Tag Archives: stuart jeffries

More names in Guardian voluntary redundancies

Following yesterday’s report that four staff from Guardian News & Media’s (GNM) business team areĀ  leaving the group under the the publisher’s voluntary redundancy scheme, more names have been added to the list of departures.

Long-serving staff members Stuart Jeffries and Hannah Pool are leaving the features department. Head of sport Ben Clissit has stepped down, while tennis correspondent Steve Bierley, Jerusalem correspondent Rory McCarthy and Los Angeles correspondent Dan Glaister are also departing.

Journalists out for lunch – ethics and etiquette?

A piece by Stuart Jeffries in the Guardian, about the death of the long boozy business lunch. Of note for journalists is this part:

“[An article in the New York Times] reported that even press officers were declining to take out reporters for lunch. Something similar is happening over here, showing how crazy the credit crunch has become. Time was that a journalist was always a good bet for a free lunch, not least because newspaper ethics historically demanded that the journalist did more than just reach for the bill, for fear of being schmoozed. It isn’t like that any more: the media, like everywhere else, is cutting back on expense-account lunches as advertising revenue plummets. Instead of lunch, with wine, business meetings are more likely now to be conducted over lattes or, once the weather warms up, sandwiches in the park.”

So, anyone out there remember when journalists insisted on paying their way in the name of ethics? And do you have any of your own journalistic luncheon tales to tell?