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Update: ITV staff will not ballot on strike action

November 14th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted by Judith Townend in Broadcasting

Further to news that a staff ballot among NUJ members at ITV would be held after the announcement of 1,000 job losses, the NUJ has issued this release:

“An NUJ strike ballot at ITV Regional News has been called off after union members voted to accept a new agreement with the company over planned cutbacks.

“The new agreement includes further incentives for those people choosing to take voluntary redundancy, as well as a commitment to push back the threat of compulsory redundancies to at least the end of January. This should allow time for further talks in the hope that the number of compulsory redundancies can be pushed down to zero,” the release said.

“There are still concerns around the massive cuts that are being proposed”, said NUJ Broadcasting Organiser Paul McLaughlin, “but we now have an agreement that allows the space for further talks to continue. We also continue to press our case with Ofcom to protect regional news on ITV.”

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Police attitude to the press will improve says Home Office

October 29th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted by Stuart Goodwin in Journalism

The UK Home Office will try and improve relations between the press and police, the National Union of Journalists reported yesterday. In a statement on their website the NUJ welcomed news that the government will try and improve its recognition of journalistic freedom. During a meeting between the union and the Home Office minister Vernon Coaker, the NUJ raised several concerns about police treatment towards journalists. The NUJ is particularly concerned by police surveillance of journalists and incidents leading to the obstruction of journalists at work.

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Jeremy Dear responds to regional media/BBC Local row

October 27th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Newspapers, Online Journalism

Following coverage of last week’s comments by National Union of Journalists (NUJ) chief Jeremy Dear, about his bemusement with the regional press’ opposition to the BBC’s proposals to extend local video offerings online, the general secretary has responded, saying that there’s ‘room for everyone’ in the regional market.

“My point is that the local newspapers campaign is for their own vested interests - they don’t care about ensuring local people have a variety of sources of news, comment and entertainment. They want to be able to capture the market themselves. I fully support the newspapers’ expansion in to online media and I hope they capture a significant part of the audience - but it has to be done through quality content, with enough staff and resources to win ‘eyeballs’ not by stopping the licence fee payer being able to access BBC local services,” he writes in a blog post.

Dear adds that he has replied to a letter from Trinity Mirror’s director of corporate communications about his remarks, but is yet to receive a response:

“I simply asked him the question that if we believe in media plurality and we accept that commercial local TV and radio can exist alongside the BBC what is so different about online?”

Regional newspaper publishers have previously told Journalism.co.uk that ‘enough staff and resources to win “eyeballs”‘ would be a much easier prospect if a £68 million, five-year investment plan was available.

The final decision on the plans is fast approaching - it’s scheduled for February 25 2009 - and perhaps now is the time for the regional press to ask themselves what can be done if their opposition fails.

Is there potential for collaboration with the BBC online, and could this drive further innovation by regional titles online in response to the competition? Or will approval of the scheme lead to a reduction in online investment by the regional media?

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Big outcry over the Welsh Big Issue’s move to … Scotland

October 3rd, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted by Judith Townend in Magazines

The NUJ have got some celebrity backing to help the protest against the Big Issue Cymru’s move up north.

The opera singer Katherine Jenkins, Radio One DJ Bethan Elfyn and award winning author Rachel Trezise have all voiced their support for an NUJ campaign to keep the The Big Issue Cymru in Wales, after it was recently announced that production would move to Glasgow and leave just one member of staff in Wales. The editor and designer are both facing redundancy.

Jenkins sung said in a release issued today: “I don’t understand how this could continue to work being edited from Scotland? My fingers are crossed, as it would be a very sad day for Wales to see the editorial being written in Glasgow, hundreds of miles away from where it’s all happening.”

And Bethan Elfyn is concerned that only one member of staff only representing Wales will be a ‘token gesture’.

“[It] will not be a good reflection of the world, the people and the activities here in Wales. I hope the sales and the good works that BI does for the homeless won’t suffer as a by-product of these cuts and changes,” Elfyn said in the release. “The staff in Cardiff worked damn hard and will be sorely missed.”

Meanwhile Trezise, author of ‘Fresh Apples’ (which was derived from an entry for the Big Issue Cymru’s short story competition) said that the magazine is “a vital source of income for the homeless in Wales”.

“It is also a very culturally significant publication; one of few independent Welsh media voices that supports native arts,” Trezise said.

The NUJ is also concerned that the move and cutbacks could mean an end to the Welsh speaking content in the magazine.

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MediaGuardian: NUJ ballot suspended at Telegraph

September 25th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick
NUJ members at the Telegraph Media Group have suspended their ballot for industrial action, opting to hold further talks with management. Full story...

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Round-up: Ofcom’s public service broadcasting review and ITV regional news cuts

September 25th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Broadcasting

The verdicts are in on Ofcom’s second public service broadcasting review, which gives ITV the go ahead to cut its regional news programming to save money.

Broadcasting union BECTU has criticised the move for ‘betraying regional news audiences’ and causing 100s of jobs losses.

“OFCOM’s decision to give ITV the go ahead to cut regional news services by half, is further evidence, says BECTU, of the regulator dancing to the tune of ITV and its shareholders,” said the union in a press statement.

The National Union for Journalists (NUJ) has also raised concerns over the decision, describing it as a sign of Ofcom’s failure to stand up for the public interest.

“Today’s announcement signals a regulator that has failed in its remit and is intent on presiding over the decline and eventual death of local and regional news on the ITV network. All in all a dismal day for supporters of plurality and quality regional programming,” reads a post on the union’s Save The ITV News campaign blog.

Both the unions claim research conducted by the regulator, and announced in a release accompanying the review, contradicts the ITV decision. The key findings of the research, according to Ofcom, suggested that:

  • 9 out of 10 people do not want the BBC to be the only provider of public service content in the future
  • a majority of people want ITV1 to continue to provide regions and nations news to complement the BBC

According to a report by MediaGuardian, 500 jobs could be cut from the broadcaster’s regional news operations as part of the changes.

paidContent:UK dissects the review on a different level flagging up the regulator’s calls for more links to public service content on websites.

“This might include new online tools that help people ‘bump into’ new websites which otherwise they might not have found, along the lines of stumbleupon.com or last.fm, with a public service perspective,” the review says.

Today’s review will be subject to a consultation period, ending on December 4, the results of which will be published in early 2009.

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MediaGuardian: Express cuts will cause titles’ ‘immediate demise as national papers’, says NUJ

September 12th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Jobs
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) chapel at Express Newspapers has criticised proposed job cuts at the Express and Sunday Express. Plans were announced on Wednesday to more than 80 staff and casual sub-editors. Full story...

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NUJ release video showing police treatment of journalists

September 10th, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted by Judith Townend in Online Journalism

As reported in Press Gazette, the NUJ’s General Secretary, Jeremy Dear, used his appearance on Monday at the the TUC Congress Conference 2008 to call for a motion against the erosion of journalists’ civil liberties and media freedom in Britain.

In a follow-up, the NUJ yesterday released this video, ‘Press Freedom: Collateral Damage’ by Jason N Parkinson : nine minutes of film documenting the treatment of journalists by police.

The film highlights a number of incidents in which the NUJ feel the police unnecessarily obstructed reporters and photographers.

The NUJ motion identified the cases of Robin Ackroyd and Shiv Malik, who have both risked jail because of the legal requirement to reveal confidential information from sources. In his speech to the Congress, Dear also referred to Sally Murrer, a journalist who is facing criminal prosecution for receiving information from a police source.

“Journalism is facing grave threats in an age of intolerance,” Jeremy Dear said in the NUJ’s statement.  “Whilst on the streets dissent is being criminalized, independent journalism is being increasingly caught in the civil liberties clampdown,” he said.

Members of the TUC conference unanimously backed the NUJ’s motion on Monday. The NUJ statement, with more excerpts from Dear’s speech, can be read here.

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Press Gazette: Telegraph astonishment at proposed strike

September 1st, 2008 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick
Telegraph Media Group has expressed surprise at the NUJ's announcement of a strike action ballot. Full story...

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NUJ plans ‘concerted campaign’ against Johnston Press cuts

August 13th, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted by Laura Oliver in Jobs, Journalism

National Union of Journalists (NUJ) representatives are gearing up for ‘coordinated action’ in response to cutbacks announced by Johnston Press.

Reps will tonight discuss plans for a campaign, the NUJ has said, following news of cuts at the Sheffield Star, Scotsman Publications, the Glasgow East News and the Ayrshire Extra.

Restructuring has put up to 30 jobs at risk at the Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and Edinburgh Evening News, though no specific figure for the number of editorial job losses has been given.

A further 15 positions are to go as Johnston Press ceases publication of the Glasgow East News and Ayrshire Extra.

The union has also received complaints about working conditions at the Blackpool Gazette, which it has sent in a memo to the company.

The memo included claims that four news sub-editors have been working 55-hour weeks, while a junior reporter worked 110 hours in 11 days.

The publisher has disputed the figures stated in the memo, the NUJ said.

“Our members in Johnston Press want to produce high quality local papers, but they are finding they have to work incredibly long hours - sometimes dangerously long hours - in order to do so.

“Many of our members are already facing high levels of stress and these latest cuts will simply make an intolerable situation even worse. No wonder our members are calling for a concerted campaign against the company’s failure to invest in quality journalism,” said Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, in a press statement.

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