference by working in the we had to go to a media. After graduating from Witswaterand – “a top South different school African university” – she got a job at a television station, where she became programme manager. However, she noted: “Since “and even a separate 1994, we have had black majority rule but the privileged white swimming pool minority population are doing a lot better than black people.” Grassroots Black Left activist Sophia Mangera, born in South Africa and politically active in Lewisham from her teens, spoke Jacqui Hlongwane INTERNATIONAL speakers came together to mark the UN’s about the racist activity of the National Front that culminated in anti-racism day in a webinar organised by the NUJ’s black the 1981 New Cross fire in which 13 young black people were members’ council, writes Marc Wadsworth. They included a massacred. The huge Black People’s Day of Action march resulted. senior broadcasting executive from South Africa, a Jamaican Police failed to find the murderers. newspaper editor and a leading American civil rights lawyer. Weekly Gleaner editor George Ruddock said The Voice, a The 40 Years of Resistance: From the Brixton Uprisings to British black national newspaper, was founded a year after the Black Lives Matter event heard from Pan Africanist Congress of Brixton disturbances of 1981. Azania activist Lindiwe Tsele, aged 86, who recounted what Justice4Grenfell campaign co-ordinator Yvette Williams backed happened in 1960 in Sharpeville, South Africa, when at least 69 US speaker Vanita Banks, who answered a question by NUJ mainly young black protesters were shot dead by police. national executive council member Natasha Hirst. Hirst asked The protesters were peacefully demonstrating against a law what white people could do to give solidarity to black people. that forced them to carry identity cards because they were black. Participants felt the establishment of a sustainable anti-racist “Many of them were shot in the back when they were fleeing movement that would be a fitting tribute to fallen heroes the scene,” said Tsele. “Apartheid was an evil form of white should be explored. They were keen the incredible Black Lives supremacy used to oppress black people in their own country.“ Matter should not be lost.

Rusbridger quits Irish media commission Greenslade, a seasoned media commentator, , a former arising over his employment Times, and the concealed the fact to protect left his role as honorary editor of The Guardian, has of a columnist who, it , recently his employment. visiting professor of left his role on Ireland’s emerged, had supported revealed that he had Rusbridger said he was journalism at City, University Future of the Media the IRA. supported the IRA’s use leaving the commission so of London, in March after his Commission. Roy Greenslade, a former of violence during the as not to distract from support for the IRA was This followed controversy senior editor at The Sunday Troubles and had its work. made known.

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04 | theJournalist news Reach closes newsrooms in inbrief... TELEGRAPH PLANS TO LINK CLICKS WITH PAY radical homeworking move wants to link some elements of journalists’ pay to REACH, the publisher of the Mirror, Express there have been real difficulties that require the popularity of their work. An and Star and more than 100 regional news help and support – so listening to individuals email to staff from editor Chris titles, is closing most of its newsrooms and and their circumstances will be important. Evans said that the paper wanted moving most staff permanently to largely “We should also not lose sight of to use a system that graded reports home working. Only about a quarter of its the important symbol that the physical There have been and features by factors such as how employees will be required to work exclusively presence of media companies has for local many subscriptions they drive and in the office even when the pandemic has communities – something recognised by advantages for how many clicks they get to link receded. the NUJ’s news recovery plan.” companies and many performance to reward. The move follows a Reach intends to operate 15 survey of Reach staff ‘hubs’, where some staff – mainly “employees. For which found that 82 per in production – will work and others, there have SHEFFIELD STAR cent thought they did others can hold meetings. These WINS ON DIVERSITY not need to be physically will be in Belfast, Bristol, been real difficulties The Sheffield Star won top place in with colleagues to carry Birmingham, Dublin, Cardiff, the Diversity and Inclusion out their work. Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, London, category at the NCTJ Awards for Reach said there would be no redundancies Oldham, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth Chris Morley Excellence after making ‘huge in the shake-up and that homeworking would and another location in the south east. NUJ’s Reach coordinator strides in working towards a reduce costs and help protect the future of its Mark Johnson, Reach NUJ group chapel diverse workforce’ over the past publications. chair, said: “This is a massive project and our year, which enabled the paper ‘to Chris Morley, the NUJ’s Reach coordinator, members will have lots to consider and say reach communities which have said: “There have been some advantages for about the proposals. A one size fits all solution not previously engaged with companies and many employees in terms of probably wouldn’t be the best way and we local journalists’. better use of time, quicker communications appreciate that the company is stressing it will and reshaping of work-life balance. For others, listen carefully to individual circumstances.” ALDRIDGE TAKES ON SUNDAY EDITOR ROLE long-term viability of the local Mirror deputy editor Gemma NI Assembly seeks press input media and how the Aldridge has been appointed editor THE NORTHERN Ireland their views on the long-term in Northern Ireland to government can help. of the and Sunday Assembly’s All-Party Group on sustainability of media respond to the consultation. The call for evidence will People. She succeeds Paul Press Freedom and Media organisations. Media workers and outlets help to inform a recovery plan Henderson, who left in December Sustainability has invited The NUJ has been involved across the industry are that will aim to ensure local as part of a restructuring. Aldridge industry stakeholders to in establishing this new group encouraged to submit written media outlets survive not just remains deputy editor of the Mirror submit evidence on the and is encouraging NUJ evidence about their beyond the coronavirus crisis alongside Tom Carlin and impact of the pandemic and members who live and work experiences and views on the but also far into the future. Paul Cockerton.

DMGT buys Union condemns Bloody New Scientist magazine and General Trust (DMGT), Sunday reporting ban publisher of the Daily Mail, has acquired THE NUJ has condemned a decision to ban the media from New Scientist magazine in a £70 million reporting the opening statements and all witness statements in deal. It is thought that DMGT, which also the case of Soldier F in the Bloody Sunday murder inquiry. owns the i and Metro, has guaranteed the Soldier F is the only ex-British army paratrooper facing murder 65-year-old title’s editorial independence charges arising from the killings of 13 civilians in the Bogside area and has ruled out job cuts and the sharing of Londonderry on January 30 1972. of editorial content. The publisher said At a preliminary hearing, as well as confirming that the the acquisition was part of its strategy to anonymity put in place last year would continue, District Judge boost its revenue through greater Ted Magill banned the reporting. He said that it was a question subscriptions and digital capabilities. of law. New Scientist employs about Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said the ruling 80 staff, including went against the principle of open justice and the need for the 40 journalists. criminal justice system to operate in public and be subject to public scrutiny.

theJournalist | 05 news TUC supports women journalists over ‘highly damaging’ abuse THE TUC’s women’s conference has passed an emergency NUJ and withdrawing from online spaces because of abuse. motion on the spiralling abuse of female journalists. Trade unionists representing members in schools, shops and The NUJ highlighted the cases of Northern Ireland reporter hospitals described the level of abuse many women experience Patricia Devlin, who was subjected to threats including graffiti during their working lives. of her name against the crosshairs of a gun and Nadine The conference heard how domestic abuse Online abuse of White (see story on the opposite page), has increased under the Covid-19 restrictions, who was smeared online by government of the stubborn statistic that on average a journalists is highly minister Kemi Badenoch for asking a woman is killed by a man every three days gendered and is a question on a story. and other findings outlined in the 2019 The motion said: “Such attacks not only Femicide report. “form of discrimination harm the individuals concerned but also Natasha said: “Online abuse of journalists and violence normalise and legitimise the harassment of is highly gendered and is a form of journalists at work, which is highly discrimination and violence against women. against women damaging to the critical role that journalism It’s intersectional too, with black women plays in our democracy.” journalists being especially targeted.” Natasha Hirst, chair of the NUJ’s equality She said that, as female colleagues are Natasha Hirst council, called on other unions for support being forced to withdraw from online NUJ equality council in pushing for each recommendation to platforms, all our rights, freedoms and be implemented. opportunities are compromised when that She said: “We all know that abuse thrives behind closed journalist’s voice is silenced. doors. It thrives when people choose to look away. It thrives The TUC’s women’s committee agreed to express solidarity when we do not actively challenge it. This is why I am a trade with women journalists and lobby for greater sanctions against unionist. the perpetrators of abuse. “Collectively, we bring solidarity and action to challenge NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet has played a key gender-based violence in all of its forms. So, sisters, let’s use role on the government and industry’s National Committee for our voices to drown out the trolls and the abusers and take the Safety of Journalists, and an action plan containing action to make it stop.” powerful recommendations to tackle violence, abuse and Hirst told the conference that female writers are self-censoring harassment of journalists in the UK.

women do not know if they justice. This needs to change. Call to improve equality at work are paid less than their male “As the #MeToo counterparts, she said. movement has clearly TOUGHER laws are needed the TUC’s women’s equal pay, you need Lewis said the Equal Pay shown, it can take a long to improve employment conference. transparency”. Act needed strengthening time for women to report equality, particularly as Lewis highlighted the That is why the NUJ, because there are too few incidents. The NUJ also has women have borne the proposed EU directive on unlike the government, had sanctions for breaches. evidence of employers brunt of the economic pay transparency, quoting supported Stella Creasy’s She said: “The three- delaying internal impact of the pandemic, European Commission private member’s bill to end month time limit to bring a investigations, deliberately Sara Lewis, vice-chair of the president Ursula von der the shameful situation claim to an employment putting victims outside the NUJ’s equality council told Leyen who said that “for where six out of 10 working tribunal is a huge barrier to time limit.”

Female Afghan TV workers killed GHULAMULLAH HABIBI/

THE NUJ has joined the condemnation of the in a string of targeted attacks on media workers killers of three female journalists from with the backdrop of US-brokered attempts to Afghanistan’s Enikass TV. They were shot by negotiate an end to the country’s civil war. unknown gunmen in two attacks as they Ekinass had earlier informed Afghanistan’s ​ EP

attempted to return home from work in March. national intelligence agency about threats to A-EFE/ Mursal Wahidi, Sadia Sadat and Shahnaz its staff. The International Federation of SHUTTERST Roafi, who worked in Enikass TV’s dubbing Journalists and its affiliate the Afghan ​ division, were gunned down in different Independent Journalists’ Association called for

locations in the eastern city of Jalalabad in urgent measures to improve the safety of OCK Nangarh’r province. The murders are the latest media workers in the country.

06 | theJournalist news Majority of members feel inbrief... REVENUE AT REACH DROPS 14.6 PER CENT stressed by pandemic Reach, publisher of the Mirror, Express and Star and many regional MORE than half of NUJ members have been titles, reported a 14.6 per cent fall concerned about their mental health during in revenue for last year to £600.2 the pandemic, according to a survey. million and an adjusted operating Many members found that juggling work profit of £133.8 million (down 12.8 during the coronavirus restrictions caused Almost three-quarters per cent). It had an adjusted stress and anxiety. operating profit margin of 22.3 per They said feelings of isolation, anxiety about said there had been cent, up from 21.8 per cent, and a losing their jobs, symptoms of long Covid and redundancies and net cash balance of £42 million. . higher workloads led to depression and insomnia. Juggling childcare, home schooling “85 per cent believed and getting work done was taking its toll, with the continuing crisis FIRST WOMAN EDITOR 45 per cent saying they had problems coping. Compared with last spring, fewer editorial OF FT’S THE BANKER Almost three-quarters (72 per cent) said staff were on furlough – 14 per cent compared would lead to further The FT’s The Banker magazine has there had been redundancies and 85 per cent to 45 per cent. However, some staff at a female editor for the first time in believed the continuing crisis would lead to JPI Media have been off work since April. job cuts its 95-year history. Joy Macknight further job cuts. Some of those working from home said has succeeded Brian Caplen who Some 61 per cent said their income had employers made few or no allowances for retired after 18 years in the role. been affected by the pandemic, with 13 per coping with home schooling. Some had been She joined The Banker in 2015 as cent losing all their income and 35.5 per cent encouraged to take holidays or unpaid leave transaction banking and earning less than half. One in six freelances to look after their children. technology editor and was then said their work had decreased sharply or dried The survey, which had 840 respondents, promoted to deputy editor and up completely, with 13 per cent saying their was carried out between the end of 2020 and managing editor. work had increased or there had been little the beginning of 2021. impact. Strains of stress, pages 14-15 FIELDING AND GIGGS RECEIVE DAMAGES Noel Fielding and Rhodri Giggs, Third of LGBT+ members harassed at work Ryan Giggs’ estranged brother, have ALMOST one-third (29 per at work because of their However, almost 70 per cent Two-thirds had not accepted ‘substantial damages’ cent) of NUJ members sexuality or gender identity. said their workplace was an experienced any workplace from the publisher of the News of surveyed during February’s Colleagues were the worst inclusive, safe space to be policies denying them equal the World over phone hacking. A LGBT+ History month said perpetrators, followed by open about their sexuality. access to employment rights solicitor said Fielding thought they had experienced senior managers; one in 10 Just under half (49 per cent) or workplace benefits. articles published in 2006-2010 bullying, harassment, ill said an interviewee had been said the same about gender There were 284 contained private information. treatment or discrimination discrimintory or bullying. identity. respondents to the survey.

NUJ Extra extends Covid help Nadine White goes to the independent NUJ EXTRA, the union’s is available). It doesn’t matter Huffpost reporter Nadine White has been welfare charity, has started a whether or not you have appointed the first race correspondent for The third wave of support for claimed before. Independent. White experienced a large amount members who have suffered If you are claiming for the financially as a result of first time and would have of online abuse after equalities minister Kemi Covid-19 and lockdowns. benefited from previous Badenoch tweeted screenshots of the reporter’s It has committed to helping support, your payment will emails asking why the minister hadn’t taken with funding until restrictions be backdated. part in a video encouraging ethnic minorities are due to end on June 21. NUJ Extra trustees are to get the Covid-19 vaccine. It is thought to Members should contact concerned that members may be the first time a news organisation has NUJ Extra using the form on be unaware of the scheme or appointed a correspondent specifically the website (a paper version feel they do not deserve it. focused on race. The Independent said it wanted to increase its coverage of issues affecting the lives of people of colour.

theJournalist | 07 Russia

on Russia from Lenin to Putin. That something related to the Soviet role in Moscow raises the war. “Any kind of suggestion that their World War II record is not spotless is badly received here.” The approach taken when the the temperature Western media raises questions about Russian or Soviet narratives has evolved since the Cold War. The Kremlin has gone on the offensive. amid pandemic As Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, put it in his 2016 essay, Should We Fear Russia? “Rather than hushing up criticism of Russia and its leaders, which the Soviet Union practised all the time, the Russian state-run media attack this criticism immediately, head-on, and seek to demolish the western story.” Matthew Chance has reported from Moscow for CNN since the late 1990s. His experience in the latter part of his time there tends to confirm that. “We’re seen more as hostile actors in their world,” he told me. “It translates into the way we’re spoken to, into Pressure on foreign reporters in Russia the access we’ve got, which is has been growing, says James Rodgers negligible, and just the general climate of distrust of the foreign media that is he pandemic has with the UK, continue to sour. The cultivated by the authorities and sparked the latest distrust and disapproval are mutual. by pro-Russian outlets.” flashpoint between the “The growing anti-western rhetoric in The way the Financial Times and the T Kremlin and Moscow’s Russia makes reporting from here New York Times reported Russia’s foreign press corps. challenging,” says the reporter. “The coronavirus death toll is a case in point. The race to create and distribute portrayal of the West in the Russian Although the papers based their stories vaccines has become a matter not just state media as waging some kind of on data released by officials in Moscow, of public health but also national pride. campaign to undermine Moscow means in May last year, the Russian foreign The Sputnik V vaccine has been Russia’s that western journalists are often viewed ministry dismissed the reporting as representative in the competition for here, wrongly, as having an anti-Russia ‘anti-Russia allegations’. perceived scientific supremacy (and agenda – simply not the case.” “These publications are incorrect, commercial gain). In at least one case, journalists have biased and provide an unacceptably Because that competition has played been threatened with prosecution. lopsided picture,” said ministry out in the international media, Moscow Take the sensitive issue of the Soviet spokesperson Maria Zakharova correspondents have been dragged in. victory in World War II – sensitive as it (pictured), although she stopped short “That’s where we in particular have has become a cornerstone of President of acting on suggestions from some felt most pressure – in our reporting of Vladimir Putin’s idea of Russia as a Russian parliamentarians that the two both the development of the vaccine great and courageous nation, capable papers be stripped of their accreditation. and its distribution around the world,” of withstanding threats of invasion That’s where we In all this, there is good news for says a news editor for a major from the west. ’s Moscow correspondents. They international media organisation. “In Even today, journalists mention the have felt most may be offered negligible access, but fact, on that latter subject, we have come Molotov-Ribbentrop pact – a non- their work does get read at the highest under a good deal of official pressure.” aggression agreement reached between pressure – in our level – and taken seriously. Why else A foreign reporter based in Russia Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s reporting of both would the Russian state media try to agrees: “The Russian authorities are Germany in 1939 – at their peril. “ ‘demolish’ their stories? increasingly sensitive to criticism “I once had somebody send to me on the development of on a wide range of topics from the WhatsApp, statutes from the Russian the vaccine and its James Rodgers completed postings coronavirus pandemic to human rights.” Criminal Code when we’d written in Moscow for Reuters TV and the The history of the treatment of something that they didn’t like,” one distribution around BBC during the 1990s and 2000s. western correspondents in Russia is also long-serving western correspondent in Assignment Moscow: Reporting the history of Russia’s relations with the Moscow told me in an interview for my the world on Russia from Lenin to Putin, is

ITAR-TASS NEWS AGENCY / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO STOCK / ALAMY AGENCY NEWS ITAR-TASS west. Today, those relations, especially book, Assignment Moscow: Reporting published by IB Tauris

08 | theJournalist viewpoint

Ethics should be at the centre of journalism

A charity is working to make this happen, says David Hencke

n an age of fake news Network (EJN), a small charity ethics module or, more ambitiously, a and when the operating at both national and book alongside Essential Law distinction between international levels, is so very for Journalists. I professional important in this very dangerous, Another issue that the EJN is journalists and difficult age. highlighting (in a series of online bloggers is becoming blurred, the On the international stage media is panels) is the highly controversial ethics of publishing information are under threat, whether it is the 119 question of regulating social media. becoming increasingly important. journalists murdered by corrupt Should it be self-regulating, should it How do journalists distinguish politicians or drug cartels in Mexico or be regulated by national governments between fact and fiction, comment and censorship of the free press in Hong or should the giants of social media set reporting? Does the internet foster a Kong or Hungary. up proper accountability mechanisms? greater exchange of views or confirm The charity is being revamped. It has And, since it is an international issue, is people’s prejudices in their own silos? a very ambitious agenda and plans to there a role for the UN? Thirty years ago, it was much reach out to schools and universities as Since it is such a huge subject, the simpler. Print newspapers and TV were well as to working journalists and possibilities for bringing the issue of the gatekeepers – if professional photographers. It holds webinars with ethics into journalism are endless. journalists didn’t report or comment experts to address the reporting of The diverse EJN committee is about something, it didn’t exist in the controversial issues, whether domestic buzzing with ideas. I am keen to link public mind. The main issue then was abuse, the science of Covid 19 or the with the Migration Museum - the UK’s the conglomeration of media power power of internet moguls in the first museum celebrating the diversity within fewer and fewer hands. information age. of migration – to debate the coverage Then there was a short, liberating I am one member of the 20-strong of this issue, which can be extremely period with the spread of the internet UK national committee of journalists toxic. when anyone could say and report and academics that is drawing up a Or there is another toxic issue – what they wanted. programme which, if successful, could reporting racism – including exploded on the scene and traditional make journalistic ethics mainstream everything from Black Lives Matter and mainstream media was put on rather than a side issue or an option. the so-called ‘woke’ culture to the the defensive. The charity has signed up with government’s defence of what it Now we have the worst of all worlds. Speakers for Schools so its members Ethics are reduced believes is British history and culture. Mainstream media is owned by can go out and talk to young people The charity is going to set up an oligarchs, hedge funds and powerful about being a journalist and working to an algorithm. international committee that will deal individuals. Social media is dominated for media organisations. They can Your moral compass with the problems and ethical issues by the duopoly of Facebook and Google discuss issues such as fake news journalists face when reporting abroad. which are so powerful that whether and how to distinguish it from is whether what Without doubt, there is a real need you are the president of the United “ for journalism, from mainstream fact-based news as well as how to you write leads to States or a nation state like Australia, source and rate information from media to the individual blogger, to the owners can silence you with one the internet. mass acceptance or regain the trust of the general public. keystroke. The charity also wants to work That can be done only with a proper In this day and age, ethics have been with universities that run journalism bombs. Fact or fake, grounding in ethics. Without it, all that reduced to an algorithm – your moral courses. The EJN is asking the 75 UK it matters not is left is propaganda, fake news and a compass is whether what you write leads journalism course providers whether culture of mutual distrust and hate. to mass acceptance or bombs without they include any teaching on ethics trace. Fact or fake, it matters not. and, if they do, what this includes. The https://ethicaljournalismnetwork. That is why the Ethical Journalism ultimate aim is to create a national org ” theJournalist | 09 safety Pandemic of abuse

A study in 2020 by Samantha Harman, former editor of the Intimidation of journalists is increasing, Oxford Mail, found cases of journalists being diagnosed with especially online. Neil Merrick reports anxiety or depression after receiving abuse. Some had been forced to move home, or even left the profession. ike many journalists, Anna Riley is used to Harman, now a freelance and course leader in journalism at being criticised on Facebook and other Oxford Brookes University, surveyed more than 400 social media. journalists, mostly through regional publishers. Four out of L Her writing has been compared with that of five said online abuse had increased since they had started in a 13-year-old, while one person called her a journalism. Eighty-nine per cent had received abuse on ‘real life Miss Hitler’. She has also been urged her to ‘go die’. Facebook and 67 per cent on Twitter. But should any reporter be required to put up with this For Harman, the problem became starker when she realised type of trolling or abuse? Riley, who works for Hull Live, it was affecting her view of the world. Driving home at night enjoys writing opinion pieces that both entertain and inform. after deleting abusive comments left by readers, she began They also lead to having a relatively high local profile. to wonder if the people leaving such messages might attack She once lived off a food bank parcel for a week, and then her or her house. “You wonder if the person who left that did the same with petrol station food. She also wrote about abusive message is standing behind you in the coffee shop,” her boyfriend moving in with her during lockdown, as well as she says. people’s reactions when she wore a face mask on a bus. Female journalists seem to bear the brunt of attacks. While Riley accepts it is legitimate for people to have Last year, right-wing activist James Goddard was given a opinions about what she writes, too often it degenerates into restraining order by magistrates after shouting abuse at personal attacks. Even on a day off, she can find herself Lizzie Dearden, The Independent’s home affairs and deleting comments on Facebook after one of her pieces security correspondent. goes live. “I don’t think the news desk has the capacity,” Amy Fenton was forced to leave Barrow-in-Furness after she says. facing a torrent of abuse, including a threat of rape, for court There seems little doubt that abuse and harassment of stories she wrote as chief reporter of the Mail, the town’s journalists is increasing, especially online. An NUJ survey last daily paper. year found that 51 per cent of journalists had experienced 51% According to a study by the International Centre for online abuse during the previous 12 months. Of these, one in Journalists, female journalists face daily online abuse, which five said it was a regular experience – sometimes weekly or of journalists can invade their private lives and lead to psychological even daily. problems as well as physical violence. When Riley wrote about being trolled, it led to a hate had faced abuse It is not only female reporters who suffer harassment. Liam group being created on Facebook. “On Twitter you can block in the previous Thorp, political editor at the Liverpool Echo, used Twitter to people. On Facebook, you must read it before you delete it,” publicise the contents of an email he received warning him she says. 12 months his ‘judgment will be due very soon’.

responsible for the Parkinson, who works Hirst, chair of the Attacks on the streets lockdown and pandemic. mainly for Associated NUJ’s photographers’ Anti-lockdown Press and Getty Images, council, says hostility FREELANCE video central London he once Lives Matter, someone protests by conspiracy believes it is vitally from the public is journalist Jason had both his head and threw a large rock at his theorists are especially important to tell the especially worrying. Parkinson is used to camera smashed with a knee. “It was clearly a dangerous. story – whether it is a “Sometimes it’s a facing harassment and broomstick during an targeted attack,” he says. “There is constant far-right protest, or problem when you take abuse when he is anarchists’ Things have got worse harassment by people breaking pictures of people out filming. demonstration.. over the past few years, everyone,” he says. lockdown rules by not shopping or in the park,” In 2011, he was Last summer, while partly due to ‘fake news’ “I have been verbally socially distancing in she says. detained by secret police covering the far-right and Covid-19. Some abused by elderly women a park. “They assume the in Cairo while covering protest in Trafalgar people claim, as a and people try to rip the The element of risk photographer is trying to the Arab Spring. In Square against Black journalist, he is mask off your face.” is growing. Natasha make them look bad.”

12 | theJournalist safety Pandemic of abuse

The problem can be exacerbated by pressure on journalists liaison officer, while online platforms that fail to protect users to gain a high profile, in the community. Publication of their will face sanctions, including fines of up to 10 per cent of pictures makes them even more vulnerable. This is not turnover or having services blocked. A forthcoming online something young reporters are generally prepared for, which safety bill will enshrine protections for journalistic content creates pressure on news editors and editors to offer pastoral Levels of public and free debate online in law. support. NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, a committee “We don’t build it into our training programmes,” says discourse are member, says the action plan must be the start of a process Harman. “We say ‘you must have a Facebook profile and have “ that leads to journalists working without fear of abuse people connect with you’. The more high profile you are, the parlous and or harassment. more abuse you attract. It shouldn’t be the price you pay.” have been for “It’s a major plan that involves a lot of major stakeholders,” In January, Harman presented her findings to the National she adds. “It addresses a lot of difficulties our members are Committee for the Safety of Journalists, set up by the many years. finding on the ground.” Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Its By and large, says Michelle, the response of publishers has members include representatives from the police and the Journalists are been poor, although there are isolated examples of publishers Crown Prosecution Service. taking steps, such as paying for a reporter to move home. The police, she says, are keen for journalists to report at the sharp end Ian Murray, former executive director of the Society of serious incidents of abuse, especially when they include of that Editors, believes threats to journalists have grown because of threats of violence. “They are taking it really seriously,” she social media and politicians such as Donald Trump using the says. “The problem before is that we were not reporting mantra of ‘fake news’ to cast aspersions on journalists’ it enough.” credibility. “What’s fuelling it is a lack of respect for A national action plan, approved by the committee, journalists which, a fair amount of time, comes from was published by DCMS in March. Measures include politicians and other leaders,” he says. better training for police officers, plus a commitment In January, equalities minister Kemi Badenoch used Twitter from social media platforms to take tough action to attack Nadine White, then of the Huff Post, describing her against abusers. reporting as “creepy and bizarre”. The minister published Every police force will have a designated journalist safety letters that White (now at The Independent) had sent to ” Badenoch, asking for a quote for a story about Covid-19 vaccinations. Allegra Stratton, press secretary to and a former journalist, later defended Badenoch, claiming her response had been civilised. The NUJ survey found examples of journalists censoring their own copy because they feared the abuse they would otherwise receive. “Levels of public discourse are parlous and have been for many years,” adds Michelle. “Journalists are at the sharp end of that.” Publishers are generally reluctant to discuss the problem. Reach said in a statement that all incidents of abuse are recorded, and journalists offered emotional support via its employee assistance programme. It was unwilling to go into further detail, while a reporter at a Reach title questioned whether the process works effectively. So, it is inevitable that journalists must learn to cope with trolls, abusive comments or worse, and perhaps treat it as part of the job? At what point do you say that enough is enough and call it a day? For Riley, it is partly a matter of reputation. She fears calling somebody and being recognised as the person who receives regular abuse on Facebook, though this has not happened yet. “So long as it doesn’t affect my professional reputation, I will carry on,” she says.

theJournalist | 13 mental health Strains of stress

Stressed-out journalists don’t have to moderators and support staff, we would undoubtedly get a higher figure. That said, it is important “not to corelate the suffer in silence, says Samir Jeraj work of journalists with their decision to kill themselves”, says Dr Sallyanne Duncan, a senior lecturer in journalism at the University of Strathclyde. “Suicide is a very complex issue avid had struggled with mental health with many factors in their lives that cause them to take that problems since he was a teenager and, by the decision,” she adds. However, the lack of robust data means it time he became a journalist, his main source is extremely difficult to see if there is evidence of such a D of support was his partner. correlation. The unpredictable hours and stressful “I think that education in covering trauma and interviewing situations that are routine in journalism started to have an victims of trauma is lacking in higher education,” says impact. There were also harrowing stories that he covered, Professor Natalee Seely, who studies the effects of everyday such as the hunt for murderer Raul Moat across Northumbria trauma on journalists in the US and found its frequency and in 2010. Moat went on the run after killing one person and intensity were linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) wounding two others, finally committing suicide. “I heard the problems, even when taking into account previous personal gunshot that he killed himself with,” he says. The shock was trauma. She worked as a reporter for four years, covering crime almost immediate: “I remember going back that night and on her first job. “I wasn’t trained or prepared to interview sitting on the balcony of my home and my partner waking up victims or their family members,” she remembers. at nine o’clock in the morning and finding me drinking “There’s this idea in society that journalists are superhuman, whisky on the balcony – I had no idea what I was doing.” that they are not affected by what they do,” she says, they were Things continued to get worse as David moved home and not meant to let things get to them. Stories that involved went freelance, just as his relationship started to break down. harm or violence to children and animals, shootings and “I think the nature of starting to freelance – you’re trying to serious car collisions were the stories that stuck with the make an impression, trying to ingratiate yourself – so I was reporters she interviewed. “One reporter said she didn’t let her doing lots of shifts, lots of night shifts,” he says. There was no husband drive the car any more after a really bad car accident guidance or support around how to work night shifts and she covered,” she says. look after your health, he adds. Some journalists cope through exercise, cathartic activities The relationship breakdown led him to focus more and – writing or crying to ‘get it out’, or talking with colleagues, a more on work, leading to yet more night shifts and more partner or therapist. Many start off talking to their spouse or strain. “It just got to a tipping point where there was a night close personal friend but quickly stop. Seely explains: “They where I was considering killing myself and, luckily, rather didn’t like to burden their spouses or their significant others than doing it, I rang up a friend.” with the things they had seen and done, and what they were He was prescribed antidepressants and went into therapy feeling.” for three and half years. He feels things since have gone “very She adds that several journalists she interviewed took much upwards”. comfort from the fact their role was important in serving the The reporting of mental health has improved, although there are still frequent examples around the world of distressing and damaging stories. In the newsroom, a which includes a confidential prevailing macho culture sits alongside a growing recognition How the BBC helps 24hr helpline, and access to a of the long-term effects of trauma among war remote GP. This is also open correspondents. worker wellbeing to freelances. Employees are However, little has been done about the effects of the job also able to access trauma on domestic reporters covering traumatic crimes, major THE BBC uses a counselling health and wellbeing of all support sessions through events with significant injury or loss of life, horrific car programme based on the those who work for us”. occupational health. collisions or just dealing with the stresses of an increasingly Ministry of Defence’s Trim Its support includes online Most recently, the casualised and high-pressure sector. Since 2020, journalists programme to support mental health and resilience corporation has established have been under even greater pressure, reporting on a global journalists who are feeling sessions, access to more than an online platform that pandemic while job security vanished. emotionally affected by 1,000 staff mental health provides a confidential At least eight UK journalists have died from suicide since stories they are working on. first aiders, wellbeing service to help individuals 2015, four of those in 2019. That number is almost certainly In a statement, the BBC courses for staff and track and understand their an underestimate for a number of reasons. There is no clear says it places “the utmost managers, an employee wellbeing and mental health boundary of who a journalist is – if we include the production importance on the mental assistance programme, specialists. staff who sift through images and video, the comment

14 | theJournalist ALAN EVANS

mental health

public. However, others misused drugs and alcohol, or used aid workers who work in areas affected by conflict and ‘gallows humour’ to avoid their feelings – several expressed humanitarian catastrophes. All their therapists are former fears of being reassigned or losing their job if they talked journalists or aid workers and have field experience. about it with their managers. Some editors were supportive, She sees “a lot of people with pre-existing stuff going on for example ensuring that one day a week they were given I think people really, which is then massively exacerbated by loneliness, ‘happy stories’ or not assigned to crime stories. stress and trauma”. Mind Field puts together a block of “Anna Blundy, who runs Mind Field, warns of the risks of leave it until therapy sessions that employers can buy and staff can use “Going into a profession with short deadlines, where you’re “ anonymously. Mortimer believes it is “incredibly important” only as good as your last story, especially if you’re going to be they aren’t to provide a high level of confidentiality as many employees a foreign or war correspondent in the field.” Her organisation sleeping or are are isolated and do not have a good relationship with their specialises in providing therapy by video for journalists and employer, which might discourage them from being open using all the about a mental health problem. She says people she sees tend to be in a poor state by the time they get to her. “I think classic defences people leave it until they aren’t sleeping or are using all the classic defences of drinking, drugs and promiscuity.” of drinking, Employers could do more in terms of making people aware of those warning signs and encouraging them to seek help early, drugs, and she feels. promiscuity Going through user-generated content, including images from war zones, also has an impact on journalists. “Increasingly it’s young, inexperienced journalists who are recently out of their university programmes who are being asked to look at this content,” says Duncan. “Sometimes, I don’t think they have the emotional experience, the emotional literacy to deal with what they are seeing.” In May 2020, Facebook agreed to pay $52 million to current and former content moderators who had developed PTSD. This followed the case of Selena Scola, who sued Facebook ” after developing the condition in the course of moderating content for the website including videos of rape, murder and suicide. The tech giant also committed to providing weekly mental health support for staff in these roles. “When I got home in the evening, I had been seeing images where you’d blur things out – I’d see those without blurring.” Sarah worked on user-generated content (UGC) desks at several media organisations. “I was there for the Belgium [terrorist] attacks – it was just really intense, you just get on with the job, you do it. You’re on adrenaline – everyone is professional.” The stress and trauma of the job caught up with her after her shift ended. She sank onto to her kitchen floor and started crying. She had had no time to process what she had seen. Sarah says this is common and people work on the UGC desk until they get sick. “You can sometimes say ‘this is not nice’ to the person who’s sat next to you, but you’re just doing the job and it hits you,” she says. Ann Luce, an academic at Bournemouth University, believes newsrooms should, as a minimum, learn from other frontline professions and establish a debrief system whereby staff can share what has happened, particularly if there has been a traumatic event. “It’s very possible that a journalist who graduates from my programme could walk into a newsroom tomorrow and their first story could be a murder, could be a suicide, and how are they going to deal with that?,” she asks. At the moment, the answer is still too much of an unknown. Looking back, on the Raul moat case and his other experiences David feels fortunate that the team he was in at the time of his crisis were “superb”. He feels there was a lot of support and understanding. His employer kept giving him day rather than night shifts, put no pressure on him to return to night shifts and his boss offered personal support. “If I said I needed anything, then it was able to happen,” he says.

theJournalist | 15 Jonathan Sale on the rise of the weather forecasters LIAM WHITE / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO WEATHERING A STORM 921 was a good year for weather. for the relevant seven days in the previous year Daily ‘state of the weather’ reports were first Not only was there as usual a lot which enabled readers to produce their own DIY published in 1848 in the Daily News, the paper of it about, but also there were at forecast. Or not. started by Charles Dickens from which he walked 1 least two radio stations, attached Today, ‘nowcasting’ is the term used for out after a few short weeks as editor. Like to universities, that began forecasts for a period as short as two hours Houghton’s Collection, the paper’s bulletins alerting listeners to what the heavens had in ahead; what Houghton provided could be consisted of historical weather summaries but at store. Both had begun a few years earlier with termed ‘then casting’. least they weren’t a year but just a day old; thanks weather forecasts only in Morse code, but Still, he did bring an element of reality to to the telegraph, meteorological observations were realised that ‘a heavy fall of dot dash dot will be ‘prognostications’, which was not the case with whisked over the wires to London and printed in followed by periods of dash dot dash’ was not some of the competitive publications whose the next day’s paper. Readers of Tuesday’s edition exactly reader-friendly. Now, the wireless resources included astrology, guesswork and could then be informed about what the weather warnings came via human voices. pure fluke. Others did their divinations courtesy had been like on the Monday. Alternatively, they One of those stations, The AM band service of the behaviour of animals, for example a frog could have looked out of the window at the time. WEW in St Louis, has survived The university was in a jar: possibly it croaked once for a storm, For mid 19th century mariners, unexpected linked to the heavens in another way, as its twice for sunny spells. (I’m guessing but so was storms were often a death sentence and many of president was the Reverend William Robison, the frog.) the 7,201 lives lost at sea in British waters during who read out the first 500-word weather bulletin. Later, Rueppel broadened the station’s appeal with programmes ranging from The Foundation at the College. of Catholic Faith to the less spiritual How Sugar Come rain or shine: As for the showery is Made. Now privately owned, WEW still has a conditions, Lloyd wrote heavenly angle; it provides Christian radio Lloyd’s long stint about her stormy to the local Bosnians, which you could call a relationship with Lembit niche market. BRITAIN’S first TV trained as a working title of Öpik, the Liberal More than two centuries earlier, a weekly weathermen – and they meteorologist and was a Sunshine and Showers. Democrat MP who was newspaper with the un-snappy title of were always men – were fan of fashion. “There’s There is no doubt that her fiance until he ran A Collection for the Improvement of Husbandry never seen but merely nothing worse than the woman who twice off with 50 per cent of & Trade had already demonstrated the British heard reading the seeing people wrongly won the award for best Romanian pop duo The obsession with the elements. forecasts. dressed for the weather: TV weather presenter Cheeky Girls. He later “Twould be of great use to have a true history When finally in shivering in Ascot in a enjoyed many sunny lost his seat and also the of the weather from which it is likeliest to draw vision, they were not little dress,” she says. periods. Not least in her Cheeky Girl. Lloyd prognostications,” wrote apothecary John necessarily chosen for Before it was education in which she presented the ITV Houghton in the issue of May 14, 1692. ’Twould their looks or dress published as A Funny achieved 11 O-levels, Weather for 24 years, indeed be very handy and the paper produced a sense. Today, their suits Kind of Love, her four A-levels, Eistedfodd from 1990 until 2014. chart for the next seven days. This listed only air and dresses are taken as autobiography had the crown at 16 and first As well as being pressure and wind readings but was absolutely part of the whole class degree at fluent in weather, she accurate. How, you may ask, was this possible in presentation. Swansea University, also speaks Welsh an age without weather satellites or the Siân Lloyd, our followed by fluently, having studied legendary presenter Michael Fish? Easy. The longest-serving female postgraduate studies it at school and at crucial term here is ‘history’. The May week in weather forecaster, at Oxford and a spell university. question was in 1691. Houghton gave the figures ALLSTAR PICTURE LIBRARY LTD / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

16 | theJournalist Looking back to: 1921

LIAM WHITE / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO SSPL/SCIENCE MUSEUM

a five-year period might well have been saved by off to a promising start: 62° Fahrenheit in thunderstorm. The artwork was drawn by hand a timely warning. London, a cloudy 61°F in Liverpool and a sizzling at the London Weather Centre and couriered This was the theory of Admiral Robert FitzRoy 70°F in Dover, the same as in Lisbon. over to the studio, where the presenter added (pictured above), who had already done his bit The admirable admiral was so successful that a final touches with a state-of-the-art wax crayon. for science by captaining HMS Beagle on Charles racehorse was named after him and so ‘Relatively low accuracy’ was the verdict on the Darwin’s highly significant voyage round the unsuccessful that he was mocked by readers early forecasts and dissatisfied viewers were globe. when he got it wrong and they got soaked. complaining about relatively low accuracy for He founded what became known as the Met Exhausted and overworked, he suffered the the next half century. A Which? survey during Office, which began by providing wind charts so return of a depressive condition and killed the mid-1980s complained that the forecasts that ships could reduce sailing times by making himself in 1865. Appositely enough, he lives on in were only 50 per cent correct; one might as well the most efficient use of this free power source. the Shipping Forecast. In 2002, the region then have tossed a coin. As Bob Dylan had put it: “You Prompted by one particularly ferocious storm known as Finisterre was renamed FitzRoy in his don’t need a weatherman to know which way that caused hundreds of deaths, FitzRoy devised a honour. the wind blows.” much-needed warning system. Thanks again to The first BBC radio forecast was broadcast in Hours before the 1987 Great Storm, when vast the telegraph system, FitzRoy could receive November 1922 and, like that of six trees were uprooted and slates crashed from instant information from distant observers, decades earlier, was aimed at shipping. By the end roofs, Michael Fish cheerily dismissed fears of calculate what the weather was playing at and of March 1923, the Beeb decided that listeners on stormy weather. His defence later was that he send alerts to ports all over the country. (Though land would enjoy a daily forecast. In 1936, the was referring to a hurricane off the coast of without, obviously, the accompaniment of today’s corporation led the world with the first televised Florida. This was true but he had conspicuously Sailing By melody on Radio 4’s Shipping Forecast.) weather maps; these filled the tiny screens of failed to do justice to the killer winds that “The term ‘forecasts’ is strictly applicable,” he antediluvian televisions while an unseen followed. stressed and, indeed, it sounded less loopy than announcer described the weather on the way. Since then, forecasts have smartened ‘prognostication’, let alone ‘prophecies’ or It took a further two decades for the presenter themselves up, not just in accuracy but also in ‘predictions’. He offered them to the general to be in vision, the first being George Cowling, a fashion. I wouldn’t presume to judge the dresses public as well as to mariners – two whole days physics teacher lookalike who appeared, to judge of the weatherwomen but the weathermen’s ahead. The Times published the first of these by the shrunken appearance of his jacket sleeves, suits no longer look as if left out in a deluge. Not forecasts on August 1, 1861, which got the project to have been caught in an unexpected even in a light-to-variable shower.

theJournalist | 17 photography

The horrific killing of Sarah Everard, who was abducted while walking home, struck a chord with people across the nation. Although the police had banned the Clapham Common vigil, I went down St ry early afternoon to photograph the growing floral tributes. I was greeted at the tube station by a large group of anti-vaxxers leafleting, which I thought odd. At the flower-laden bandstand, the atmosphere was hushed and behind respectful. Couples, individuals and families clutched their flowers and each other before moving forward to place their tributes, pay their respects and read the messages of condolence. One read: “For Sarah, you are in Londoners’ hearts. May your spirit be free. the We remember you, always” The collective association with the horror of the attack hung heavy in the air. Many women were crying. I was very moved. As the sun, set a woman with her child moved through the crowd holding picture a placard that read: “I need to be able to tell my children I did not stay silent.” The crowd seemed to grow organically; some joined to chant: “No justice, no peace.” Vigil for Sarah Everard, A male anti-vaccine protester was shouted down when he tried to address the crowd and police escorted him from the bandstand. Clapham Common I did not witness the violent arrests of women later but was horrified to see them on news reports. It was completely counter to the peaceful nature By Jess Hurd of the gathering I witnessed. As a woman said during the subsequent protests: “They even attack us while we grieve.”

theJournalist | 18 on media

The modern spectacle of sudden downfall

Raymond Snoddy looks at three high-profile resignations

here have been three The case of Piers Morgan, another Murray went for an unequivocal serious, controversial former editor of the Daily Mirror, is statement that the UK media ‘is not journalistic departures very different. He departed the prime bigoted’ and made it worse by adding T in recent weeks. Two presenter slot at ITV’s Good Morning that although some questioning was were well deserved; Britain because he hugely overstated ‘awkward and embarrassing’, the press one was more problematic. allegations in his attack on Meghan ‘is most certainly not racist’. All three were testimony to a trend Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. The SoE should have defended itself that the roof can fall in immediately on Morgan said of her CBS interview that against the precise allegation that the almost anyone who writes or says the you could not believe a word she said. attacks on Meghan had been racially unexpected, the ill-advised, the poorly There were indeed problems with her motivated and avoided generalisations. considered or the downright nasty. comments that her son Archie had not Crucially, there was no mention of The first of the three, who become a prince and that the family how much needed to be done, not least thoroughly deserved his fate, was Roy had not had full security protection in making newsrooms more diverse. Greenslade who, after retirement, held because of underlying racism. This Perhaps the worst thing Murray got an honorary visiting professorship at does not seem to be correct. Archie can wrong was a lack of awareness of just City, University of London, where he become a prince only when his how fast individual injustices can, with had been a journalism professor with grandfather becomes monarch and the help of social media, trigger an interest in journalistic ethics. only ‘working’ members of the royal international movements that chanage He trashed his reputation and family are entitled to full protection, public attitudes at speed. undermined a lifetime’s work by and in this country not the US. It happened with MeToo, Black Lives admitting, for no pressing reason, in Morgan went much further, Matter and now the way the Sarah the Journalism Quarterly Review, that questioning her comments about Everard murder has led to a wider he had long supported the Provisional mental health problems and suicidal debate about the safety of women. IRA and its bombing campaign. thoughts, something he could not Murray’s position became untenable He had maintained his beliefs, possibly have known. when TV presenter Charlene White including the delusion that civilian IRA He was gone with a record 57,121 pulled out of presenting the SoE’s casualties had been accidental, to this complaints to communications National Press Awards ceremony – now day and across senior editorial posts at regulator Ofcom, although another indefinitely postponed – and nominees and The Guardian, multimillion-pound TV contract may started withdrawing their entries. not to mention as editor of the Daily not be far away. As Murray departed, the society’s Mirror at the height of the Troubles. The third, much more serious and ‘statement of clarification’ seemed too His reason for obscuring his true significant case involves someone most He was gone with little, too late. beliefs was that he could not be honest people outside the newspaper industry a record 57,121 “We will reflect on the reaction our because he was about to get a mortgage will not have heard of. statement prompted and work towards and did not want to lose his job. Ian Murray, a former regional complaints, being part of the solution,” it said. Greenslade resigned from City, newspaper editor, was until last month although another The SoE must indeed reflect, regroup although the university noticeably said chief executive of the Society of “ and reorganise on more diverse lines. that for freedom of expression reasons Editors (SoE). multimillion-pound It would be a tragedy if the society it had not sought his resignation. The society was set up to fight for were to fall apart because of an It matters little. Greenslade’s press freedom and Murray came TV contract may not ill-advised press release and the deeper reputation is now in permanent tatters, out fighting in defence of the UK be far away failings this revealed. except in the very specialist quarters media after the TV attack by the duke Never has there been a greater need where it is believed blowing up and duchess. for a body that fights unambiguously children – and indeed journalists – was He was undone by two short for press freedom, which is under justifiable for the greater cause. sentences and by what he didn’t say. threat everywhere. ” theJournalist | 19

release what they describe as ‘22 of from his daily online shows and by Tim Lezard the best LOUD WOMEN bands on the returns to the road. planet’. Buy it! https://dalisochaponda.com/tour https://tinyurl.com/ybrketb4 Ellie Taylor Film > Don’t Got This Gunda On tour from May 21 Released April 30 Fresh from recording her debut In these turbulent times, what could Netflix stand-up special, Steve Tyler be more comforting than this lookalike and star of The Mash mesmerising Norwegian documentary Report, Live at the Apollo and QI is about the daily life of a pig and its back with a brand-new show, banging artsBooks > held at the Gallery of Photography in farm companions two cows and a on about life, love and what will The Assault On Truth: Boris Dublin, Ireland. O’Shea skilfully one-legged chicken? happen if one more person tells her: Johnson, Donald Trump and captured sporting events and political https://www.gunda.movie ‘You got this.’ the Emergence of a New protests, alongside the always www.ellietaylorcomedy.com Moral Barbarism sensitively observed images made in Nomadland Peter Oborne his adopted city. Released April 9 Festivals > Simon & Schuster Details of the exhibition at: https:// Frances McDormand stars as Fern, a It is still a difficult time for festivals, This powerful polemic by Peter tinyurl.com/y8bg397u; buy the book woman who packs her van and sets with organisers facing the Oborne looks into how governments at: https://tinyurl.com/y8dpaz28 off on the road to explore life as a dilemma of cancelling early to when they are exposed for lying modern-day nomad after losing her save deposits and wasting time shrug it off. He claims this assault Music > job in rural Nevada. spent organising events or holding on truth is an assault on the rule Loud Women 3 www.searchlightpictures.com/ on for as long as possible and risk of law, state institutions, the Released April 4 nomadland/ losing everything. fundamental idea of fairness – and Arts faves Loud Women – a DIY even democracy itself. collective that champions women in Barbican Cinema Edinburgh International https://tinyurl.com/y8dkk7tj music by hosting events that are fun, If you can’t go to a cinema, why not Children’s Festival friendly and frickin’ awesome – take advantage of the Barbican’s On May 25-June 6 Crude Britannia: How Oil Demand offer? One for the kids. Because of Covid Shaped a Nation https://tinyurl.com/ybdj56uw restrictions, the ‘international’ aspect James Marriott and Terry Macalister of this event is restricted to NUJ life member, ex-Guardian energy Comedy > contributions from Scotland and the editor and former Wapping picket UK. It will feature theatre and dance Macalister tells of Britain’s oil- created especially for children, drenched past, present and future, of performed in outdoor and small a black gold empire built on financial venues as well as online. power, political meddling and www.imaginate.org.uk/festival/ environmental destruction. https://www.plutobooks.com Hampton Court Palace Festival starring Tom Jones Exhibition > June 8 The Light of Day by Tony O’Shea Daliso Chaponda The legendary singer, and now judge Dublin Apocalypse Not Now on The Voice, will take centrestage at Until April 11 On tour from April 24 this one-day performance at the Postponed because of the pandemic, a Star of BBC Radio 4’s Citizen of historic royal palace. major retrospective exhibition of work Nowhere and finalist of Britain’s Got www.hamptoncourtpalacefestival. by NUJ member Tony O’Shea is being Talent Daliso Chaponda takes a break com

, Spotlight > productions being made London: https://globeplayer. available online, and new tv/all productions premiering in Ballet on Demand from Virtual shows take centre stage front of houses empty apart English National Opera: from a range of cameras. https://ondemand.ballet. “None of the world’s a stage,” son, Hamnett, to bubonic the internet though. And I It’s theatre – not as we org.uk William Shakespeare might plague – or Black Death as it suppose the closest he came know it – but theatre LIVR virtual reality have written. He knew what was called – in 1596, and to television was Ariel in nonetheless. Here’s a theatre shows: https://livr. it was to suffer both theatres were closed for The Tempest. selection for you to enjoy: co.uk/shows personally and financially business in 1593, 1603 Technology is becoming Globeplayer: filmed Uncle Vanya on BBC due to a pandemic. and 1608. the saviour of theatreland, productions that took place iPlayer: https://tinyurl.com/ He lost his 11-year-old Shakespeare didn’t have with many archive at Shakespeare’s the Globe in yb7jjngl

20 | theJournalist technology TechDownload Chris Merriman on technology for journalists

byte size... SWITCH OFF THE WRITING FOR REAL ANNOYING ADD-ONS If you use free software, you may espite claims for decades that we are well have come across something heading towards a ‘paperless office’, else being automatically included D there is still no substitute for pen and when you install an app. This paper when you’re taking notes. Writing one of the circles, open the Rocketbook app and take is called ‘bloatware’ and, while on a screen just isn’t the same – but handwriting in a a photo of the page. It will automatically save the usually more irritating than notebook inevitably means typing it up later. document in the place you chose. The destinations malicious, it would be nice not to Rocketbooks give you the best of both worlds. can be changed in the app, too. have it. Enter Unchecky, a free The pages are infinitely reusable, though you will Rocketbook also supports optical character app that unchecks tick boxes, need erasable pens (Rocketbook recommends Pilot’s recognition so can turn your musings into proper text. even those ‘helpfully’ pre-ticked Frixion range). Pages come in a range of formats, Available in a range of sizes and layouts and in a by the developer. That means you dotted and lined, and you can go for speciality variety of covers, Rocketbook is the perfect marriage won’t agree to installing or joining layouts such as to-do lists and week planners. of analogue and digital. Prices start at £16.99 for an anything without the chance to The clever bit is at the bottom of the page. There A6 jotter and up to £38.99 for an A4 planner. check it. Simple, but elegant. are six circles next to a barcode. Put a cross through www.getrocketbook.co.uk www.unchecky.com

SAY GOODBYE TO Practical and portable The Lenovo Chromebook With a bit of configuration, it CABLE MISERY > Duet is a 10 inch device that will run Linux apps too. Cables are one of the banes of hromebook devices alternative has come on in you can used as a tablet as While there are a few the 21st century. inCharge thinks get a rough ride leaps and bounds in the past well as a laptop. You can add niggles – for example, there’s so too, so it makes tiny cables C sometimes but, if 18 months or so and, with the an stylus for design work. no room for a memory card­— that clip onto your keyring. you’ve not looked at them, latest chips from MediaTek, It can run Office, Zoom and it provides very good value. The inCharge 6 combines a this is the one to start with. the result is practical, pretty much anything else Prices start at £279. micro USB, USB C and Lightning Google’s Windows/Mac functional and fun. plus apps built for Android. www.lenovo.com/uk connection. A companion for a mobile power bank battery, and an end to that irritating collection of cables at the bottom of your bag. Well worth £15. POSH MUGS FOR HOT TEA incharge.rocks CALLING GETS ost journalists seem to end up doing 17 things at once, CONTROL YOUR CLEARER and drinking your tea before it gets cold often takes OFFICE BY REMOTE Promising Portal M second place. Believe it or not, you already The Facebook Portal should not be Ember mugs contain a heating element, keeping your beverage at have a smart home/office – you ignored as a business tool. It’s not so exactly the temperature you like (adjustable with the app) for up to better just don’t know it. The Broadlink much a digital assistant as a video phone, two hours (or longer if sat on the charging base). Tell the app what RM4 Pro is a remote control with great video quality – significantly you’re drinking and it’ll suggest that can turn remote controls than we’ve seen on similarThese products devices – and can a setting. As well as regular mugs, into smart devices, which you remarkably good sound. Ember makes a travel flask. can control using your phone or be used with Zoom, BlueJeans, WebEx, Cisco Ember’s products are voice assistants. It’s not quite as and more, as well as with Messenger and unapologetically expensive, but their efficient as a direct connection, Whatsapp. You can also play music from build quality and simplicity mean but it can make any remote Spotify and add Alexa voice control. Pop one on that they are likely to be with you for controlled device part of your your desk and be ready for your close-up. Prices months and years to come. Consider automated set-up and, at £40, its start at £149, but deals come up regularly. it an investment at £99 for the https://portal.facebook. a lot cheaper than rebuying all com/gb/ smallest 10oz mug and up to £180 for your gadgets. the travel mug. www.ibroadlink.com/ www.ember.com

theJournalist | 21 inbox

Email to: [email protected] ç Post to: Please keep The Journalist YourSay... 72 Acton Street, comments to London WC1X 9NB 350 words Tweet to: inviting letters, comments, tweets maximum @mschrisbuckley

H H H H H H£40 H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H prize letter against them than any other newspaper in practically Killing treated as every year. The Mail group’s method of keeping upheld complaint statistics down is to try to wriggle out of

DENIS CARRIER clickbait shows a complaint. IPSO claims it is a major improvement on the regulation is failing PCC, which was condemned and ditched once Leveson shone an investigatory light onto it. Mandy Garner’s Viewpoint column about her Yet IPSO has never held an investigation – one treatment by the MailOnline and the Independent development it has claimed – nor has it fined a Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) underlined the newspaper, another ‘improvement’. problems of press regulation (Ipso failed on coverage If ever I thought we needed another justification of my Anisha’s death, February/March). for the NUJ’s policy of seeking massive improvements The NUJ has long criticised the Press Complaints to IPSO (and after years of watching the PCC and Commission (PCC) and then IPSO, its successor. IPSO, I don’t), then this distressing tale is a Garner’s description of her treatment after prime example. her daughter Anisha was killed in a hit-and-run People do not deserve to be trampled on for a few incident and a corner-shop video of her death ran more clicks and perhaps some of the newspapers that automatically on MailOnline if one clicked on the story, we are all desperate to see flourish should consider illustrates why. whether their collapse of circulation over recent years MailOnline invaded her daughter’s privacy and the has been caused by such poor journalism and the way family’s mourning while IPSO allowed it to delay, put newspapers behave to complainants. up barriers and make life difficult for her. Treating a young woman’s death as a public The privacy clause of the IPSO editors’ code allows spectacle is not acceptable journalism and neither is for the public interest – a definition that contains failing to take it seriously as a regulator. seven clauses, none of which apply here – while the As journalists, we must support the right to free code on bereavement calls for sensitivity and expression the right to inform the public and hold discretion, things MailOnline failed to show when power to account but we should never trample on the it ran the video for family members to discover to rights of others without proper public interest. their distress. My heart goes out to Mandy Garner and her daughter. The complaints were also dealt with badly by IPSO. Let’s stop using people’s pain to sell newspapers. The Mail’s titles consistently top the league of IPSO’s Chris Frost complained-of publications, with more complaints Chair, NUJ Ethics Council H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

NUJ should show its decline in print media, a printed The reasons for bringing it back have As he says, merely taking the commitment to print magazine also represents an been well rehearsed in previous letters, magazine out of the envelope is the Seamus Dooley’s response to the acknowledgment by the union of the I just want to add a plea that recognises beginning of the pleasure. letters requesting a return to print continuing value of print media. what a treat a real magazine is to There is nothing like the physical copies of The Journalist was rather Ann Shuttleworth outlying members like myself. existence of a printed publication vague about reviewing the suspension London Magazine Branch I hope that when budgets allow it is which you flick through, return to, of print (letters, February-March). returned to my letterbox as soon as leave on the bedside table, lose under While I appreciate that like a lot of A real magazine in my possible and as a priority. the bed, find again and tear out organisations the NUJ has had to make letterbox is a treat Jeff Wright interesting pages. difficult decisions, it would be nice to ‘Screen starers’ reading this letter Life member, Hampshire It is like the old showbiz adage know that the union is firmly might guess from my life membership of the appeal of the roar of the committed to returning to print as soon status that I won’t like the change No ink, no paper: welcome greasepaint and the smell of as possible. to a digital-only Journalist, so I to the podcast mime the crowd. Like the correspondents in the last won’t disappoint. I couldn’t agree more with Paul The medium is indeed the message issue, I value the magazine and but just I fully understand the financial Nettleton and others who complained and that medium is, for us NUJ don’t find it as accessible online. Given conditions behind cutting the print in the last issue about The Journalist members, shiny paper and ink. Without the effect on journalist jobs of the version of our 100+ year-old magazine. appearing only in digital form. it, The Journalist risks resembling a

22 | theJournalist inbox

mime artist trying to communicate by Oh, and the plural of ‘medium’ is means of a podcast. ‘mediums’ only when it refers to Jonathan Sale, people who pretend to speak to the London dead. When it means TV, radio, Moved house or newspapers and so on, the word is Journalists should know ‘media’. You’d think people in the changed your what words mean media would know that. We journalists are supposed to be Sheila Miller email address? good with words, so why do so many London N4 seem not to know the meaning of the words they’re using? Tech giants should pay ‘Pandemic’ means ‘global epidemic’, tax – and for content so ‘global pandemic’ is tautological and The battle between Australia and means ‘global global epidemic’, which Google/Facebook could offer a glimmer is obviously nonsense. One can’t expect of hope for content producers. It seems any better of grandiloquent politicians to have taken a decade for governments but journalists should know better. to wake up to the monopoly power of Similarly, few seem to know what the the fintech giants; maybe they will start prefix ‘pre’ means, hence the to regulate and tax these giants fairly. tautological neologism ‘pre-order’. What has amazed me is the way I even heard ‘pre-prepared’ recently. Google has ‘scraped’ images and Also, many now use the words ‘Covid’ content with gay abandon. The most and ‘coronavirus’ interchangeably, amusing aspect of being on Google when, in fact, Covid-19 is the illness Images is that they reproduce caused by the new coronavirus, everyone’s work and add in small type SARS-CoV-2. ‘Images may be subject to copyright’. There’s also widespread misuse of They and we know full well they are ‘trafficked’ and ‘traffickers’. People who subject to copyright, but only now is are trafficked (mainly young women) anyone daring to ask them to pay for Please let us know. You can update your membership come to the UK (or elsewhere) in the this. The big tragedy is that Google belief that they are coming to proper, wasn’t set up as a not for profit trust, as record on the website nuj.org.uk or legal jobs. Wikipedia was. email [email protected] The people who come across the It is good to see the EU and even Channel in small boats and dinghies Little Brexit England finally starting to (mainly young or youngish men) know work out how to make the fintech that they are coming illegally – that’s companies pay their way in terms of why they come that way. The people both taxes and journalistic content. who arrange their transport are David Siddall smugglers, not traffickers. Cockermouth, Cumbria

STEVE BELL THE OWNERS

theJournalist | 23 obituary

BOBBIE HARVEY

Muslims rejecting western civilisation, and he did so with quiet humour and appreciation, somehow never letting it descend into a freak show. Phil also did the writing himself, reporting the cacophony, preaching, zany arguments and fierce debate of today as well as the history of Hyde Park, such as when a crowd of 500,000 demanded votes for women, where “eighty speakers addressed sections of the crowd simultaneously from twenty platforms spread out across the grass”. Phil said: “Whether they are aware of this or not, the speakers, hecklers, regular and irregular visitors that congregate there each week are the vibrant heirs of those who fought for, and won, the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, thereby establishing the park’s worldwide reputation as the home of free his regular haunt near Marble Arch, giving its speech.” A legacy enshrined in this book. Philip Wolmuth name to the book by which he will be best The quiet, self-effacing reticence that allowed remembered – Speakers’ Corner (https://amzn. Phil such unobtrusive access may help explain I first met Phil, who has died aged 70, when we to/3vbP71Q). For nearly 40 years, he returned why he never made a wider name for himself nor were both covering Shirley Porter’s Homes for again and again, bringing the skills honed in received the recognition this work deserves. Votes scandal – Westminster Council’s plot to sell Paddington to the centre of London and the He will definitely be remembered in the NUJ, council housing off to potential Tory voters. focus, in the words of the subtitle, on Debate, where our paths crossed again. He was an active, Under the new tenants’ choice law, the council Democracy and Disturbing the Peace. effective member of the London Freelance planned to sell the Walterton and Elgin estates to Phil wrote: “When I first visited Speakers’ Branch for decades, and also of the London private developers; however, the residents Corner in 1977 it seemed just as George Orwell Photographers’ Branch. hijacked this legislation and put in a wholly described it in 1945 – the resort of preachers, As photographer Guy Smallman recalls: “It was unexpected and ultimately triumphant bid to eccentrics and ‘a large variety of plain lunatics’.” an absolute pleasure to work alongside Philip in buy and run their own homes. As all this exotic variety of characters London NUJ branches. He brought calm to difficult Phil was in his element, recording the ‘dirtiest performed before his camera, he produced the situations and chaired our meetings in a warm fight in housing history’, working alongside his definitive account of this uniquely British and welcoming manner that will be sadly missed.” neighbours struggling against the powers that be institution – if that’s the right phrase for the He is survived by his partner Jane and their for a better life and a better world. unbridled anarchy of free speech. daughters Eva and Anna. For him, photography was not an escape to A discreet observer with an empathetic eye, he And I will miss his friendly face patrolling higher things but an intimate connection with brought this strange world to life, from holocaust the street. the lives others lived, where he himself lived, deniers to diatribes against imperialism, and where he both founded and ran the North preachers from the Methodist Lord Soper to Andrew Wiard Paddington Community Darkroom (NPCD). This, Phil wrote, “taught camera and darkroom skills to local residents, and supported the campaigns and day-to-day activities of local community organisations. The early community arts groups sought to democratise the arts – to engage those who did not otherwise relate to the mainstream’ arts world – by making the arts relevant to their daily lives and experiences”. His account of NPCD and of those times can be read online in his book That Was Then, This Is Now (http://bit.ly/3qDCtoR), which portrays the remarkable resilience and resistance of community activists in one small corner of London. Among battles too numerous to list here, they fought against rent rises, gentrification, the closure of St Mary’s Hospital (sold off for luxury flats) and the sale of their cemeteries for 15p. From there, he roamed across London, then across the world’, from Georgia in the east to Cuba and Grenada in the west, the resulting archive, the Philip Wolmuth Photo Library (philipwolmuth.com), recording for posterity the extraordinary range of his lifetime’s work. But he always came home to one special place, A Christian preacher addresses a crowd at Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park, London, 1993

24 | theJournalist and finally...

When is a journalist not a journalist?

Fake reporters undermine our whole industry, says Chris Proctor

here’s been an If she were the only example, she people who don’t exist who claim to be epidemic recently. No, wouldn’t be worth a mention – but the journalists, such as Raphael Badani. not that one. I’m problem is that she is only the head of He is an authority on the Middle East T talking about the an oozing pimple. There are all manner who has featured in a number of alarming outbreak of of bigots and buffoons who are publications, including the Washington people who are claiming to be wannabe journalists. Examiner, RealClearMarkets and the journalists. Some of the Dean ilk carry pieces of dubiously named American Thinker. All kinds of passing illiterates are plastic issued by oddball organisations Badani’s CV is impressive. He was picking up chewed pencils, dusting that ‘confirm’ that holders are formerly a senior analyst in down Kodak EasyShares and legitimate newsgatherers. One issuer of international relations at the US announcing that they are one of these ‘press cards’ is the Workers of Department of Labor. Or would have our number. England Union (WEU). been if he were a person. Except he Take the case of Hannah Dean. She’s The Press Association news agency isn’t. The bloke’s a robot, created by the delinquent who sneaked around took the WEU to court to stop the artificial intelligence to give readers corridors in the Queen Alexandra impression that it was in any way some unmerited confidence in his Hospital in Portsmouth taking snaps of linked to its card-issuing nonsense. The pronouncements. He’s got a picture empty spaces. This 30-year-old PA’s barrister, David Ivison, called the and everything. ‘newsgatherer’ (and fitness instructor) cards ‘instruments of deception’ and Does it matter that bigots, amateurs, subsequently wrote that the images ‘fake ID’. offbeats and figments are trying to were proof that the entire hospital was The leader of the WEU is a chap infiltrate our profession? Well, actually, empty, that no one was sick and that called Stephen Morris, who stood as yes it very much does. Because their Covid-19 didn’t exist. the English Democrat candidate actions threaten to undermine our A genuine newsgatherer might have against ‘sharia-appeasing’ Andy whole industry. ascertained that on the day of Dean’s Burnham in the election for If you get nonsense and bigotry served ‘investigation’, 426 people were being Manchester mayor. The popular Morris up on your Facebook, Instagram or treated in the very same hospital for picked up 11,000 votes but Andy edged Tumblr feeds, you don’t mind. You know the virus, 47 patients were on home with 360,000. most of it is fake news, unresearched mechanical ventilation and that Morris is also leader of the well- opinion or mild indigestion. nationally 744 people had died of known (in only his own mind) ‘English Pieces of plastic But if a report is written by someone Covid-19. TUC’ (affiliates: nil). But concern for issued by oddball who is labelled a journalist, you should Stopped by security, this pretender- workers is not the only string to his be able to be confident that it is with-a-camera not only claimed to be a bow. He is also the director of SVM organisations authentic. If you can’t – and this is journalist but also to ‘work for the NUJ’. Consultants, where he advises ‘confirm’ that what bogus journalists encourage – the In fact, her only contact with the union employers on how to deal with uppity “ role, the job and the media become was to subsequently be reprimanded employees. ‘Advice and support for holders are irrelevant and redundant. Journalism is by our assistant general secretary businesses,’ he calls it. delegitimised. We’re not worth our Seamus Dooley. All of this leads a person to have legitimate keep. Happily, the courts sided with suspicions concerning the status and newsgatherers An NUJ-issued UKPCA press card is a Dooley and Ms Dean has now been validity of his ‘press cards’– and the privilege to carry, and a mark that its fined and banned from entering any people who sport them. holders are bona fide newsgatherers. hospital unless she is genuinely And just to move into the realms of Bogus infiltrators and their agents are a unwell... what should be fantasy, there are menace to us all. ” theJournalist | 25

Can you trust your sources?

Think tanks can be valuable sources of analysis and research. But some are more open about who funds them than others. We shine a light on the most and the least transparent.

Your Summer in Provence Who Funds You? promotes funding transparency Make our 1830 stone country home your own among UK think tanks and as you explore the medieval village of Lorgues and nearby wineries, markets, cafes and shops. political campaigns. We ask The house sleeps 8 comfortably and is set organisations to publish on private gated grounds with lush old-growth their annual income and gardens, pool and pool house, BBQ, Wifi. declare their major funders.

See more at ProvenceRetreat.com or contact us at [email protected] WhoFundsYou.org

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NUJ General Secretary Election 2021

The National Union of Journalists is The application form, including details of the terms inviting applications for the post of and conditions of employment may be obtained from [email protected]. NUJ General Secretary. The closing date for receipt of completed applications The post is subject to election by ballot of the is noon, Monday 3rd May 2021. NUJ membership every five years. It is a full-time post based at the Union’s London Head Office You are advised to check that your membership details working exclusively for the Union. The Union is are up to date in order to avoid delays in receiving currently operating a 4-day week working pattern a ballot paper. You can do this at the NUJ website until the end of September 2021, when it will return www.nuj.org.uk or by contacting the membership to 5 days. department at [email protected].

Application Forms available from: [email protected]

Closing Date: Monday 3rd May 2021

27 | theJournalist

FREELANCE RIGHTS CHARTER Fair deal for freelances

The Covid-19 Trades union collective Work free from pressure crisis has further bargaining to improve to operate on a PAYE terms and conditions basis, or to incorporate, marginalised already 1 6 for freelances side by side or work through umbrella vulnerable freelances with staff companies working across the media industry – Fair written contracts Equal health and safety this NUJ Freelance free from the threat protections including Rights Charter 2of disadvantage for parity of training, asserting their rights 7 demands improved insurances and security protections and provision benefits regardless of Respect for their creators’ rights and employment status. Fair fees and terms, and 3unwaivable moral rights prompt payments Support our call 8 for a Fair Deal for Equalised rights with employees including; Dignity and respect Freelances, where all sick pay; maternity, at work, free from freelances have the 4 bullying, harassment or paternity and parental leave; 9 right to: unemployment benefit; full discrimination, with parity of access to benefits and social access to grievance procedures securities Equal professional Choice over how they rights, including freelance and are taxed, 10the right to protect 5with an end to advance sources, seek information and tax payments uphold ethical standards