Tag Archives: National Union of Journalists

Express Newspapers staff vote for strike action

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Journalists at the Daily Express, Sunday Express and Daily Star are to undertake a series of 24-hour strikes over pay.

Strike action – scheduled for April 3, 10 and 17 – was approved at a National Union of Journalists (NUJ) meeting last night and is a reaction to ‘a below inflation pay offer’ – 3 per cent – made by the papers’ management to staff.

A statement from the NUJ also expressed concerns over owner Richard Desmond’s involvement with editorial decision making at the titles.

“We want the editors to be left to edit, free from commercial interference that puts opportunities to boost circulation ahead of journalistic integrity. Our titles need real investment, instead we face continuous rounds of budget cuts and inadequate staffing levels. Now we’re being told to take a below inflation pay offer and be grateful we’re not facing more redundancies this year – we’ve simply had enough,” said Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ President and union representative at the Express.

NUJ’s Journalist magazine to launch website?

The April edition of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) magazine the Journalist is available only as a downloadable pdf – a decision criticised by some, who argue that a dedicated website for the publication is needed.

However, according to an introduction to a feature in the current issue, there are plans afoot to launch such a site: “The Journalist Editorial Advisory Board is already working on a plan to go online with a site — a proper website, not pdfs — launching later this year. The relationship to the printed magazine — and to the union’s official website — are under discussion.”

In the feature, Chris Wheal, freelance journalist and chair of the NUJ Professional Training Committee, says a multimedia website for the union could demonstrate its ability to do multimedia content ‘in a planned, well thought-out and funded way’. Wheal also suggests that such a site might require a full-time editor’s post with less responsibility for union duties.

Reactions to the PDF version featured alongside this article show little support for an PDF-only Journalist. “This completely undermines our faith in the newspaper and magazine business. Many members will not bother to access the NUJ site,” says one commenter, while another suggests the experiment will ‘damage links with members and decrease their support’.

This month’s trial has certainly provided some food for thought, but what’s the answer: pdf, hybrid or online-only?

NUJ’s Journalist magazine to go online-only

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Next month’s edition of the Journalist – the magazine of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) – will be available only as a pdf from the union’s website.

The experiment is a chance to see which format members prefer, an announcement in this month’s edition explained.

But this is also a cost-saving strategy, as, according to the union, postage and packaging account for 60 per cent of the cost of the Journalist, which costs the NUJ in excess of £200,000 a year to produce.

Members will receive an email alert about the special edition, which will be available for download from March 17.

Web feeds in Independent’s newsroom could cause ’stress’

The Observer’s media diary reports that the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is concerned over new plasma screens in the Independent’s newsroom, which display feeds from the paper’s recently relaunched website.

“We are worried that such large visual displays are being sited directly above staff, and the stress they could bring through visual disturbance and heat,” the NUJ is quoted as saying in yesterday’s Observer media diary.

NUJ to recruit first full-time blogger?

According to Martin Stabe, the National Union of Journalists’ London Freelance branch will tonight consider the application of Engadget freelance contributor Conrad Quilty-Harper.

Read more about all the hoops Mr Quilty-Harper has already had to jump through on his own blog here.

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear has already boasted on his blog that “Membership in new media was up almost 11% over the past year” and asks “Who says we’re not attracting new media workers?”

Who indeed.