Tag Archives: media wales

NUJ: Journalists demand ‘immediate talks’ as 22 jobs face cut at Media Wales

The National Union of Journalists claims reporters at Media Wales are demanding “immediate talks” with management following plans to cut 22 jobs at the publisher.

According to the union, under the proposals 10 district office staff, eight production journalists and four members of the sports staff would be made redundant. Media Wales, part of the Trinity Mirror group, publishes titles including the Western Mail, South Wales Echo and the Wales on Sunday.

The NUJ chapel members have unanimously passed a motion which states the chapel “expresses shock at the scale of editorial cuts being proposed”, adding that “it is determined to do everything possible to protect the jobs, wages and conditions of its members, as well as the quality of our products”.

Father of the chapel Martin Shipton said: “We shall be entering an intensive period of negotiation with management to mitigate the damage to our members’ livelihood and the newspapers we produce.

“Members are especially angry that while they are expected to lose their jobs or in some cases take pay cuts, Sly Bailey and her fellow directors continue to be paid obscene amounts of money.”

Within the motion the chapel also authorises its committee “to take whatever action it sees fit in association with the union’s national officers”, which could include organising a strike ballot.

In a statement Media Wales confirmed the proposals, which centre on the introduction of a single production team for news and features across the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and all its weekly titles.

This means cuts to the number of full-time roles in the editorial production department and the introduction of a new part-time system, the company said.

edwalker.net: How we used cached Google pages to track down norovirus victims

Some nifty advice from Media Wales online communities editor Ed Walker, who has a blog post up on using cached Google pages to dig up deleted information. Walker was trying to find out who had been staying at a Cardiff hotel during an outbreak of the norovirus.

Who were these 100 people? What was it like having the bug? It was a Friday afternoon when this broke and with despair we called the hotel but got nothing. The council would only confirm the dates when it happened and how many people were being treated. So, I pulled out my Google search terms and set about finding out who could have contracted the norovirus.

Full post on edwalker.net at this link.

Ed Walker: Legal challenges in the online newsroom

Online journalists should check out this really useful post by Ed Walker, online communities editor for Media Wales, looking at some important questions surrounding the legal challenges for online news outlets.

Prompted by a bit of media law refresher training, Walker refers to three scenarios in particular, which were put to him during training and undoubtedly reflect events in newsrooms on a daily basis:

  1. What to do when faced with a rolling crime news story: how should you cover each new piece of information? How can you ensure the content on your site is contemporaneous?
  2. How should you use content from social media, if at all. How should journalists be using social networks? Is it fair to use quotes from comments on people’s walls? What about photographs? Who would the copyright belong to?
  3. How should you deal with comments on stories? Should you pre or post-moderate? Should every story be allowed them? Should journalists respond?

While you’re thinking about what you would do, read his post in full here to see what solutions his training group came up with.

Update on cuts at Trinity Mirror’s Media Wales – 15 (.2) jobs at risk

Yesterday we reported how 13.2 jobs could go at Media Wales, subsidary of Trinity Mirror which publishes The Western Mail, The South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the Celtic series of weekly papers.

Union members at Media Wales will hold a strike ballot, after they were not guaranteed there would be no compulsory redundancies. Two weekly newspapers, the Neath and Port Talbot Guardians, which Trinity Mirror says are loss-making, will also be closed.

We asked TM why the extra 0.2 of a job? It’s a part-time role but in fact, the total anticipated redundancies amount to ‘approximately 15’ a spokesperson said. So, in fact, it’s 15.2: 12 full-time roles at the surviving newspapers; and three full-time and one part-time at the two weeklies due to be closed in October.

Trinity Mirror has responded to the strike ballot with this statement:

“We are disappointed that the NUJ has chosen this course of action which does nothing to address the commercial challenges facing Media Wales. However, we are continuing to work with the NUJ and all staff to try to achieve these necessary changes through voluntary means.”

“Since the introduction of our multimedia newsroom in April 2008, we have continued to review its progress and to seek new ways of improving the way we work. We now believe the time is right, when taking the economic conditions into account, to make further changes to build on what we have achieved,” said Alan Edmunds, publishing director, Media Wales.

“The decision to cease publication of the Neath and Port Talbot Guardians reflects the challenging economic conditions affecting our local advertising markets and a declining trend in weekly newspaper sales,” said Sara Wilde, regional managing mirector, Trinity Mirror North West and Wales.

13.2 jobs could go at Trinity Mirror’s Media Wales; NUJ members to hold strike ballot

A plan to cut 13.2 jobs at Media Wales, a Trinity Mirror-owned subsidiary, was announced this afternoon without theĀ  guarantee of no compulsory redundancies. A two month consultation period will now be held.

The company also announced the closure of the Neath and Port Talbot Guardian paid-for weeklies on October 1.

In response, union members at Media Wales will hold a strike ballot, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said today.

Media Wales publishes The Western Mail, The South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the Celtic series of weekly papers.

“Although we have been briefed fully about the financial position of the company and the group, we are determined that no NUJ member should be made compulsorily redundant as a result of these cuts. We expect the company to ensure that will be the outcome,” said Martin Shipton, NUJ father of chapel at Media Wales.