NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE Informedissue 25 October 2018 Union to woo new members with bold new recruitment designs A bold set of new recruitment Laura Davison, national organiser, materials have been designed as part said the implications, particularly for of the union’s major campaign to REASONS pensions, were unclear and industry boost numbers and find footholds in TO JOIN experts predicted: “Inevitably, the new parts of the industry. company will be broken up.” October’s national executive council Meanwhile, the union is dealing with meeting (NEC) heard the union’s 70 jobs at risk in national newspapers finances were under strain following since the take-over of Richard Desmond’s the failure of April’s DM to back a newspapers and magazines by Mirror subscription rise, despite voting for a owner Reach. busy, campaigning agenda. The new More redundancies have been planned designs by David Woods, which highlight S S for Newsquest titles and the union is the way the union helps media and PR rolling out a stress survey for staff. workers throughout their careers and ☞ All this will come as grist to the mill for fights for journalists’ rights and ethical Dame Frances Cairncross’s review into We offer Support and Help journalism, can be customised by The NUJ is your lifeline if you get arrested or the the sustainability of the UK’s press. The authorities try to confiscate your data or images. chapels and branches and used on We chase non-payers, represent and support you NUJ’s submission to the inquiry can be during disciplinary or redundancy procedures or if you are being bullied or have other work- social media. related problems. We offer professional help seen on the website at https://www.nuj. with reporting guides and advice on ethics, Recent figures show the NUJ secured networking opportunities and training to help org.uk/documents/nuj-submission-to- you develop your skills throughout your career. over £9million (€10.3m) over the last 12 Are you keeping good company? the-cairncross-review/ Join the NUJ today at nuj.org.uk/join www.nuj.org.uk months – £25,000 every single day of the The NEC also discussed the arrests of year – for its members in deals excluding Irish journalists Barry McCaffrey and negotiated collective pay awards. Four union was making inroads into a new Trevor Birney (page 12), the recent spate recent cases alone – on issues covering tranche of Middle East news organisations of journalists’ deaths and the chilling pay parity, race discrimination and set up in London. Recognition has been disappearance of Washington Post whistleblowing – had secured members regained at academic publisher, Springer columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, last pay-outs of over £500,000. The NEC was Nature, after being lost during the many seen entering the Saudi Arabian told the union must learn to shout louder and varied take-overs and mergers of the embassy in Turkey on 2 October and about its successes. group. believed to have been killed by a Saudi Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general The NEC met the day after Johnston hit squad, despite denials by the secretary, described the £30bn take- Press (JP) announced it had put itself Saudi king. Letters from the union over of Sky by US cable group Comcast up for sale. Although the regional have been sent to the embassies of as a potential game-changer. Talks are newsgroup’s troubles were well known, the Yemen, Bulgaria and Saudi taking place with Comcast management the announcement still came as a Arabia calling for assurances on press in hope of ending the long-standing anti- shock to staff. David King, JP’s chief safety (page 10). Media organisations union stance of previous owner, Rupert executive officer, said he had been including the Financial Times, Murdoch, and leafleting has started at unable to refinance the firm’s £220m Bloomberg, Economist and New York Sky’s west London site. debts and pension deficit. Titles affected Times have pulled out of the Future She said the union’s lead on equal include the Yorkshire Evening Post, the Investment Initiative conference, pay issues at the BBC had boosted Scotsman, Sheffield Star and Belfast dubbed Davos in the Desert, in Riyadh membership at the broadcaster and the News Letter. in protest. Also Michelle’s Model Irish in this Message Chapel? Arrests issue: Page 2 Page 10 Page 12 02 Informed Michelle’s Message and any potential formal offers will alternative models of ownership; remain confidential. facilitating charitable status for not- That the government finally acted for-profit entities; levying the social to take stock of the crisis facing local media and digital platform giants that news provision is welcome – the NUJ are making vast profits out of content has received a lot of positive feedback they haven’t funded; having properly already on the detailed submission we resourced newsrooms with journalists made to the inquiry. that are empowered to defend their NUJ members can help in this ethics and having a conscience clause campaign by making the case on the in contracts that makes that a realistic ground, in each and every local area, the proposition. importance of local news and the critical Critically, our key message is that the role it plays in our democracy and in the outcome of the Cairncross Review must broader ecology of journalism and news. not be bungs for the existing dominant Since the call for evidence closed last players in the industry that do not come month, we have been doing just that. I with strings attached. There has to be spoke at an event organised by the Media stringent criteria and objectives that News that Johnston Reform Coalition (MRC) in Birkbeck ensure it would constitute investment Press had formally University, a couple of weeks ago. in well-resourced journalism, not in The review was given the task of failed corporate business models whose entered a sale examining the sustainability of high- only solution is to cut jobs and diminish process as part of quality journalism, looking at the quality. It’s clear when you attend events overall state of the market, the threats like this that there is a lot of negativity its strategic review to financial sustainability, the role and about what the future holds and about of the business cast impact of digital search engines and what is achievable. From the NUJ’s social media platforms, how content and perspective – and the future for our a sombre shadow data flows are operated and managed next generation of members – I believe at the NEC. The and the role of digital advertising. optimism is essential and our view has to That’s against the backdrop of an be that change is not only desirable, it’s future of a major industry where newspaper circulation absolutely possible. regional newspaper has halved since 2001 and more than Also speaking on the panel was 200 local titles have closed in that time. Professor Angela Phillips, of London’s group, with over Given the scale of the challenge, Dame Goldsmiths University, who was 2,000 employees, Frances could be forgiven for thinking similarly clear that any future for she has bitten off more than can be journalism has to be one where it is a also throws the chewed. job, not a hobby. Journalists being paid The discussion at the MRC event was has to be a cornerstone of any future challenges facing broad. Natalie Fenton, professor of media where quality content can flourish. the Cairncross and communications, Goldsmiths, Her contribution focussed on the need University of London, spelled out for a publicly-funded search engine, Review into sharp the scale of the challenges faced in Public Interest Search, complete with relief. a landscape where four companies algorithms designed for the public dominate 90 per cent of the newspaper interest set in a regulatory framework We are having dialogue with the circulation, a concentration of ownership that underpins that ethos. company and will continue to raise that has led to the hollowing out of many Dr Martin Moore, director of the Centre with management all the concerns titles and created gaps that have become for the Study of Media, Communication of our members in the coming weeks. local news deserts. and Power, and a senior research fellow Johnston Press has stressed that it aims I outlined the range of changes that in the policy institute at King’s College to maintain the integrity of the group as the NUJ supports: such as making local London, spoke about the impact of a single unit, rather than see it carved papers community assets; ensuring that digital dominance on the industry, up, but until the end of the six-week sale they cannot be closed overnight without how the developments in advertising process the details of interested parties any scrutiny; exploring ways of funding technology are wholly undermining Informed 03 to public interest news and why a new implemented straight away. with punitive and hugely stressful tax model is needed. The current model The report highlighted the liabilities. is reliant on intrusive tracking, it also unacceptable delays in sorting out The committee’s concerns about the rewards content on relevance, popularity equal pay complaints – where informal impact of budget cuts at the BBC are and hits – not on being trustworthy, processes have dragged on for as long shared by the NUJ and should be the authoritative or created for the public as a year and formal grievances and subject of wider public debate. good. appeals are routinely taking longer than The NUJ and joint unions have Journalist Jim Cusick described the the maximum 90-day targets.