NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE

Informedissue 31 March 2020

other types of technology – and NUJ NUJ website. Or perhaps your branch business is being carried out, and indeed or workplace can think of ways to raise is busier than ever. money. In this special edition of NUJ Informed, If you go on to the website www.nuj. Seamus Dooley, Irish Secretary, outlines org.uk you will find our green Covid-19 how the union quickly switched to home button, where you can find a huge fund working, while still maintaining a major of advice, guidance and suggestions of role on the national scenes in the UK where you can find financial assistance. and Ireland. The page is regularly updated as the The coronavirus crisis quickly hit situation changes. the pockets of many of our freelance One aspect of this crisis has been to members, and others fear for the future highlight why quality journalism is vital of their jobs. It has been heart-breaking and the huge role that our public service to read some of the testimonies of broadcasters and local press are playing members whose shifts have been in providing information and working cancelled, with no more work in sight, with volunteers to make sure the while others fear for the future of the vulnerable receive help. Ensuring public titles they write for. service broadcasters were categorised as Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary, key workers was one important win for us Keep Safe! explains on page 2 how the union has last week. risen to meet these challenges, together NUJ members are resourceful and with the broader trade union movement, adaptable and will endeavour to be out As president of the NUJ, I hope you to support all our members and argue there telling the story. But I just urge you and your loved ones are keeping well for a proper financial package to see all to take great care if you are working in these difficult times and that you people through this emergency. Sadly, outside of your home – make sure you are doing all you can to keep safe. some of the usual suspects among our have the correct protections and don’t While the doors of our offices employers have been less generous in accept risk in this critical period. in London, Dublin, Glasgow and their response. As we all get to grips with new ways Manchester are closed, the union is very Now is the time to show solidarity of working – I’ve been on four different much open and working hard to support and support each other. Trustees of video and five different conference you and to uphold quality journalism. the union’s hardship charity NUJ Extra calling systems in the past fortnight – The union’s Emergency Committee met this week. They have pledged to we are bound to find the world of work met this week (by conference call help those directly affected and who changed after this pandemic. Among the of course) and had no choice but to lose money as a result, as well as those difficulties, stresses and sorrow of this postpone Delegate Meeting which was who contract the disease or who have challenging period, there will be new or due to take place next month. This has to self-quarantine because of it. The stronger connections and different ways several consequences, one of which charity will also consider applications of working which emerge and we will find relating to DM being when terms of office from those who do not contract the strength within ourselves and among – including mine as president – were disease but who lose significant income each other. due to come to an end. We decided in from the economic impact of Covid-19 So take care, look after each other accordance with the NUJ Rule Book that and the response to it – a significant and offer solidarity where you can. I send for the time being all national officers, variation to the charity’s normal policy. you mine. councils and committees will remain So, if you are still in a job and feel secure in place until the end of the next DM, in your employment, think about your whenever that is. However, rest assured less-fortunate colleagues and see if you that the union’s democratic bodies are can make a donation to NUJ Extra. It’s still meeting – by Microsoft Teams and very easy, you can do so online on the

Also Michelle’s #WFH Virus in this Message Homeworking Threat issue: Page 2 Page 8 Page 10 02 Informed Michelle’s Message

significant chunk of that pressure has ensure that those journalists – staff and come from the trade union movement freelance – who are doing vital public – notable when the UK Chancellor paid interest journalism documenting the tribute to the TUC and the CBI in the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, are able to same breath, during his announcement go about their work without interference of the financial package of support for or misunderstandings with local police. workers and companies. Of course, we’re also reminding all But a massive omission was for the NUJ members that this only applies to millions of freelance, self-employed journalists carrying out this work – a and workers in the gig economy whose press card is not a passport out of self- already precarious livelihoods have isolation and we’re also obliged to look been plunged into crisis. That’s when after our own safety and that of others in the NUJ, with the TUC and sister unions, the coming weeks. swung into action. It was unthinkable that the government was not going to come to the aid of 5m self-employed “We are here to help workers, including many in the media, and support you.” Speaking with just because it was difficult. This crisis has put the precarious lives of so many As Sian Jones, our president, reminds many NUJ members working people into sharp focus and us – the NUJ might be doing its work responses to our freelance office have differently, as we adjust to remote this week, there shown the stark reality of members working, but our support and presence is was a common whose work dried up virtually overnight. as real and personal as ever. The priority I joined a meeting with fellow trade of our staff and officials is to help our sentiment unions and treasury officials to thrash members through this difficult period. expressed about out the issues. We need to look at the Our charity NUJ Extra – which I’m proud package in detail and will continue our to be a trustee of – has swung into action the rapid escalation conversations with government, but and will do all it can to offer practical of the Covid-19 the obvious problem is that money is support to those who need it most, unlikely to be released into people’s back while continuing to support our existing pandemic accounts until June. beneficiaries. Of course the industry has also Our schedule of reps’ training had been lobbying and demanding state to be cancelled but the good news is We were suddenly faced with the intervention to support newspapers that we are working with our trainer challenge of having to adapt swiftly to and journalism – purporting to be the Caroline Holmes as we speak to ensure a new normal, one that has thrown our “fourth emergency service” in meetings we continue to support reps with work and personal lives into a swirling with ministers, then turning around and reconfigured online courses, and some vortex and imposed constraints that closing free titles, laying off reporters new bespoke packages – including a we’ve never experienced before. and – in the case of Newsquest – cutting focus on mental health which we’ll At the same time, as if the last few wages of staff they are not putting on launch in April, to help us through years of politics haven’t been enough of a furlough. The cynical opportunistic this period of remote working. With rollercoaster ride, we’re now witnessing – actions of companies who have the NUJ on your side we want to make and bearing witness to as journalists – an disgraceful form for “never wasting sure this period of necessary isolation unparalleled intervention of the state a crisis.” is a physical one, not a social one, and in our lives, hearing the language of Our lobbying intervention when the your NUJ family – your chapel, branch, collectivism, compassion and solidarity lockdowns commenced meant we were colleagues on industrial councils and from the most unusual of quarters. able to demonstrate how journalists union committees, and all of us who Of course the reality is that the must be regarded as vital keyworkers, work for the union, are here to help and conversion to socialist principles is ensuring those members that need it (in support you. a skin-deep and slow reaction to the the UK) would have the consequential Take extra care of yourself and your changing world around us, and in access to ongoing childcare provision. loved ones in the coming days and weeks response to enormous pressure for our We’ve also been liaising with the and know that the NUJ continues to have government to act more decisively. A National Police Chiefs Council to your back. Informed 03

besieged chapel reps faced with notices of layoffs, part-time working, temporary Coping with gale-force closures and redundancies. In the context of the state winds of change assistance packages, announcements unprecedented from a Tory government, support and helpful colleagues is there is no justification for employers entirely different proposition. rushing to lay off staff rather than Decisions had to be taken quickly exploring the new range of options but by using technology our service to available. members has been maintained, albeit The NUJ was shocked to learn of the delivered differently and occasionally decision of Iconic Newspapers Ltd in more slowly than we might wish. Ireland to lay off staff in advance of the While our offices remain closed well-heralded Irish announcement of a members can still contact their local temporary subsidy for employers. I have offices and officials using the same written to An Taoiseach highlighting the phone numbers and email addresses. crisis in the Irish media, especially in the From day one we advised that regional press sector. It makes our call for By Seamus Dooley disciplinary meetings or grievance a Commission on the Future of the Media hearings should be postponed. Legal in Ireland even more pressing. Ní hé na gaoithe lá na scolb. advice is available on the NUJ website The Irish government has supported The old Gaelic proverb, translated as about the duties of employers and the media’s role and in his televised “A windy day is not a day for thatching” employees. address, an Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, resonated as the NUJ came to grips with One of the first initiatives was the stressed the important part played by the full implications of the Covid-19 introduction of video team meetings for journalists in keeping the public informed. pandemic for the union, the media officials. The development and policy As in the UK, industry groups have, like industry and, most importantly of all, for committees were held incorporeally. the NUJ, successfully argued that media our members and their dependants. It’s no substitute for human contact, workers are key to the delivery of news Faced with a gale of unprecedented but for members working remotely and information. What is staggering ferocity the NUJ team had to move all of the conferences were a welcome is how some media organisations quickly to steady the ship, putting in opportunity to catch up and, on a lighter undermine that argument by seeking to place emergency measures for remote note, to gain an insight into the home lay off workers. working. Most officials are used to environment of colleagues! Even in a storm the NUJ must look to working remotely but abandoning the As we go to press, officials are caught the future. At the end of this crisis there structure of an office with administrative up in a tsunami of messages from will be many roofs to thatch.

trustees have waived one of its key guidelines • Who have no other available support. Message from Chris that it cannot top up incomes of members who NUJ members need extra help and NUJ Extra are unable to earn enough from journalism. will provide it. NUJ Extra has appealed to Wheal, chair of The mass loss of income caused by the response members, branches and chapels to donate to trustees NUJ Extra to Covid-19 will now qualify for NUJ Extra help, help those who need help. More information: even where the member has not contracted the https://www.nuj.org.uk/news/nuj-extra- “I am a sports journalist left with no work at all virus or had to self-isolate to care for someone response-to-covid-19/ as a result of the near-blanket cancellation of at risk or who has contracted it. The trustees are all sport. As a husband and father, I still have stepping up to process applications and have considerable monthly outgoings – just limited asked that members who can afford to wait funds with which to meet my responsibilities.” a week or two do so. Trustees are prioritising This is just one of many desperate emails the applicants: union has received. Now, NUJ Extra is geared up • Who are the sole income earner and have to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds to dependants. help members affected by the coronavirus. The • Who have a caring role. 04 Informed News Update

station was to join local volunteer groups in helping co-ordinate support for the A nation gathers elderly, housebound or at risk. The BBC opened its PSB offering around the TV beyond increased news coverage by using the One Show to include health and well-being advice alongside keeping fit and healthy eating tips. It said it would “retarget the BBC Food website around collections of recipes and advice on what can be made with essentials, especially Downing Street for older people, and for low-income families”. It offered families forced to school their children from home more BBC Bitesize content and a daily educational programme for different key stages or year. To entertain people bored at home it would put old favourites such as Spooks, Wallander and The Honourable Woman on iPlayer. Suddenly wanting to “whack” the BBC doesn’t seem such a good idea. When the new government started its term, there was much briefing against the broadcaster, with sources talking of a great “pruning back”. Today, getting your It was via a six-channel TV broadcast Guardian website putting out updates news on the Corvid-19 situation from at 8.30pm that the Prime Minister set by the minute and The Sun’s teatime a Fox-style broadcaster isn’t such an out strict new measures in response to Covid-19 newsletter, information, news enticing idea. the Covid-19 emergency. and advice was out there. Coronavirus People have been turning to the BBC as Behind his desk at Number 10, a union maps, explainers and videos on how a trusted source of information. Auntie flag at his back, he spoke to the nation. wash hands were published. is back and she’s needed. The Prime People would be allowed out of their The NUJ has been helping, making Minister’s statement was watched by homes for only limited purposes, he said. sure journalist and photographers are 15.4m on BBC One, with a further 2.5m All shops selling non-essential goods, able to do their jobs as key workers and on Channel and just shy of libraries, playgrounds, gyms and places ensuring card continues to be 600,000 requests via BBC iPlayer. of worship would close and all social recognised for news gathers. Of course ITV, Channel 4, Sky and other events, excluding funerals, were banned. Tony Hall, the BBC’s director general, broadcasters are important in providing Police would be given new powers to said: “Our core role is to bring trusted trusted news and information. STV is enforce the new rules. news and information to audiences now producing a 6pm programme for Families gathered round their in the UK and around the world in a the whole of Scotland. Carolyn McCall, television, self-isolators watched their fast-moving situation, and to counter ITV’s CEO, announced a new Monday phones and iPads in the attic in the confusion and misinformation.” night show, Coronavirus Report, and time-honoured fashion during a national The corporation said it would said: “As a public service broadcaster, we emergency. In all 28m people tuned in. postpone the planned £40m cuts and remain committed to doing everything As his broadcast unfolded, journalists redundancies in news as it takes on we can to continue to provide news, swiftly added to “live” news reports, the challenge of covering coronavirus drama, entertainment and factual prepared “what this means for you” pandemic and also postpone the programmes to our viewers to keep them podcasts and leader writers and introduction of licence-fee payments informed about this crisis and to offer comment writers got to work. for the over-75s as well as delaying the them an escape from it.” Research by the It’s times such as this that the media closure of the Red Button text news and European Broadcasting Union has found and press are at their best. From the information service. Under the umbrella, that even young viewers are tuning in to rolling TV news, to the teams at The Make a Difference, every local radio “mainstream” evening bulletins. Informed 05

people’s faces every day. So how is BBC Local Radio rising to its BBC Radio Humberside biggest challenge to date? The whole network changed its schedule this week presenter Andy Comfort with neighbourhood programmes on every station now starting at 6am, 10am, on local radio’s role as a 2pm, 6pm, 10pm and an overnight sustaining service thanks to BBC Radio London. This means we have some friend in times of need slack in the system in case staff have to go off work. talking to us on the phone, by text or Only broadcast-critical staff go into the social media and they’re doing it in large office – most are now working from home numbers. and co-ordinating via Skype, phone Many of the people who could be most and emails. We use all the technology at risk from Covid-19 are BBC local radio available to us and our engineers have listeners. Now it’s their lifeline. If you worked miracles. We have a presenter tune in to any of the emergency half self-isolating but presenting from hourly Make a Difference bulletins going his living room. I work from home in out on local radio stations across the the morning then go in at 1.30pm country you’ll know what I mean. and straight into the studio for the “A lady from Hull has been in touch 2-6pm programme. Staff are following – she’s in a wheelchair, her husband separation rules and my Bectu colleague is recovering from a stroke and their and I are pleased with the measures now In a 26-year career as a journalist I’ve daughter is disabled and they can’t get in place. never seen anything like this. People out to get groceries and essentials and It’s a strange world right now but often talk of BBC Local Radio network they’re worried – can you help?” we’re adapting to the “new normal”. As coming into its own in bad weather Within a couple of hours we were able recently as six months ago BBC Local such as snow and floods, although to put them in touch with somebody who Radio staff began fearing imminent those of us who work on local stations went to get their shopping and delivered restructuring, programme sharing and know we’re here for the community it to them. There will be examples like job cuts. But, as Roger Taylor wrote in every day, rain or shine. this up and down the land, from BBC Queen’s 1984 song, Radio Gaga, We are part of the community, we Radio Cornwall to BBC Radio Cumbria. “You’ve yet to have your finest hour.” see them every day on the bus, in the It’s not just the essential information, BBC Local Radio is rising to its biggest cafes and parks and in our receptions local radio is a friend, a companion, challenge and it’s doing so with and studios. At the moment they are and we’re still trying to put a smile on confidence and pride.

from Pevensey Bay and BBC Radio Nottingham aired a plea for Make a Difference help from Tony who suffers from a terminal lung disease. That afternoon a local food bank supplied him and his family with Local BBC radio stations have launched Make a Difference everything they needed. It appears the listeners have already to help keep communities connected across England been appreciative with Anthony calling to Toby Foster’s during the coronavirus crisis. show on Radio Sheffield saying: “I just want to say it cannot be All 39 BBC stations have joined volunteers making sure underestimated over the next few weeks how important local people know that help is available in their area and how to radio is going to be, there’s so many people like me who rely get it. News updates are provided every 30 minutes. BBC on it for proper information rather than the rubbish that’s put Radio WM in Birmingham tweeted how a taxi company had online and on the tele at the moment, it’s going to be a lifeline offered free pick-ups of shopping for the most vulnerable I think.” and delivered 50 parcels for free. BBC Sussex and Surrey The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, led the first in managed to get toilet rolls delivered to a 90-year-old man a series of weekly church services broadcast on local radio. 06 Informed News Update

Covid-19.” And: “I’m a British freelancer Freelance package based in Paris. We are in full lockdown. It’s hard to move without papers. In terms of my situation, I’m now desperate. I’ve lost €6,000 overnight, and that offers hope money was going to be keeping me alive.” Pamela Morton, freelance national organiser, said: “Freelances had all but been forgotten, so we are pleased the Treasury has listened to us and our Ana Jaks sister unions, as many of our members are desperate and facing a frightening future with all their work cancelled. We welcome the offer from the Treasury to look at the details and explain how the deal will work for members, but our concern is about how soon the funding will reach people.” While the package was largely praised as generous, it will not work for everyone. The Chancellor claimed it would cover 95 per cent of the self-employed. The main problem is that the Treasury has said it is unlikely to get money to people until June. This will offer little succour to one member who told the NUJ: “I have been laid off from the newspaper I’ve been working for as a freelance sub for more than two years and I had seven shifts The NUJ has welcomed the traders to be able to apply for the same lined up for April. I had work booked up to Chancellor’s new package for loans as businesses and that thresholds the middle of June and now I have none. freelances affected by the Covid-19 for universal credit be dropped as many “I will have money coming in to the pandemic, but says the devil will be in freelances are barred from applying end of April, assuming my outstanding the detail. because they have money put by to invoices get paid. Then nothing. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the pay tax and other contingencies. The “I can’t help crying – I don’t know how government will pay self-employed government did agree to ask HMRC to I’ll survive.” people adversely affected by the defer its date to collect payments on coronavirus a taxable grant worth 80 account, due on July 31 and the next per cent of their average monthly profits quarter of VAT payments. Press cards rule over the last three years, up to £2,500 a The NUJ’s freelance office has been The union can report a positive month. It will be open to anyone with an inundated with members who are meeting with the National Police income up to £50,000, but only those already suffering. One said: “I’m a Chiefs Council (NPCC) about who have a tax return for 2019 will be freelance photographer, most of my journalists’ rights to move about in able to apply. work is to some degree event-based pursuit of public interest stories. Treasury officials have agreed to and right now I can’t see anything in my Michelle Stanistreet said the NPCC consult with the NUJ and sister unions diary. Overheads are going to continue chair agreed that the press card would on how the scheme will work. The NUJ though and I’m currently looking at be sufficient proof of a journalist’s had lobbied hard for protection for outgoings to see what I can cut.” And: “I ID and that letters from publications freelances who had been left out of a deal work as a freelance journalist/producer would not be required. Freelances whereby businesses would get grants for a broadcaster who had booked me in would also be respected in the same to cover 80 per cent of their workers’ for 23 shifts in April. However, I expect way as staffers. salaries. The NUJ has called for sole the majority will be cancelled due to Informed 07

Go to the green Chris Frost, ethics button council chair, offers It’s been a challenging time for NUJ members, with coronavirus news moving fast and advice changing. some topical advice The place to go is the Covid-19 green button on the NUJ websitehttps:// www.nuj.org.uk/work/covid-19- The Covid-19 crisis poses new ethical the family with decency. information challenges to journalists. Of course, The rarity of the situation in which The union has pulled together the NUJ’s code of conduct still we now find ourselves leads to all sorts advice, guidance and the latest applies, perhaps more so than ever, potential stories from the difficulties of announcements from the UK and so members should remember they a family unable to attend a loved one’s Irish governments and organisations still have a duty to inform the public funeral to weddings with no more than such the TUC and Acas on honestly, accurately and fairly. five guests. Pregnant women are in the employment matters, health and However, the new government advice vulnerable groups and births in hospital safety, how to contact NUJ officials, means that some of the other clauses are likely to become less frequent as information and where to get help and require more thought than usual. medical facilities become stretched financial assistance. It also links to an Sources should not be put at risk of and story ideas open up, from babies extensive advice page for freelances. infection and all contacts should be born with the virus to births in odd https://www.nuj.org.uk/news/covid- carried out by phone or online where circumstances. 19-update-from-the-nujs-freelance- possible. Broadcasters should ensure Our code calls on journalists to resist office/ minimum crews and a minimum two- threats or inducements to influence or The NUJ is helping members to metre distance – get that mic boom suppress information. With government continue to provide the public with out of the stores and use a handheld and others attempting to present the timely, accurate information on mic! Photographers should also use crisis to their advantage, journalists events, the latest health advice, longer lenses to ensure distance. Try need to be as careful as ever about why promote and co-ordinate volunteering to interview out of doors – the better someone is telling us something and if efforts, bring the community together weather will help here. You should what they are saying is really true. and combat the proliferation of fake not expect to be invited into someone’s We should never rely on a single news. It also offers advice on how home. source, always test what we are being members can protect themselves and Crisis, disease and death have always told against other views. However, you their families from the coronavirus. made for good stories, but we should should remember that many of those NUJ branches are sending advice avoid being swept along by the sniff you may need to speak to will be very to members. Nottingham branch has of a particularly good human interest busy, particularly medical experts and been collating the experiences of story. Intruding into the privacy of the like, and so phone and email is best, freelances. NUJ head office will send people mourning the death of a loved at least for initial contact or confirmatory regular advice bulletins. one should be done with caution and information. The coronavirus crisis has prompted sympathy – not easy from a distance of Our code tells us not to produce Netherlands NUJ to go digital and more than two metres. Normal advice material likely to cause hatred or is trialling its branch meeting via would be to cover such stories in person, discrimination against identifiable Google Hangout. Tony Sheldon, NEC but, it would be best to make such calls groups; already there have been member, said: “Our branch covers by phone. Remember, although this may examples of attacks on Chinese the whole of the Netherlands, so be one of the first deaths in your area, students. It is important that NUJ going digital could have huge benefits the family still deserve the right members do not jump on such stories for the future in allowing members to refuse to talk to you if they wish. or seek a cheap and easy piece from across the country to participate. We If they do agree to talk, you need to hatemongers such as Nigel Farage who are asking all members to contact us respect their boundaries. Knowledge seek to promote themselves at the if they face difficulties and to pass on of a death may well be in the public expense of others. Fortunately, there professional advice for colleagues and interest and something that needs to are plenty of excellent stories of human tips on how to survive life indoors.” be published but we still need to treat kindness around to give us all hope. 08 Informed

Spotlight #WFH – when your co-workers are now toddlers

and boisterous three-year-old. It has been wonderful to help her learn to read and count. I’ve lost work but finally gained the co-workers I’ve been missing. It’s just a shame.”

#WFH: how to keep healthy and productive – tips to help Do a mini risk assessment. What • makes you feel anxious, and why? What challenges have you found? Review how you are doing. Plan your day, regular routines help • provide purpose and focus. Focus on work during work hours, • then pack away your laptop and switch to home life. Being active increases our energy • levels and can bring a greater sense of wellness. Join body coach Joe Juggling work and children, fighting of a toddler. The second day of balancing Wicks on YouTube for free workout with the spouse for office space and childcare and work was a distinct sessions. Take regular screen getting used to new technology to improvement, but it’s still a steep learning breaks, stretch, walk around, look communicate with colleagues has curve. Our son is thrilled with having out the window. been a steep learning curve for many his parents around 24/7, even if we’re Try relaxation techniques, such as of us confined to home. increasingly frazzled. For me it means • meditation and mindfulness. Anna Hervé, NEC rep for the books periods of intense concentration, followed Keep in touch with people by sector, is now a proud practitioner of by putting together a trampoline.” • joining WhatsApp or Facebook networking apps Zoom, Teams and Skype As a freelance, Jade Wright is used groups. Arrange a virtual coffee or and Clear Scanner app. Most of all she is to working from home – but not usually glass of wine or play an online game “ridiculously proud” of setting up her new with husband Marc news editing the with friends, family or colleagues. printer/scanner off all by herself. Despite , bringing together a team of Sleeping well can be difficult when her cat photo-bombing virtual meetings reporters working across north , • you feel anxious. Try to go to bed at and the screams off stage – possibly the and daughter Beatrice scattering all her roughly the same time. Wind down son, maybe the husband – she is head toys across the floor. Her work editing an before bed, turning off phones, down and working until it is her time to independent food and drink magazine, tablets and laptops an hour before take care of their toddler. writing freelance arts stories and her back- you retire. She said: “As a book editor, working from up doing PR for hospitality clients has all Get the balance right between home can be the ideal scenario. I can focus but dried up. She said: “So, I am doing my • following the news coverage and on editing text, without the distraction of tax return, getting to grips with my new keeping informed and limiting your endless meetings and all the quotidian camera, updating my website, plus that news intake if it begins to worry tasks that dominate our office life. The book I keep meaning to finish. I also have you. one fly in my ointment? I’m the mother a full time job home-schooling a brilliant Informed 09

colleagues its comfortable and it adds to the team spirit. That comradeship is sadly gone. There is a new Corona reality. The correspondent parks alongside the satellite van at the right angle to see the editing monitor. We select the right clips of interviews, discuss picture selection, separately, metres apart. When the script is written it’s time to lay down the voice. The satellite operator hands a sterilised microphone through my car window, he records my voice and when finished I sterilise the microphone and hand it back. If we exchange discs they must be wiped down with medical-grade sterile wipes. The engagement with interviewees is also counter intuitive. We must be Fran parks by the satellite van far apart, often to the point where it is difficult to hear each other. And no shaking hands. It goes against On the Road with RTE’s everything we are taught about bonding with people and engaging. In the past few weeks I’ve been in Fran McNulty supermarkets, marts, busy streets and It’s a strange conversation, your on the road, meeting people, talking to shopping centres. Everyday you feel editor calls you aside. She asks if contacts and getting stories on air. exposed. We wear gloves, constantly you’d mind not coming into the office An immediate challenge was use alcohol gel and when necessary anymore. technology. In my 20 years in wear additional protective gear. A visit Would you be willing to be part journalism, I have never faced such to a closed farmers’ mart in Granard, of a group to work remotely for the change, such a different way of working. County Longford, made it real. The foreseeable future. It means either one My job as the national broadcaster’s mart empty; farmers who were stressed thing, your office etiquette has become agriculture & consumer affairs turned up regardless. too much for your colleagues or there’s correspondent sees me travel to every Audiences for news are growing. The a need to keep some people in reserve, corner of Ireland. I can broadcast live on public is turning to the public service safe from Covid-19, or not in the office to radio from my iPhone, I no longer use broadcaster for accurate, trusted news. infect other staff. radio sound recording equipment, it’s all In an era where spurious WhatsApp It was when one of the managing done on a telephone handset and using message can become gospel, there was editors of RTÉ News asked me to leave 4G connectivity. On big stories I have never a greater need for honest, verified the office that it was immediately the tremendous support of satellite news coverage. It is a mark of pride to be apparent that this crisis was very real. van operators, on smaller stories I edit part of that. To be a journalist is to serve It is to the credit of the Irish national television packages in the front seat the public, on the front line telling the broadcaster that these conversations of the car and send material using an store of living with Corona. were happening in early March, way internet connection. As regional newspaper titles let staff ahead of the current focus on curbing The change is liberating and allows the go, amidst a huge crisis, we should value the spread of Coronavirus. story to become the priority. what public broadcasting can do for us. Within 12 hours I was out of the Normally when we work with satellite If only the crisis of funding that haunts newsroom. Since then I have been crews we sit in the back of a van, cheek RTÉ and others could be resolved. working out of my home and my car. by jowl, editor and reporter side by side. Perhaps now that the value of PSB is In many respects it’s not new for a The camera operator comes in for chats. realised, the powers that be will take specialist correspondent, we should be It’s a very small space, but with great it seriously. 10 Informed

Spotlight

been sent home, for fear that they might Telling the news spread the virus. You don’t have to listen in to many of these exchanges to realise that the Covid-19 crisis will reshape our media in crisis times more profoundly than any single event in recent memory. The response of the regional press has been predictably shabby. Supplicating themselves before government ministers

Matt Kenyon Matt in the hope of a bail out, they gravely describe themselves as “the forth emergency service”. “Communities depend upon us minister,” they intone. Call ended, many have acted brutally, without consultation, and in a manner that is apparently intent on not wasting a crisis. Newsquest, for example, announced that significant numbers, possibly 40 per cent, of editorial staff will be sent home on furlough with only the government’s income support to pay their bills. The rest of the staff will endure a 15 per cent, across-the-board cut, quite possibly in breach of their employment contracts. JPIMedia announced it would stop printing most of its free newspapers, while titles such as the Edinburgh News (formerly the ) told regular freelance contributors and casuals that there would be no further work until the end of the crisis. The Racing Post will not publish for the foreseeable future, the Hardship, havoc Weekly since mid-March the is being delivered to homes for the first Secretary of State for Culture has time and hand-out titles such as Time Out and innovation hosted a telephone conference. and Stylist have gone digital only. have been caused Senior editors, chief executives and While the business model of much proprietors, all representatives from of the media has been dramatically by Covid-19 to the nation’s newspapers take it in undermined, public thirst for the news the industry. turns to describe their circumstances. has become frenzied. Boris Johnson’s All are veterans of a decade of falling statement to the nation on 23 March was Tim Dawson advertising revenue and disappearing watched live by 27 million people. It was circulation. The fresh pain in their the largest ever audience for a television investigates voices today is unmistakeable. news event in the UK. Audience for all One reports a 20 per cent fall in television news are believed to have advertising spend, another the halving of doubled in the past fortnight and print sales over the course of a fortnight. online news sources report their heaviest Supermarkets are increasingly reluctant ever traffic. to stock newspapers, so dramatically have This has been boosted by subscription- sales fallen. Delivery boys and girls have only sites such as the FT, the New York Informed 11

Times and the Washington Post making Fiona Roberts who produces Radio in the country. their coronavirus-related coverage 4’s Inside Science, has created an For many reporters telling the story of available to non-subscribers. effective home studio from inexpensive the crisis has made this one of their most In a welcome move, the BBC has equipment, much of which she already intense and emotional working periods suspended its program to shed 450 posts owned: ever. On-air correspondents have joined – although a future funding crisis at the “I set up group Whatsapp or Facetime applause for NHS workers, anchors such corporation seems even more certain. calls with the presenter and contributors as Diana Speed on the Today program from the confines of their own homes have audibly shown emotion. Others, or wherever”, she explains. “This allows such as ITV Wales’ Rob Osbourne have “The response of the them to hear each other (and me when involved their entire family to explain the regional press has been I switch my mic on) and record them. I virus and our response. then load the SD card files into an editing Correspondents and experts in topics predictably shabby” package and craft the final product.” such as health and personal finance Her system is not without downsides. have enjoyed something of a boom, their Reading the runes for the future media “It’s not studio quality, and I worked for specialisms suddenly sought after. landscape suggests that the current crisis 23-and-a-half hours yesterday to finish a What we have yet to see are the results will accelerate already evident trends, programme. So far we’ve been trying to of many other journalists on enforced according to Douglas McCabe, the chief not make the changes in the way we are furlough, finding creative ways to fill executive of Enders Analysis. He predicts working be too obvious on air. We’ve been their time. During The Times lockout a shift in consumer spend from retail to lucky to date that our main contributors of 1978/9 hundreds of editorial staff online, a transfer of advertising away from are scientists or science journalists who were paid to do nothing for 11 months. offline, an increasing move from print are quite tech savvy.” A great many wrote the books they had media to online consumption and a shift There are issues, however. “The always promised – almost none of which in the funding model from dependence on separation between work and home has concerned the challenges of introducing advertising to subscriptions. gone, and I don’t have the best ergonomic new technology to the newspaper The media industry analyst also cites set up – backache and RSI are starting to industry. Doubtless in years to come, a newspapers’ distribution crisis, with become an issue. Also working so close core older readers unable to obtain to the, currently well-stocked, fridge is “It is hard to believe newspapers as a key issue for the industry. becoming problematic!” Innovative steps to distribute for free may For the moment, Roberts is that current disruption resolve this, although as social pressure accentuating the positive. “I am thinking will not leave profound to isolate grows, this challenge can only of ways to take advantage of working at marks on our industry grow. home and I am looking for stories that Facebook is currently operating more play into being stuck at home, often with and the way we work.” slowly than usual, such been its increased kids, so we’re look at science experiments traffic, largely driven by users searching you can do at home with your kids where cohort whose lives changed direction as a for news. It has reversed a long-time reporters can record themselves and then result of this crisis will be identifiable. decline in news-driven traffic to that send the audio to me.” How completely any of us return to platform. Working from a home office is by no pre-Covid-19 ways of working remains to The macro business impacts on the means the only innovation. While much be seen. Fiona Roberts for one is looking media might not be the most noticeable of the work of the courts has been put forward to the resumption of her changes, however. Millions of workers, on hold ‘for lockdown’, those covering long and expensive commute. “I work journalists among them, have discovered ongoing cases at the Old Bailey have been in a very collaborative way, often have that a working from home is feasible. told that they can dial into hearings for interns and trainees and experts visiting Radio broadcasters have accepted that the first time. A judge at Norwich Crown for interviews etc. I miss them all,” content trumps sound quality. And Court allowed reporters to cover cases she said. television journalists have realised by Skype. As anyone who has followed Not everyone feels that way, of course, Skyped comment to camera from a case from a ‘media annex’, viewing and it is hard to believe that current intriguing home settings is possible for proceedings on a screen is not the same disruption will not leave profound marks many interview subjects, and that you as being in court – but it is easy to see that on our industry and the way that we can even anchor the evening news from a such developments could allow reporters work – quite possibly in ways that are still home office. to cover cases in courts located elsewhere impossible to imagine. Informed 12

International Censorship spreads virus By Tim Dawson At the end of January, New York Times Beijing reporter Amy Qin arrived in Wuhan, a week into lockdown. Her dispatches painted a troubling picture. Hundreds were dead, thousands infected, and nearly twenty million people confined to their homes. She revealed official confusion and poor planning, as well as cheering stories of self-help – among them Zhang Lei, who volunteered daily to delivering groceries to the housebound. On 17 March, Qin, learned that she was to be expelled from China, along with all the other journalists working for US papers. She fared better than Chen Qiushi, a lawyer and Chinese citizen journalist. He reported from Wuhan Proper reporting in China could averted the Covid-19 pandemic around the same time and has since disappeared of us all are worthwhile.” million people without quality, up-to- On 1 March the Chinese government An equally disturbing picture emerges date information about protecting ordered that all “content should be from Iran, where the coronavirus struck themselves from infection. That the mainly positive, uplifting and devoid early and where the media also suffers health emergency has not prompted of rumours”. Some have gone so far dramatic repression. Official statistics Prime Minister Modi to relax the to argue that without information suggest that nearly 2,000 people have clampdown demonstrates a disturbing suppression in China, the crisis now lost their lives as a result of the virus. indifference to public health in Kashmir, engulfing the globe might have been The World Health Organisation believes where 95 per cent of the population avoided. that the figure could be five times higher. are Muslims. The first death from was The paradox is the absence of Without a free media, the real figure reported in Kashmir a few days ago. dependable, authoritative reporting may never be known. What is certain, Quite apart from being personally has prompted Chinese citizens to the however, is that official disinformation uprooted, the real issue for Amy Qin most extraordinary ingenuity to share has intensified the crisis. is the stories that will now be untold. information. Criticism of Chinese leader Regular flights between Iran and China “I keep coming back to my last trip, to Xi Jinping on social media appears in continued long after the scale of the Wuhan, where people were so willing to code, his name is transposed for ‘Trump’ virus was understood – in part because talk - they wanted the world to know what for example. Wuhan Whistle has been of strong economic and geopolitical ties. was happening to them and to hold their translated in multiple tongues and is Such was the scale of denial in official government accountable”. reposted as often as it is taken down. Iranian media that the country’s first If a deeper and lasting global “The control over information by Covid-19 death was announced before commitment to safeguarding free the Chinese authorities at this time is any infection from the virus had been expression is one change that emerge highly concerning” says International publicly confirmed. from the current crisis, it might just Federation of Journalists general India is in an earlier stage of the be out best guard against the next secretary Anthony Bellanger. “Access crisis than the UK. In Kashmir and pandemic. to public information is critical, if people Jammu, however, the internet has Censorship also struck Guardian are to be persuaded that governments not been available since their special journalist Ruth Michaelson, forced are acting in their best interests and constitutional status was revoked to leave Egypt after questioning the that the sacrifices this crisis demands seven months ago. It leaves eight country’s official death toll.