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www.nuj.org.uk | MAY-JUNE 2016
War at Wapping remembered the rise of a media dictator...
Contents
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Main feature
14 It was 30 years ago todays
Remembering the bitter Wapping strike
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t’s hard to believe that it’s 30 years since Rupert Murdoch took his newspapers to Wapping and changed forever the way papers were produced and the role of the unions in them. In this edition Paul Routledge, one of the Wapping refuseniks, reflects on the significance of one of the most bitter industrial disputes the country has seen. Some of those journalists who refused to work at The Times when it moved to Fortress Wapping, with the loss of many printworkers’ jobs, were able to find a happier home at the newly established Independent newspaper. Barrie Clement was one of them. But now, with the Indy no longer in print Barrie looks at how the paper tried to break the mould of traditional news reporting. Another – much later – departee from The Times who moved on to pastures new is my former colleague Helen Nugent. She has written our Starting Out column on moving back to her northern roots and establishing the cultural website Northern Soul. Elsewhere, Duncan Campbell, formerly of the Guardian, reflects on a life of crime (reporting, that is) and how it is essential that crime reporters can protect their sources. I hope you find something to interest you in The Journalist.
News
03 NI strike threats win deals
Region sees jump in membership
04 Guardian cutting jobs
Plans for cultural venue also shelved
05 TFT staff win improved pension offer Deal achieved on eve of strike
06 Conference reports Reports from NUJ delegate meeting
08 Local World cuts photographer jobs
Papers plan to use more readers’ snaps
Features
10 Let’s go to Brussels
Challenges of working in the EU capital
12 Farewell to the Indy
Mourning death of a major newspaper
18 Criminal practice
Protecting sources in crime reporting
Regulars Christine Buckley Editor @mschrisbuckley
Editor journalist@nuj.org.uk Design Surgerycreations.com info@surgerycreations.com Advertising Melanie Richards Tel: 01795 542417 ads@journalistmagazine.co.uk Print Warners www.warners.co.uk Distribution Packpost www.packpostsolutions.com
02 | theJournalist
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NUJ 308-312 Gray’s Inn Road London WC1X 8DP info@nuj.org.uk www.nuj.org.uk Tel: 020 7843 3700
Manchester office nujmanchester@nuj.org.uk Glasgow office nujscotland@nuj.org.uk Dublin office info@nuj.ie
Cover picture alamy.com
09 Viewpoint 17 NUJ and me 26 And finally
Arts with Attitude Pages 22-23
Raymond Snoddy Page 21
Letters & Steve Bell 24-25
news
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wo major threats of strike action in Northern Ireland have won better conditions for journalists and seen membership of the NUJ leap. Last month strikes at both Johnston Press in the region and Alpha Newspapers, the biggest regional publisher in Northern Ireland, were averted after deals were reached over redundancies, working practices and pay. Members at both groups threatened strikes had overwhelming support. Nicola Coleman, Irish organizer, said that a pay survey of Alpha members last autumn revealed a significant number of journalists, many with years of service, were paid the national minimum wage with many women being paid less than men. Almost a third earned less than £15,000. The chairman of the group is John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney, a former MEP
and deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party whose personal wealth, according to the Belfast Telegraph, is £30.4 million. At Alpha Newspapers nearly 100 per cent of the members voted in favour of a strike. In the Derry Journal the vote was 100 per cent in favour of strike action; the News Letter was 93 per cent in favour; and Morton Newspapers voted 96 per cent in favour. There has been a leap in membership of the NUJ
among journalists on Alpha titles following a campaign over pay. Density has increased from 29 per cent to 85 per cent in a short period. The NUJ and Alpha management issued a joint statement: “Strike action has been called off at Alpha Newspapers following further talks between the company and the NUJ. “The company and union are pleased with the outcome and look forward to a strong future for the newspaper group.”
New unopposed term for NUJ leader
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in brief...
David Adamson / Alamy Stock Photo
Northern Ireland strike threats achieve deals
Anger over new expenses at BBC BBC staff are discussing taking industrial action as a new expenses deal will leave many of them out of pocket. The hardest hit will be operational and production staff and anyone working long shifts. One evening meal allowance has been cut from £16 to £10. The BBC says the changes will result in a saving of £300,000.
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Many Alpha journalists are paid the national minimum wage
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Conference news – pages 6-7 Paul Herrmann
Mercury winners protest over jobs
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A letter on behalf of the chapel to the ceremony organiser said that the Mercury’s journalists were proud to be nominated again this year. But it said: “However, since the latest nomination, the management of
ap wins pulitzer for fishing probe The Associated Press won the Pulitzer Prize for public Ssrvice journalism for its international investigation into the fishing industry in Southeast Asia. Its investigation - Seafood from Slaves – was credited with helping to free 2,000 slaves. It is AP’s 52nd Pulitzer in the 100 years that America’s top journalism’s honours have been running. Angling times tries for a bigger catch The Angling Times has switched from a newspaper format after 63 years and relaunched as a glossy magazine. Readers had told the publication that they wanted something that was easier to read on the river bank.
ichelle Stanistreet has been re-elected unopposed as general secretary of the NUJ. The reelection marks her second term in office after she was initially elected, again unopposed, five years ago. Then she became the first woman to lead the union in more than 100 years since it was founded. Prior to becoming general secretary Michelle served as deputy general secretary, a post that has since been scrapped. She has also been president of the union and is a former journalist at Express newspapers. At the union’s delegate conference in Southport, she thanked everyone who supported her and said she looked forward with optimism to her next fiveyear term, especially following two strong years for the union since the last delegate meeting.
ournalists on the Leicester Mercury, which won last year’s regional press awards, have asked not to take part in this year’s awards in protest against the sacking of photographic staff.
uk falls in press freedom ratings The use of anti-terrorism legislation against journalists has helped push Britain four places down the World Press Freedom Index. The annual report by Reporters Without Borders ranks 180 countries according to the freedom they allow journalists. The UK is now 38th, behind countries including Chile, Ghana and Uruguay.
the Leicester Mercury has done considerable harm to our ability to produce a quality product and focus on the community by making twothirds of our multi award-winning photographic team redundant.”
New photo agency silverhub starts Silverhub, a new pictures agency, has been launched by former Getty Images chief operating officer Nick Evans-Lombe and the head of Getty Images editorial division Adrian Murell. It has been joined by former Daily Mirror head of pictures Ian Down, who had spent 25 years with the national daily. Silverhub also owns Action Press; The Picture Library; and Offside. theJournalist | 03
news
Guardian cuts jobs and shelves venue plan
in brief... standard drops its media column London’s Evening Standard has ended its weekly media column, which was written by Roy Greenslade. The move leaves the Guardian as the only national newspaper with a weekly media section. The Independent, which had a weekly media column, is no longer in print.
Glasgow gets new local website Trinity Mirror has launched Glasgow Live, its latest standalone digital website. Glasgow Live follows Belfast Live and Dublin Live. The publisher said that Belfast Live attracted an audience of more than one million unique users in less than five months. Like the other titles, Glasgow Live will produce local news and features. free title seeks crowdfunding Hastings Independent Press, a community-led free newspaper, is seeking £15,000 investment through crowdfunding to improve its new office and build up its distribution service. The fortnightly title is run on a small budget and staffed by volunteers. bbc russian marks 70th anniversary The BBC’s Russian Service marked its 70th anniversary in March. The now-digital service has a Russian-speaking audience of 5.5 million weekly listeners. The words “Govorit London” (“London calling”) became familiar to people in the then USSR, bringing international news and stories which were ignored or silenced by the domestic press. 4 | theJournalist
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Last year, the publisher of the Guardian and Observer lost £58.6 million
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Ian Pilbeam / Alamy Stock Photo
ex readers’ editor elliot joins impress Chris Elliott, a former Guardian readers’ editor, has joined press regulator Impress as a consultant. Impress was created as an alternative to the Independent Press Standards Organisation. Mr Elliott is also an adviser to the Ethical Journalism Network and is chair of development charity Concern UK.
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he Guardian Media Group is cutting 250 jobs – including 100 journalists’ posts – and restructuring parts of the business in a drive to break even within three years. The group is also abandoning plans to redevelop a former railway goods shed in London’s King’s Cross, near the Guardian’s offices, into a cultural venue. Last year, the publisher of the Guardian and Observer lost £58.6 million. The job cuts amount to about 18 per cent of the workforce. The company has said that it hopes all the job losses will be achieved by voluntary redundancies. In a joint email to staff, editor-in-chief Katharine Viner and chief executive David Pemsel said the “volatile media environment” had led to an “urgent need for radical action”. “Our plan of action has one goal: to secure the journalistic integrity and financial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity,” they wrote, adding that compulsory redundancies would only be considered only “if necessary”. A statement from Ms Viner said: “These proposals form the basis of a collective consultation process. We have elected employee representatives and have in place NUJ and Unite representatives across the organisation. “While we are confident these proposals will make a significant contribution to our target
of reducing our current cost base by 20 per cent, we will continue to take the necessary action to manage our cost base and sustained market volatility in order to protect our journalism in perpetuity.” Brian Williams, NUJ father of chapel at the Guardian, said: “We are encouraged by the fact the company is seeking voluntary redundancies and is looking to mitigate potential job losses by finding other costcutting measures.” Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “This is a major blow for the staff of the Guardian and Observer and for journalism as a whole. We will oppose any compulsory redundancies. “This news, together with the loss of jobs as the Independent newspaper folds, presents a very worrying situation for the future of newspapers.”
Union members win £4 million in payouts
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he NUJ’s legal services, which include advice, support and negotiations, helped win more than £4 million in compensation on employment settlements for union members last year. The union offers a comprehensive range of legal services to its members on workplace disputes, as well as a wide range of other issues that affect NUJ members and their families. The union’s legal services, which can include reference to outside lawyers, are available for free to members of the union in the UK and Ireland. The union can also provide legal advice for members working outside the UK and Ireland.
Ex NUJ chief Dear joins IFJ
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eremy Dear, a former NUJ general secretary, has become deputy general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists. Jeremy left the NUJ nearly five years ago to travel
around South America with his wife Paula, a former BBC journalist. They have been travelling, mostly in a camper van, since then. Working at the IFJ, which is based in Brussels, is also a homecoming for Jeremy,
who grew up in the Belgian city. The IFJ was founded in 1926 and represents, via journalists’ unions, more than 600,000 members in 139
news
FT staff lift strike threat and accept pension offer
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UJ members at the Financial Times voted to accept new pension terms after a long-running fight against changes that had been planned by the newspaper’s new owner Nikkei. The deal came just before journalists were due to stage the first all-day strike at the paper for more than 30 years. Staff had condemned Nikkei and FT management for failing to honour promises to maintain equivalent terms of employment following the takeover by Nikkei from Pearson and for planning to take money from the pensions pot to pay the rent on the title’s building by the Thames. Following a consultative ballot, 88 per cent of members agreed to accept the new offer, under which FT managers promised to limit expected losses for defined benefit pension
scheme members to 15 per cent of predicted DB terms and grant improved terms for the company’s defined contribution scheme members. The FT chapel said: “Over the past seven months, the FT chapel has shown that it is prepared to fight to defend terms, conditions and benefits for journalists against all management cuts and will continue to do so in future.” Steve Bird (pictured), FoC at the FT, said: “Messages of support and solidarity from across the FT showed how determined and effective the proposed strike would have been. Without this stand, chapel reps would not have got this final deal. “I am proud of the unity between DB and DC scheme members in defence of our rights and conditions. As a chapel, we stood up to corporate bullying and would do so again in the face of
any attacks in future.” Laura Davison, NUJ national organiser, said: “The chapel should be congratulated on all its hard work and in sticking together to win this improved deal for all NUJ members. “It was vital that members remained strong when their pensions were under attack following the sale of the newspaper. The reps should be proud of the new deal they have brokered for their colleagues.”
in brief...
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Messages of support and solidarity from across the FT showed how determined and effective the proposed strike would have been
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FoI escapes threatened legal changes
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he union has welcomed the government’s decision not to make any legal changes to the Freedom of Information Act. The NUJ has been part of a broad campaign, which included other unions, to oppose potential legal
restrictions to the act, which is used by many journalists to hold organisations to account. The legislation had been seen as under threat after the government set up an Independent Commission on Freedom of
Information last summer. The commission, which was chaired by Lord Burns, the former permanent secretary to the Treasury, received more than 30,000 responses to its call for evidence. However, the commission
recommended that no legal changes should be made. It also endorsed calls for the FOI legislation to cover public service providers, although its recommendation includes limiting FOI on the basis of costs.
Journalism on the big screen
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ollowing the success of the film Spotlight, the NUJ’s Manchester and Salford branch has set up a film club showing movies and documentaries that illustrate what it is to be a journalist – and why the job matters. The branch has joined with Three Minute Theatre to present a range of films – dramas, comedies, documentaries and even a musical.
Branch vice-chair Rachel Broady said: “Journalists and journalism are under scrutiny more than before. Thanks to films like Spotlight, we’re reminded of the importance of the work journalists do and the challenges they face.” Everyone is welcome on the last Thursday of the month at the Three Minute Theatre at 7.30pm. Contact mcrsalfordnuj@gmail.com
what the papers say is silenced What The Papers Say has ended, 60 years after it was first broadcast. The weekly radio analysis of press coverage of major stories was ended because of cost cuts, said Radio 4. The programme has been on BBC radio since 2010 after being dropped from TV a couple of years earlier. It had run as a TV series for 52 years on various channels before this was ended by BBC2 in 2008. MCilvanney leaves the sports field Sunday Times sportswriter Hugh McIlvanney has retired after 66 years in journalism. Former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali said: “His words were a window to the lives, the courage, the struggles and triumphs of the great champions of his time.” McIlvanney began his career on the Kilmarnock Standard. He was on the Scotsman when he moved from news to sport in 1960. Mason quits for freelance career Channel 4 News economics editor Paul Mason has left his job to pursue a freelance career. He said he wanted to escape the constraints of impartiality rules governing broadcasters. Mason said he wanted to branch out into covering areas such as geo-politics and national security. salmon goes from bbc to endemol Peter Salmon, the director of BBC Studios, is joining Endemol Shine as global creative chief. Salmon, who was appointed to run the BBC’s TV production arm only last July, will also be responsible for overseeing Endemol Shine’s UK operation, whose programmes include Masterchef. ITV sees profits climb 18 per cent ITV’s full-year profits before tax rose 18 per cent to £843 million, with revenues climbing 14 per cent to £3.3 billion. The broadcaster was positive about the prospects for the business in the year ahead and has issued a special dividend of 10p per share. theJournalist | 5
The NUJ’s improving financial health and a new earnings-based system of subscriptions were among issues discussed at the delegate meeting in Southport. Other important for debate topics also included job cuts and
Campaign against low pay top of the agenda
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he NUJ will campaign for all members to be paid at least the national living wage after delegates to the biennial delegate conference heard how “increasingly professional, dedicated and university educated journalists are being penalised for their willingness to work long hours in the dedication to their craft”. “It is a scandal that the bosses, encouraged by the overwhelming political creed of austerity, think they can get away with paying journalists as little as they can get away with,” said Paul Scott, who represents Wales on the national executive. Delegates instructed the national executive to campaign for all members to be paid at least the appropriate living wage on entry to any job. The conference was told that in 2000, Trinity Mirror employed 13,000 total staff and had £1 billion turnover. By 2014, it had 4,368 staff and revenue of £636 million, meaning revenue to employees worked out at £80,620 in 2000 and £145,673 in 2014 – an 80 per cent increase of cash to staff in 14 years. In 2001, Johnston Press had 5,522 employees and £292m revenue. By 2014 it was 3,242 employees and revenue of £265.9 million. Revenue to employees was therefore £52,910 in 2001 but £82,017 in 2014, a 55 per cent increase.
At Newsquest, there were 8,470 employees in 2001 and £568m turnover and in 2014 this was 3,997 and £279 million respectively. At Newsquest, there were 8,470 employees in 2001, and £568 million turnover. In 2014 this was reduced to 3,997 people with turnover of £279 million. Laura Davison, NUJ national organizer for newspapers, said many members were on pitiful wages, suffering many years of pay freezes, with members in south London having to strike for 10 days to win the Living Wage for young colleagues. “It’s the same on the nationals,” she said. “Members on Express papers have not had a pay rise for almost a decade. The conditions are so poor people are voting with their feet and leaving the industry for better-paid and family friendly hours.”
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Many members were on pitiful wages, suffering many years of pay freezes
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Photographs by Paul Herrmann
pressure on editorial standards
Finances being built on solid ground
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elegates heard that the financial recovery of the union has continued and that in the financial year ending September 2015, the union had net current assets of £2 million. Figures for the first two months of the year showed an actual surplus of £120,000 compared to a budget expectation of £21,000. Results from
the first four months have brought our net assets to almost £2.4 million. John Barsby, honoury treasurer (pictured), said: “A significant proportion of the figures resulted from sensible financial controls and the collective effort of budget holders to spend money wisely.” With finances in a healthier state,
conference decided that one per cent of contributions should be split between the NUJ’s charities, the George Viner Memorial Foundation, which awards bursaries to BAME students, and NUJ Extra, the union’s hardship fund. The union is currently refurbishing its headquarters to enhance the value and increase its rental potential.
New subscriptions system will be based on earnings
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ew members of the NUJ will pay subscriptions based on what they are paid, conference decided, although 6 | theJournalist
existing members can continue to have their union payments based on their current industrial sectors. Barry McCall, chair of the
national executive council’s finance committee, said that it was no longer possible to assume that journalists working in one sector earned
more than those working in another. Those against the new system argued that while there was a need to change
the union’s subscription system, the proposed earnings-based alternative would also unfair be as it stood.
news Union communications to be reviewed
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he union is to review the ways in which it communicates with its membership and “undertake a strategic communications review to decide how best to deploy available resources to promote the NUJ, its work and its achievements within and beyond the union”. Delegates voted for the motion following a debate about the coverage of union matters by The Journalist, which is edited by an elected editor who has editorial independence, in line with the NUJ’s position on editors having independence from their owners. Speakers ranged from those who approved of the content of the magazine to those who said that it ignored key union issues. Simon Chapman, chair of the Journalist Editorial Advisory Board (pictured), said the editor of The Journalist had been fairly recently elected “with a very convincing majority and I think delegates should reflect on this” and that they needed to “bear in mind the views of the membership”. Gerry Curran, chair of the Irish Executive Council, told the conference that The Journalist didn’t carry enough Irish news and that it had not covered a conference of the International Federation of Journalists in Dublin. Mark Whitehead, of the PR and Communications branch which submitted the motion calling for the communications review, said: “The time has clearly come when we
want our leadership to take a cool, analytical look at what The Journalist and the other channels of communication are doing.” David Ayrton, deputy FoC of the NUJ’s officials’ chapel, told delegates that any recommended changes to employment resulting from the review would need to be subject to consultation and negotiation. Paul Breedon, of Bristol branch, told delegates: “Whether you like the result [of the editor’s election] or not, the membership have spoken”. Another motion calling for an end to electing the editor and making the role an appointed one was defeated. The editorial independence of the editor was also enshrined in the union’s rules. Additionally, delegates voted to fund an app for the magazine.
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The editorial independence of the editor was also enshrined in the union’s rules
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Whittingdale is urged to resign
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ichelle Stanistreet began a new term as NUJ general secretary by calling for John Whittingdale, Culture Secretary, to resign. She said: “It’s not his sex life, but that he has compromised his position and integrity by allowing his privacy to be shielded by the newspaper owners who have
been leaning on him throughout this time, in order that he deliver on press regulation and on the emasculation of the BBC. “The reality is that in not coming clean to parliament about a clear conflict of interest, Whittingdale compromised his own position. He’s taken decisions of vital interest where
his knowledge of the dirt that Paul Dacre has had on him cannot but have had an impact. “We cannot be expected to believe that the sweets he’s served up to the industry on press regulation and the BBC are but a coincidental meeting of minds. He should resign and he should resign right now.”
Honours for Anna, Dave, John and Jim
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nna Wagstaff, a stalwart of the NUJ’s Oxford branch, Jim Boumelha, president of the International Federation of Journalists; Dave Rotchelle, a freelance photographer and campaigner for freelance rights and John Horgan, who spent a distinguished career on the Irish Times and then became Ireland’s press ombudsman, were all honoured by the union with Member of Honour awards. They were presented with the awards by Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary; Seamus Dooley, assistant general secretary; John Toner, freelance organiser; and Bill MacKeith of Oxford branch.
conference in brief... goodman points to industry threats Good journalism faces two threats – economic and technological change, the new chair of the NUJ’s parliamentary group told delegates. Helen Goodman MP said that local newspapers continue to close and now ad blocking and the new net giants threaten the business models of national newspapers as they evolve digitally. corbyn promises trade union help Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party leader and former chair of the NUJ parliamentary group, sent a message to the conference promising that not only will Labour repeal the Trade Union Bill but that the party will extend people’s rights in the workplace – with new trade union freedoms and collective bargaining rights . more efforts to achieve diversity Motions at the conference pledged that the union would work to achieve more diversity in the media in terms of ethnicity, gender and age. Delegates heard that the 2013 NCTJ Journalist at Work report showed that 94 per cent of all UK journalists are white while a Department of Culture, Media and Sport report revealed that fewer than nine per cent people working in the sector were from the Black and Ethnic Minority community. charity gets conference boost NUJ Extra, the union’s charity that helps members in need got a £750 boost from a raffle at the delegate meeting and pledges of regular donations from branches. photographers’ income takes hit Freelance photographers can earn as little as £15,000 a year because their work is being eroded by reader submissions, agency photographs and the reduction of staff posistions. John Jones from East Yorkshire urged the Fire Brigades Union to deter firefighters from posting pictures of incidents on social media. theJournalist | 7
news
Photographer jobs cut in Local World ‘flexible’ plan
in brief... fall in profits at Trinity mirror Trinity Mirror’s operating profit fell £16.4 million to £82.2 million for 2015 on sales which were down £44.6 million to £592.7 million. Digital revenue increased by £10.4 million for the year to £42.8 million. Revenue from print still provides the majority of the publisher’s income; this declined from £521.6 million to £458.9 million. routledge joins huddersfield title Veteran political journalist Paul Routledge has joined the Huddersfield Examiner as a weekly columnist. He is writing for the Trinity Mirror-owned title every Wednesday. Routledge was made redundant by the Daily Mirror last year but continues to write for the paper on a freelance basis. barron bows out as echo editor Peter Barron is leaving after 17 years as editor of the Northern Echo. He is the longest-serving editor in the history of the title. Barron began his career on the Scunthorpe Telegraph and joined the Echo as a reporter in 1984. He became editor of the Hartlepool Mail in 1997 and returned to the Echo in January 1999 as editor. Betteley wins welsh awards Weekly newspaper reporter Chris Betteley was named Journalist of the Year at the 2016 Wales Media Awards. The Cambrian News journalist also won Print News Reporter and Political Reporter awards at the ceremony in Cardiff and received glowing comments from all the judges. Bolton succeeds in long FoI battle Bolton News has won a three-year campaign to name two councillors who failed to pay their council tax, which was uncovered by a Freedom of Information request. Reporter Dale Haslam discovered via Fol that two councillors had not paid their council tax for two years in a row, only doing so when threatened with court action. 08 | theJournalist
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It smacks of budget cutting without a care for quality of the content
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ore local photographers look set to lose their jobs as newspapers in the Local World group shift towards relying on reader photos and reporters taking pictures. The cuts follow Local World’s takeover by Trinity Mirror. Journalists have been told they are moving to a new “model”, which will make use of the increasing number of photos and videos uploaded by members of the public to social media. A spokesperson for Local World said: “With more sources of copyright-free material becoming available and our journalists having technology that allows them to take photos and video, some centres are moving to models that give them the flexibility to cope better with changing and varying demand.” The NUJ believes that the jobs of all photographic staff in Essex and Kent are set to go and, at the daily Leicester Mercury, all six photographers’ jobs are at risk. At the Nottingham Post, it is proposed that the five staff photographers will be reduced to
one full-time content curator and two parttime photographers. Two photographers are set to go from the Derby Telegraph, one from the Uttoxeter Advertiser and one from the Burton Mail. Two jobs will be created. The plan means the daily Burton newspaper will have no photographer. At the Whitstable Times, Herne Bay Times, Canterbury Times, Faversham Times, Isle of Thanet Gazette, Dover Express, Folkestone Herald and Ashford Herald, all four photographers are set to go. NUJ national organiser Laura Davison said: “Photographers have stuck with the company through two changes of ownership in three years, only to be told their skills are no longer needed within a few short months of Trinity Mirror’s takeover. “It smacks of budget cutting without a care for the quality of the content or the fact that local communities will be robbed of their photographers to record events such as Remembrance Sunday, sports days and news events. Do we really want the mourners at the local war memorial to be captured by people taking selfies?”
Investigatory Powers Bill criticised
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he government should do “further work” on the Investigatory Powers Bill to convince journalists it will not be detrimental to their work, according to Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary. The Investigatory Powers Bill was approved by MPs at
its second reading by 281 votes to 15. Labour and the SNP abstained and warned they could vote against the government at future stages unless it ironed out problems with the bill. The position of opposition parties and some of
the unease on the Tory backbenches could force the government to grant concessions as the bill passes through the Commons. While agreeing with the fundamentals of the bill, Burnham said: “There is also the question of
journalists, and the NUJ believes the bill weakens existing provisions. Clause 68, the only reference to journalists in the entirety of the bill, sets out a judicial process for the revelation of a source. The concern is journalists are wide open to other powers in the bill.”
Reporter becomes writer in residence
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UJ member Anthony Quinn has been chosen as one of two writers in residence in Libraries NI, Northern Ireland’s library service. Anthony provided workshops, seminars, clinics and readings during March, which was Creativity Month. He said he was delighted at the role, and met “lovely” groups of writers and readers.
“I enjoyed sharing what I know about the world of writing and hopefully inspiring local readers to some literary success,” he said. Crime writer Anthony is a reporter at the Tyrone Times, based in Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
viewpoint Caroline Thain says the dash to drag readers in has gone too far
Let’s say goodbye to insensitive headlines
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ne of the biggest changes in journalism in the past two decades is in how headlines are written. With just a few words, we can do so much. But what damage do headlines do when they define individuals by categories, for the purpose of drama, brevity and ‘characterisation’? Dementia Dad. Suicide Teen. Bipolar Mum. Ebola Baby. I recently wrote a story about twin girls. An editor said to ‘make sure I call them “Down’s syndrome sisters” in the headline’. I hesitated, thinking this harsh and inappropriate. The girls are far more than Down’s syndrome. The article had been sparked by their parents, who run an awareness charity, so it seemed especially important to get the tone right. I changed the headline as directed and have felt uneasy about it ever since. Many editorial staff are able to disregard upsetting effects while turning anything into a tantalising tale. It is a hallmark of a creative brain – a blessing but also a curse. Does this mindset breed a thoughtless culture of labelling, amid arguably necessary hyperbole, to pull in the punters in a saturated online market? The main goal now is to cultivate clickbait – headlines to drag readers in at all costs, while accuracy is compromised. Headlines used to be sacred. You never got typos in them. Now, every day I see online headlines with errors. Are journalists too busy cracking on with churnalism with no time to worry about typos or who they offend? Because of the fast pace of work, journalists rely more now than ever on charities and health and social care stories for hard news articles and reallife emotive features. We cannot afford to alienate folk. We need them.
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I cannot believe journalists do not understand tolerance or race issues or how fear, ignorance and hatred are spread
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I cannot believe all journalists have no heart and have never read about disability, diversity and difference, don’t understand tolerance or race issues or how fear, ignorance and hatred are spread. I refuse to believe no subeditor has known a child with cancer or a man with Aids, or had a mother with depression, a father with dementia or a brother who died as a result of suicide. There’s not much that could make me feel worse than, if one of my children was battling cancer, I agreed to an article then saw him referred to as “cancer boy”. People might not equate journalism with liberalism. But how much of what is written – rewrites bashed out with images grabbed from social media – is journalism anyway? We are clattering out the same old stereotypes in a sector whose terminology hasn’t come into the 21st century. Yet, as media professionals, we are in a prominent, privileged position of being able to help make positive change. We are too busy with negativity to see it. Globalisation and technological advancements have changed newsgathering and news writing so far from what it was that true journalism is barely recognisable to those lucky enough to remember it. Recently, I have been struck by how headlines defy traditional journalism teaching, basic laws of writing and often common sense. Examples include capitalising every word (“the American way”), telling readers what they think before they think it (“Some bloke did this thing – and it was totally amazing”) and including as many keywords as possible for search engine optimisation (“Best
bonfire displays of fireworks on Guy Fawkes’ night 2016”). Reporters are bypassing subeditors when writing headlines online, selfpublishing in seconds, cramming in SEOfriendly terms, trebling the traditional headline length and sacrificing the succinct for the searchable. Clever headlines and creative puns have been almost eradicated, as clicks, likes and shares become more important than our sense of humanity. We are the only industry that refers to a tot with a terminal disease as “cancer boy”. It’s time for that change, I reckon. Caroline Thain is a freelance journalist working for several national papers
For all the latest news from the NUJ go to www.nuj.org.uk theJournalist | 9
Linda Harrison finds that while the EU capital Brussels is a small city it is home to lots of big news
Patrick Guenette / Alamy Stock Photo
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10 | theJournalist
remember working in a busy newsroom in Leicester at the time of the London bombings, and there was a real buzz of activity all day,” says Brussels journalist Sally Tipper, talking of the recent bomb attacks in the Belgian capital. “Here, I work in a much smaller team, and we share an office with the sales department of a different company. Aside from us, the place was largely silent; we were the only ones talking about what was happening. “We were glued to local news and social media and the phones, trying to get a hold on what had happened and get the story straight. There was so much conflicting information and, even now, there are still question marks – not to mention the wider questions about how this could happen.” Altogether, 32 people died and more than 300 were injured on 22 March at Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station.
Martin Banks is a freelance journalist who has worked in Brussels since 2001. He says: “It’s caused a lot of concern and fear … it is almost tangible. [There are] armoured trucks and armed soldiers on the street. It feels like an occupied city.” Sally, a freelance journalist and deputy editor at Ackroyd Publications, found taking the metro the morning after the attacks an eerie experience. “Dozens of soldiers guarding every station, armed police checking people’s bags as they entered, trains passing darkened, deserted platforms in the stations that were closed,” she says. “People are reporting airport check-in times of four hours and more. The shock of seeing heavily armed police and military on the streets has been wearing off ever since the lockdown in November after the Paris attacks; it’s remarkable how quickly you get used to these things and accept them as the new normal. “The city is noticeably quieter, and underground transport is still limited. We’ve seen concerts and other events cancelled, and hotels are slashing their prices because they have no customers. “For all the sympathy and solidarity shown in the aftermath by the rest of the world, in terms of politics and intelligence, Belgium hasn’t come out looking very good. It’s a complicated country, and it remains to be seen what, if any, lasting impact these events will have.” She feels there are challenges ahead for Belgium’s politicians and security services. Brussels may be a small city but, as a base for the EU and NATO, is home to many journalists and photographers. It’s packed with foreign correspondents – about 1,000 accredited to the EU alone, according to Peter Spiegel, Brussels bureau chief at the Financial Times. The English language press is by far the biggest in town. The major international news organisations all have a presence there, including Reuters, Bloomberg and AP. Peter adds that some have taken on more staff because of the Brexit referendum. Many staff and freelance journalists work for EU specialist English language news outlets, including bimonthly Politico magazine and its online services, and online titles EU Reporter, EurActiv, EUobserver and The Bulletin (published by Ackroyd). Sally adds: “The demand for well-written marketing copy in English seems to be growing. Freelance work has been fairly easy to come by, although it’s been down to word of mouth …
news hub Words from the streets Once you’re here, it’s a pretty tight professional community and job opportunities seem to get passed around fairly informally. “I feel privileged to be covering local issues rather than EU issues as it’s really helped me get to know and understand the country better – although I’m not sure anyone could ever claim to really understand Belgium.” The NUJ’s Brussels branch meets monthly and has about 100 members – mostly freelance – reporters, correspondents, editors, photographers, broadcasters and PR professionals. Freelance journalist Sara Lewis says a lot of work comes from B2B publications in Europe (including the UK and Ireland) and the US. The European Commission can provide work, including writing and editing newsletters, brochures and leaflets. “But it’s not as lucrative as it was when I started here in the late 1980s/early ’90s,” says Sara.
Where the work is The major newswires, including Reuters, Bloomberg and AP, have correspondents in Brussels, while the FT and Wall Street Journal have large bureaus. The International New York Times, Times, Guardian and Daily Telegraph have a presence, as does the BBC. Many ex-pat journalists write for English language publications that cover EU affairs. Politico publishes European affairs bimonthly Politico Magazine (previously European Voice) plus daily news and opinion online. EU Reporter is an online magazine and TV channel covering news, analysis and comment on EU affairs. EurActiv is a panEuropean network specialising in EU policies, with 12 websites in local languages.
EUobserver is a nonprofit online newspaper. There’s also Ackroyd Publications, whose titles include news website The Bulletin, Newcomer magazine and Flanders Today. Most writing is done by freelances. A lot of freelance work is in PR and communications for NGOs, lobbies and agencies. In Brussels, there are several Dutch language newspapers as well as French language papers, including Le Soir. The public broadcasters are VRT (Flemish public broadcasting) and RTBF (public broadcasting in French), and there are commercial channels. The Dutch language TV station is tvbrussel and the radio station FM Brussel; the French language TV station is BX1.
Martin, a journalist for 36 years, has found work in the city has diminished. The result is “a lot of journos looking for work, i.e. a lot of fish in an ever-diminishing pond”. Many journalists move into PR and communications. “There are thousands of lobbies and European associations, apart from the EU institutions and political groups in the European Parliament, all employing teams of communications professionals,” says Sara. Freelance photographer Simon Pugh lived in Brussels for 16 years. Now in Maastricht in the Netherlands, he commutes to Brussels almost weekly to cover events in the city. “There is a lot of work although, of course, there is a lot of competition,” he says. “The main areas of work centre around the major EU institutions – annually there are something like 60,000 EU-related events organised throughout the city.” Brussels has a population of just 1.1 million, with many nationalities and cultures mixed together. “It’s easy to live in the countryside as I do but be able to follow the EU beat,” says Sara. “The Belgians are fun and welcoming, especially in the sticks. The location and small size of Belgium means that in two hours in any direction you are abroad.” “As a relatively small, very international city, Brussels is incredibly welcoming to foreigners – the Belgians are, in general, very welcoming and open,” says Peter. Other positives are its famous beer, range of restaurants and the high quality of childcare, education and healthcare. Simon highlights “the comprehensive public transport system that is readily available and cheap … the fantastic food, efficient rail services, a wonderful melting pot of cultures”. However, for Peter, an American, Belgium’s bureaucracy and lack of customer service can prove tricky: “I’ve lived in Europe off and on for 10 years ... the worst I’ve ever encountered!” Sally adds: “Everyday administrative tasks that you’d expect to be able to do online actually require you to take a day off work and stand in a queue, only to be told you’ve brought the wrong papers and need to come back a week later.” Simon mentions the “abysmal customer service, especially at public services such as the post office, police and, worst of all, the railways. Horrendous congestion. A somewhat limited (and sometimes difficult-to-find) English-speaking culture. And if you don’t speak just a little bit of French, you may struggle.” According to Sally, the city can very laid back: “There’s just no sense of urgency. A tram driver will stop driving to jump out and buy a croissant from the bakery over the road. Shops don’t open on Sundays or evenings. I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing – in lots of ways it’s charming and refreshing – but it does mean you have to plan things more than in the UK. “I feel lucky to be living here and having the chance to meet people from all over the world. The cultural scene is terrific – so many museums, galleries, music venues, arthouse cinemas and festivals. They also take eating and drinking seriously here, and I respect that.”
Freelance journalist Sally Tipper:
“After the initial shock and grief, it’s become a little unreal. It’s hard to believe it happened in our home. For the most part, people have responded with solidarity, defiance and eventually humour. And life has gone on, because what else can you do?”
Peter Spiegel, Brussels bureau chief at the Financial Times:
“Brussels probably has the lowest property prices of any major city in Europe, making it exceedingly liveable, particularly on a journalist’s salary.”
Freelance journalist Martin Banks:
“As a city, it is a bit devoid of any real ‘sights’. The shopping is also not a patch on that in some UK cities but, having said that, if you make the effort, it has more than enough diversity for a city of this size. Don’t take it at face value.”
Freelance journalist Sara Lewis:
“How would I describe Belgium in five words? Multicultural, green, international, stimulating and welcoming.”
theJournalist | 11
Barrie Clement, The Independent’s former labour editor and transport editor, on a newspaper that didn’t toe the line
Farewell to the P
Chris Ratcliffe
erhaps the philosophy of The Independent was best illustrated by an encounter in the newsroom. A perplexed but highly regarded reporter who had recently left the Daily Mail – and was still bearing the scars – approached the determinedly anarchic Indy newsdesk in want of guidance. “What quotes do you want?” she asked home editor John Price. “What quotes do I want? What do you mean what quotes do I want?” said Price. “Just take down what the bloke says and we’ll put it in the paper.” It was the only newsroom I worked in where there was absolutely no “line”. Unusually, the reporter’s function was not to gather information to reinforce the prejudices of the proprietor. In fact, there was no proprietor as such because ownership of the company was deliberately spread widely, across 30 City institutions. Opinion in the paper’s leader columns was pro market on economic issues and centre left on politics, although no one felt any pressure – overt or covert – to reflect that in news stories. It could be a pretty lively place. The sports section in particular was 100 per cent “bloke”. It was directed by then sports editor Simon Kelner, who subsequently became editor in chief, and the subeditors used to sing “line full, line full” to the tune of the Portsmouth FC fans’ “Play Up Pompey”. Apparently, this was to celebrate the successful completion of a particularly tricky headline to which the whole department had contributed. Then there was the “fairy dell”, as Price called it. This was not a politically incorrect reference to the sexual preferences of the inhabitants of this part of the newsroom, more a reference to their eccentricities. Most afternoons, the casual observer might have ventured that there seemed to be a postprandial torpor in the newsroom. The casual observer might have had a point. Half-cut or not, we produced a great newspaper under the benign stewardship of Andreas Whittam Smith, founder of the paper along with fellow Telegraph refugees Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds. After an initial bedding-in period, it became the best national newspaper in the UK. Bar none. And it was brilliant fun. It was a kind of Guardian for grown-ups, written by journalists whose politics varied from right-wing anarchist to Trotskyist. The tests were: is your piece accurate? Is it true? Can you prove it? Is it well written? Is it fair? And … erm … if it’s not fair, is it interesting? The paper specialised in breaking new ground. It was one of the first – possibly the first – broadsheet to devote a whole front page to a picture; this was a graphic photograph of the 12 | theJournalist
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The tests were: is your piece accurate? Is it true? Can you prove it? Is it well written? Is it fair? And … erm … if it’s not fair, is it interesting?
Clapham Rail crash in December 1988. It did much to change the way quality papers used images. Despite his benign persona, Andreas could be brusque. Labour MPs Angela Eagle and Ann Clywd once came to the office to complain at length about a piece by reporter Peter Dunn which was an attack on New Labour based on interviews with activists. The Blessed Whittam Strobes, as Private Eye called him, finally had enough. The future film censor leant across the table and told the MPs: “You are not going to tell me how to run my fucking paper.” Andreas wasn’t averse to bad language in the paper either, provided a reasonable case could be made for it. The Indy was probably the first national newspaper to print the “c” word. During the Faisalabad cricket test in 1987, Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana, with some justification apparently, called England captain Mike Gatting “a fucking cheating cunt” – a quote used verbatim by The Indie. Perhaps The Indy’s greatest innovation was its reincarnation as a tabloid. It was the first “heavy” paper to do so. It was followed by The Times, while the Guardian made a Guardianesque decision to fudge the issue, eventually coming out in “Berliner” format, which was a half-way house. I arrived at The Independent in 1986 just ahead of its launch, with two colleagues from The Times labour staff. Don Macintyre, David Felton and I had declined Rupert Murdoch’s invitation to cross picket lines at Wapping and were in desperate need of a permanent gig. We fell on our feet. It was a bitter irony that The Indy’s state-of-the-art electronic production methods had been made possible by Murdoch’s cynical flit to Wapping and the consequent emasculation of the print unions. At least the new paper was produced at unionised printing plants. Subsequently, Murdoch took his revenge on the successful Independent by halving the cover price of The Times. Whittam Smith’s idiosyncratic reaction was to increase the price of our paper. The rationale was that the increase was a symbol of the quality of The Independent and that people were always prepared to pay extra for quality. They weren’t. I will always remember the meeting to set up the NUJ chapel. A refugee from Wapping, no less, asked whether there was any point in having a branch of the union at The Independent. After all, Andreas was such a nice chap (I paraphrase). I was about to make a robust intervention, but was restrained by the peerlessly reasonable Macintyre who successfully argued for the establishment of the chapel without resorting to industrial language. One thing I remember about the company structure at the beginning was that no one earned more than 10 times the wage of the lowest paid. This was a system that contrasted vividly with other businesses at the time – and certainly bears
closure
Indy no relation to the pornographic differentials you see now. Eventually the paper was sold to Tony O’Reilly’s Irish Independent company and the Mirror Group. The Labour-supporting Mirror was involved in the day-to-day management of The Indy and one of its first decisions was to withdraw recognition from the NUJ. We had to wait some years for a Labour government to introduce legally binding votes on union recognition. Ahead of the law coming into force, we held an independently scrutinised ballot in which only one journalist opposed NUJ recognition. I’ve got a good idea who that was. But there’s no proof, so I’ll keep that to myself … in public at least. The NUJ has hung on in at the paper. But, while there is an NUJ committee, there is no mother or father of chapel. The union is clearly needed. NUJ national organiser Laura Davison says the information given to staff over the decision to abandon the printed version of The Independent and sell the i to Johnston Press was at its very best late in arriving, at its worst nonexistent. Independent journalists were forced to read other publications to find out what was going on. Predictably, morale is not high at The Indy and opinions on the proprietor Lebedev are unprintable, even under Independent doctrine. So why did I leave? The paper had become obsessed with what people can buy in shops, meteorological futurology and whales. I wasn’t troubling the printer that much. I got a slight hint I was surplus to requirements one morning when I was in Brighton covering the TUC. I opened the paper and discovered that not a line of my copy had appeared. What made it a touch more embarrassing were The Independent’s placards outside the conference centre, boasting of comprehensive daily coverage.
Timeline October 1986
The Independent is launched from its offices in City Road, London, with Andreas Whittam Smith as editor. NUJ chapel set up before the first issue
circulation hits 423,000, outstripping that of The Times
December 1994
The Independent and IoS move to Canary Wharf, renting space from Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN)
May 1995
The Independent on Sunday (IoS) is launched
MGN and Tony O’Reilly’s Independent News and Media take a controlling interest in the papers
The Independent’s
O’Reilly wins control of
January 1990 March 1990
March 1998
The Independent
September 2003
Tabloid version of The Indy launched alongside the broadsheet
May 2004
Broadsheet version dropped. Paper now fully tabloid
December 2004
The Independent named newspaper of the year
March 2006
A strike is averted by a last‑minute pay offer
November 2008
It is announced that both papers are to be relocated at Associated Newspapers’ offices in Kensington by January 2009 to cut costs
December 2009
O’Reilly’s company confirms it is in talks with Evening Standard owners Evgeny and Alexander Lebedev
March 2010
Lebedevs confirm they are buying The Independent and the IoS for £1.
October 2010
The i newspaper, a shorter version of The Independent, is launched
February 2016
Sale of the i newspaper to Johnston Press and the closure of the print version of The Independent announced.
March 2016
Final editions of the print version of The Independent and IoS. Online version continues.
theJournalist | 13
It was
30 years ago today … when Murdoch took those jobs away. Paul Routledge remembers the Wapping dispute
I
t was the year that ended the rule of two dictators abroad – Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and “Baby Doc” Duvalier In Haiti – and brought to power one at home: Rupert Murdoch. With the help of the police, the courts, the Thatcher government and renegade sections of the trade union movement, the Australian (as he then was) media magnate became absolute ruler of Wapping.
Who was who Most workers at News International belonged
to two print unions : the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades, representing white collar, production and managerial grades, led by Brenda (now Lady) Dean; and the typesetters and machine managers in the National Graphical Association, led by Tony Dubbins. There were also much smaller numbers in the engineering union, AEEU (now, like the printers, part of Unite), who joined
14 | theJournalist
the dispute and the electricians’ union, EETPU (also part of Unite), who defied their union leaders to support the printers. Fleet Street management had largely ceded control of newspaper production to the print unions in the 1950s, while the titled proprietors fought each other and the government of the day. The unions provided manpower, acting as “labour exchanges”. The industry was a closed shop, which meant membership
was compulsory – a power that was sometimes exploited with more vigour than wisdom. The NUJ had about 700 members across all four titles – The Sun, the News of the World, The Sunday Times and The Times. Unlike the print unions, the NUJ did not have a closed shop, but the voluntary membership ratio was very high at up to 90 per cent. In the bitter aftermath of the dispute, there were calls for members who went into Wapping to be expelled. Wiser counsel prevailed, but it was years before I could speak civilly
In the spring of 1986, Murdoch reigned supreme as the boss of News International, publishers of The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and the News of the World, employing several hundred journalists in his east London fortress. But no unionised printworkers. They had all been sacked in their thousands a year before, in a military-style operation that Marcos and Baby Doc would have envied. Murdoch bought the old docklands site close to Tower Bridge in 1978, ostensibly to move printing from outdated premises off Fleet Street. Over the years, one lie succeeded another – he said he was going to print a new 24-hour newspaper, then a paper called the London Post. His real aim was to move all the national titles there and break the power of the print unions. The NUJ was a sideshow. to those who went in. Pat Healy still does not read The Times. Multi-billionaire Rupert Murdoch is not a self-made tycoon. He inherited an Australian newspaper business from his father Sir Keith Murdoch. He went on to achieve international prominence after buying the NoW then the old broadsheet Sun, previously published as the Laboursupporting Daily Herald. Known as the “Dirty Digger”, he turned the Sun into a “racy” tabloid, the best-selling title on the newsstands, creating vast profits for his
business expansion into the USA where he took American citizenship. His family company owns Fox News, 20th Century Fox and the Wall Street Journal. It’s the biggest media conglomeration in the world. Many of the journalists who were sacked or walked out of Wapping during the dispute joined the fledgling Independent, then no more than a paper dream. Its print version closed within weeks of the 30th anniversary of the dispute. That’s newspapers for you. Sometimes hard going, but never boring.
wapping Sahm Doherty
theJournalist | 15
wapping It was
30 years We could be – and were – dealt with later. To achieve this fell purpose, he sought legal advice from the Queen’s solicitors, Farrer & Co. They advised that the best way to do this would be to provoke the printworkers into a strike, when it would be easier to dismiss the entire workforce. Murdoch took up this suggestion enthusiastically, goading the unions with impossible demands, such as no negotiating rights for chapels on the new site, into a strike ballot. The outcome was a foregone conclusion. Members voted by large majorities for industrial action. The minute they struck, he struck back harder, dismissing all 5,500 employees on the spot. He could do this because journalists were now setting their own copy and he’d done a secret deal with the Electricians’ Union, EETPU, to man the presses. Vans were hired to bypass the newspaper trains (and sympathetic railway unions) and the Metropolitan Police provided protective manpower, free of charge. Despite 24-hour picketing with occasional mass demonstrations and the burning down of the company’s newspaper reel store, Operation Wapping was a success. It took a full year, pitched battles in the street with mounted police and punitive legal action against the print union Sogat, but Murdoch finally ground down his former workforce and the strike was called off in February 1987. Labour, under the leadership of Neil Kinnock, was equivocal. It was supportive in principle – even “blacking” the titles – but opposed to violence on the picket line, which was mostly the fault of the police. I know, I was there, speaking on the very worst night. It’s hard to hold your audience when mounted police are charging into the crowd. My wife had to flee for her life. Tory politicians applauded the outcome of the dispute. They had always hated and feared trade union strength, and now they played court to Murdoch, giving him everything he wanted to make vast profits in the UK to finance his growing media empire in the US – where he eventually became a citizen. He became a Hollywood mogul, and his rabidly right wing Fox News is the odious offspring of Wapping. The rising stars of New Labour followed in Thatcher’s footsteps. Tony Blair travelled to the other side of the world to pay homage to News International bosses; he was rewarded with the fickle political support of The Sun come election time – but only if he delivered policies acceptable to the autocrat of screen and print. Tory anti-union laws survived largely intact. New Labour even exempted Murdoch’s tame house “union” – News International Staff Association (Nisa) – from legislation, giving limited powers to demand recognition from employers. Let’s not forget the pressure NUJ members were under in this unprecedented conflict. It was bend the knee or get the sack. Journalists who crossed the picket line and went into Wapping were given £2,000 a year pay rises and free Bupa health insurance. They were also told that their NUJ house agreements would remain in force for two years – and promised a swimming pool. They got the bribes, but the union was derecognised, and remains so 30 years later. Naturally, the pool pledge didn’t hold water. Mogul Murdoch’s unique “special relationship” with the 16 | theJournalist
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Murdoch’s aim was to break the print unions’ power. The NUJ was a sideshow. We could be – and were – dealt with later
”
ago today
political establishment burgeoned yet more when David Cameron became prime minister, with social gatherings, invitations to private meetings, even the loan of a horse to Samantha Cameron from Rebekah Wade, Rupert’s favourite whip-cracking UK executive. NoW editor Andy Coulson became the prime minister’s press secretary. Events have a way of bringing down dictators, and it all seemed destined for the rocks when the phone-hacking scandal broke in 2011. Murdoch was compelled to pay massive compensation to celebrities. He had to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, grovel to a committee of MPs, and close the News of the World. His takeover bid for Sky News was stymied. Coulson went to prison. But the NoW was reborn as The Sun on Sunday. Murdoch has extended his global empire. He must think he has it all – and Jerry Hall. The octogenarian magnate married the supermodel. The story isn’t over. There are still NUJ members on his UK titles. The union was here before he came, and it will be here when he’s gone. Murdoch has done more than any other newspaper dictator to demonstrate why it’s necessary.
Journalists who said ‘no’
HR jargon of the day. I spoke to my wife on Murdoch’s bullying all had the phone, who said I our own stories. should do what I thought I was thousands of was right, and to a close miles away in Manila, the friend, Johnny Stones, capital of the Philippines, NUM delegate at Frickley covering the downfall of colliery in Yorkshire. dictator Marcos for The He told me “if you’re Times when the Wapping ringing me, you know bomb dropped. already”. That was it. I As the paper’s Southnever wrote another word East Asia correspondent for The Times. I was on based in Singapore – sent strike from day one and there after 15 years as sacked five months later. labour editor following the Around 70 journalists miners’ strike of 1984-85 refused to join Murdoch’s – I had little contact with anti-union war. We were Gray’s Inn Road. a motley crew – subs, I eventually got a telex reporters, specialists, message (remember newsdesk people, even them?), informing me I a cartoonist. Some came would have to file to direct out from day one – on to Wapping, not through The Times, specialist Reuters, because the writer Pat Healy, FoC Greg printers were on strike. Neale, foreign news editor If I failed to follow Martin Huckerby, Sue this instruction, I would Greenberg, Mike Sumner be “deemed to have and Paul Harrison, plus dismissed myself”, in the the entire labour team –
We “refuseniks” who would not bow to
Donald Macintyre, David Felton and Barrie Clement. On The Sun, Eric Butler, Mike Topp and cartoonist Olly Duke. On the Sunday Times, Harry Coen. These are the ones I remember. NUJ organiser Peta van Den Bergh kept a grim roll call of the victims: “Out – sacked”. Perhaps the most colourful story concerned NoW star reporter Andrew Drummond, who did go into Wapping. He woke up one morning with “scab” written in lipstick on his chest by his partner, a woman striker who belonged to Sogat. He was “out” faster than you can say dismissal notice. And that’s what we all got. A P45 to remember Wapping. Mine is worth more to me than Magna Carta. In fact, it is our Magna Carta. Sometimes, we just have to say “no” to the powerful.
Q&A main image: mark thomas
What made you become a journalist/PR? I joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1991 and worked with Charlie Whelan just when the movement was getting to grips with communications.
What advice would you give someone starting in journalism? The best advice was given to me by political journalist Kevin Maguire: “Keep pushing until it blows up in your face and then start all over again.”
What other jobs have you done?
Who is your biggest hero?
I worked in Harrods for five years. I was a shop steward and wrote a lot of newsletters denouncing the management. It’s how I honed my propaganda skills.
Nelson Mandela. I met him after Amicus raised £25,000 for the legs of his statue in Westminster. He was very jolly despite being rather ill.
And villain? Thatcher. She stole my milk, ruined my education and caused me to be unemployed for two years in the 1980s. And of course did lasting damage to the fabric of my country.
When did you join the NUJ and why? Such luminaries as Paul Routledge and Barrie Clement persuaded me I should join the NUJ if I wanted to remain on the list of trusted union sources.
What’s been your best moment in your career? Being the first to expose the duplicity of Tony Blair’s spin machine at the TUC Congress when they announced the death of spin. With the aid of PA industry editor Alan Jones, I got the quote of my boss Derek Simpson in first.
What is the worst place you’ve ever worked in?
Finnbarr Webster / Alamy Stock Photo, alamy.com
I have been lucky enough to work in unions or associations that shared my values, surrounded by like-minded people, so I have few complaints. I did mix concrete for a week during a uni holiday once. I slept for 12 hours after each shift.
Which six people (alive or dead) would you invite to a dinner party?
NUJ & Me
The Tolpuddle Martyrs and Jimmy Airlie, hero of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders dispute and my mentor at the start of my career.
Richard O’Brien is head of communications at the Institute of the Motor Industry
What was your earliest political thought? Surely we should have elections for the positions of mum and dad.
And the best?
What are your hopes for journalism over the next five years?
Amicus in 2001-2007. We did some groundbreaking things like engaging with young people at Glastonbury and we ran some great campaigns.
A stabilisation in the number of media outlets. That the cuts in staff and overloading of work on those who remain will end. I hope journalists will have more time to find stories rather than regurgitate propaganda.
And fears? Are many of your friends in the union? Only the journalists and PR people – the rest of my friends are normal.
That it won’t happen
How would you like to be remembered? As a serious man plagued by a troublesome inner child. theJournalist | 17
rorpix / Alamy Sto
Trinity Mirror / Mir ck Photo
Crime reporters face specific criticisms and risks, so it is essential they keep their rights to protect sources, says Duncan Campbell
Criminal practice H
e was called the “gentleman highwayman” in the press when, in 1749, he carried out an armed robbery in Hyde Park of Horace Walpole, son of the former prime minister. He was James Maclaine, an upper-class Irishman who had spent half a dozen years as a highwayman before being hanged at Tyburn in 1750. Maclaine had a reputation for being polite to his victims and, after he was arrested, Walpole complained that “malefactors” received more respect in the press than, say, a distinguished general. Plus ça change. In January, at the end of the trial of the men convicted of carrying out the £14 million burglary in Hatton Garden last year, many a disgruntled columnist noted they were described as likeable rogues rather than greedy thugs. Crime reporters have been criticised over the centuries for two main sins: first, for glamorising the perpetrators of crime, from Dick Turpin through to the Krays, the great train robbers and the Hatton Garden “diamond wheezers”; and, second, for creating a fear of crime out of all proportion with reality. Apart from this, crime reporters have faced punishment in the criminal and civil courts. The arrests of journalists resulting from Operations Elveden, Weeting and Tuleta are reminders of the rocky relationship that has long existed between the law and crime reporters, although over very different issues. Back in 1885, the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, WT Stead, found himself in court as a result of an issue still very much in 18 | theJournalist
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When people object to sensations, they object to the very material of life. Sensationalism is a means to an end
the news in 2016: the exploitation of underage girls. In a series of articles, entitled The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon, Stead exposed the sale of girls as prostitutes by adopting the strategy of purchasing one himself. “I have been exploring the London Inferno,” wrote Stead and he had found “all the vices of Gomorrah, daring the vengeance of long-suffering Heaven ... But the sojourn in this hell has not been fruitless. My purpose was not to secure the punishment of criminals but to lay bare the working of a great organisation of crime.” Stead was jailed for three months under the Offences Against the Person Act for purchasing a 13-year-old girl called Eliza Armstrong to expose the scandal and the fact that the age of consent was then still only 13. He wore his sentence as a badge of honour. Then, as now, the jailing of a journalist provoked mixed reactions from rival publications. While the Methodist Times argued that Stead’s actions were what “Christ Himself would have done”, The Times dismissed him as a “self-elected guardian of morals” and cartoonists mocked him as “the man with the muck-rake”. Stead protected his sources on the grounds that he had promised them secrecy and acknowledged that he had been “drinking champagne with the mistress of that brothel, and telling her lies about what I wanted, as I had to, otherwise I would have been summarily ejected; I felt, after getting her confidence in that way, I could not go and expose her personally.” Stead also felt the future of the newspaper was as a moral guardian and defended “sensationalism”, of which he had been accused, on the grounds that “when people object to sensations they object to the very material of life. Sensationalism is a means to an end … For the great public, the journalist must print in great capitals, or his warning is unheard.” The age of consent was duly raised to 16. That issue of protecting sources also came very much to a head during the post-hacking cases when it emerged News International, as it was, had cooperated with the police and handed over details of its reporters’ contacts and sources. In one of the subsequent trials, in 2014, defence counsel Nigel Rumfitt QC told jurors that the police had been “spoon fed”
crime reporting AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo
Keystone Pict ures USA / Alamy Stock Photo
evidence “by a mighty multinational desperate to save its own skin”. He described News International, as “a copper’s nark – a grass and, like all grasses, gives a mixture of inaccurate and misleading information to the police to save its own skin”. Perhaps the best-known issue of protection of sources – one in which the National Union of Journalists was involved – was in 1963, when Reg Foster, the Daily Sketch’s crime reporter, and Brendan Mulholland of the Daily Mail were jailed for contempt of court. They had refused to reveal their sources for stories about the sexual peccadilloes of civil servant John Vassall, who had been convicted of being a Soviet spy the previous year. Vassall, gay when homosexuality was still illegal in Britain, had been photographed by Soviet agents in Moscow having sex and was blackmailed into supplying information when he went back to work as an Admiralty clerical officer in London. He was charged with espionage, pleaded guilty and jailed for 18 years. After Vassall’s conviction, Foster and Mulholland wrote that he was known to buy women’s clothes from West End stores and was called “Aunty” by colleagues. The Sketch wanted to know “why did the spy-catchers fail to notice Vassall who sometimes wore women’s clothes on West End trips?” In the wake of the scandal, an inquiry, chaired by Lord Radcliffe, was set up by prime minister Harold Macmillan, whose government had been badly damaged by the case. The inquiry instructed Foster to disclose the identity of the source. Foster told Lord Radcliffe: “My lord, with the greatest respect – and I mean that – you ask me to do something which is beyond my conception of ethics and principles.” He continued: “I have been in journalism for 40 years. From the first, I was taught always to respect sources of information. I have always done that. In that time, most of us have been involved in two world wars. I lost a number of close Fleet Street colleagues in places like Singapore, the Middle East and Europe and I would feel guilty of the greatest possible treachery to them if I were to assist … in this matter.” Mulholland also refused to divulge his sources. Foster was jailed for three months and Mulholland for six. The jailed pair, known as the Silent Men, enjoyed support
from the NUJ and right across Fleet Street. In recent years, it has been queried whether their sources actually existed and whether the men had invented some of the tales but they did take the honourable course in declining to name anyone. Now, with government plans to give the police access to journalistic sources through its investigatory powers bill, it cannot be long before there are yet more reporters in the dock. Duncan Campbell is a former crime correspondent for the Guardian. His book We’ll All Be Murdered in Our Beds: the Shocking History of Crime Reporting has just been published by Elliott and Thompson, price £14.99.
The picture we dare not print … Libel actions have long been used in attempts to
in a homosexual vice ring. So, on 12 July 1964, the paper suppress tales of criminality. ran a story headlined “Peer Lord Boothby, Tory peer and and a gangster. Yard inquiry”. Two days later, The Times TV personality, hung out with reported that Metropolitan the Krays in the early 1960s – their acolytes knew him as police commissioner Sir Joseph Simpson said he had “the Queen Mother” – and he took advantage of Ronnie “asked senior officers for Kray’s access to rough trade. some enlightenment on … Norman Lucas, chief crime allegations of a homosexual reporter at the Sunday Mirror, relationship between a peer and a man with a who had impeccable police criminal record”, concluding connections, had learnt helpfully that “none of these that the investigation into statements is true”. the Krays had turned up a Two days later, the Daily relationship involving a peer
Mirror ran a story about “the picture we dare not print” – a photo of Ronnie Kray and Boothby – but did not name the latter. Boothby wrote to The Times, suggesting the story was “a tissue of atrocious lies … this sort of thing makes a mockery of any decent kind of life, public or private, in what is still supposed to be a civilised country”. He sued the Sunday Mirror and pocketed £50,000. The unfortunate editor of the Sunday Mirror, Reg Payne, was sent off to edit Tit-Bits.
theJournalist | 19
first person
StartingOut Helen Nugent left The Times for a new life in Manchester and set up cultural website Northern Soul
I
never intended to set up a website. When I left The Times in 2010 after a decade at Wapping, I was tired of London and tired of life as a reporter. Morale was at an all-time low at the paper of record; many of the more experienced journalists had left and low staffing levels meant I was juggling night shifts, day shifts and Sunday shifts at an increasingly frenetic pace. I was exhausted. I moved back to Manchester and slept for a month. While I missed the buzz of the newsroom and the thrill of a breaking story, I shed no tears for the myriad of online deadlines, which meant I barely left the office. I was glad to leave the constant Press Association rewrites behind and happy to say goodbye to an increasingly toxic office environment where investigative journalism was deemed too expensive and unwarranted sackings were a weekly occurrence. There were moments when I thought: what on earth have I done? I’d walked away from a staff job at the most famous newspaper in the world and I’d done this during a period of unprecedented upheaval in journalism. Was I mad? I reminded myself that I’d only stayed for the final year because of what it said on my business card, not because I was in love with the job or the product. So, what now? My initial plan was to freelance for the nationals as a regional reporter and pitch business stories to papers and magazines (I’d spent the first six years of my career as a financial writer). I found regular 20 | theJournalist
work with The Guardian and The Mail on Sunday and also with the Yorkshire Post. Then there was the BBC. MediaCityUK was freshly minted and there was employment to be had as a broadcast journalist, both on and off air. Everything was going swimmingly. But change was afoot. Newspaper budgets were under intense pressure and the type of so-called “quirky” stories I’d been pitching successfully were no longer gaining traction. Articles about crime and despair – great. Pieces about enterprise and creative endeavour – no thanks. In some ways, it was depressingly familiar. Part of the reason I’d left London and home news was to escape stories of death and destruction. Years of tramping the streets, following trails of blood and bothering bereaved families had done little for my mental equilibrium. I hadn’t moved more than 200 miles north to do the same.
T
hen I remembered a tatty yellow Post-It note buried beneath notebooks and press releases on my desk at home. It read: “Do blog called Northern Soul.” This was an idea I’d been kicking around during my last few months in London. If I’m honest, I was dubious about the virtues of blogging, and I’d been away from the north for nearly 15 years. But I was keen to write about the things I’d always loved doing in my spare time (going to the theatre, reading books, watching films, visiting museums) and a blog seemed like a good way to achieve this. There were a few teething problems. I had no concept of how to set up a
website, few contacts in the arts and absolutely no idea if there was an audience for high-quality, long(ish) form journalism about northern culture and initiative.
T
“
Since the launch, readership has soared by more than 400 per cent. We are read across the world
”
his was back in April 2013. At the start, it was just me and my amazing IT guy, Simon Belt. I persuaded a handful of journo friends into writing for the site with the promise of press tickets and went from there. The past few years have consisted of 15-hour days, seven days a week, all the while trying to keep my financial head above water with freelance work. Now Northern Soul is coming up to its third birthday. I have more than 60 contributors including, among others, a deputy editor, head photographer, Liverpool correspondent, north east correspondent, comedy editor, poetry correspondent and US correspondent. Since the launch, readership has soared by more than 400 per cent. We are read across the world, gain Twitter followers every day and our Facebook engagement has never been more active. In addition, I have recently appointed a sales and marketing manager who is in charge of monetising the site, and there are plans to launch a poetry prize. I began life as a digital editor by making it up as I went along. That’s pretty much still what I’m doing in 2016. Happily, it seems to be working.
@nugehelen @Northern_Soul_
on media Raymond Snoddy bemoans the media’s lack of objectivity
Propaganda beats facts in EU coverage
W
e are in the middle of a complex multiparty campaign that will define for a generation the UK’s political, economic and legal structures – its place in the world and sense of self. There is uncertainty in many people’s minds, and newspapers are well placed to inform and influence the debate on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Community. Tweets, Facebook postings and perhaps even television news reports, given their typical brevity, are little suited to the cool examination of facts and enabling voters to make a rational choice in the referendum. The BBC, in particular, has a duty to make a complex dilemma comprehensible. By 23 June, there is a good chance it will have done so. This is still a great opportunity for newspapers, unshackled from traditional party political loyalties, to play a crucial role. Will they rise to the occasion? Probably not. The battle lines have long since been drawn and much of the coverage already carries more than a whiff of propaganda. This has intensified since Jeremy Corbyn finally came out in support of the “remain” case, albeit warts and all. It gives the Tory-leaning press another stick for beating the Labour leader. Which papers are likely to provide anything like enthusiastic support for staying in the EU and basic fairness in their reporting of the remain case? The Guardian, Observer and Daily Mirror are the only ones that can be relied on, apart from the
8
“
The battle lines have long since been drawn and much of the coverage already carries more than a whiff of propaganda
”
Financial Times. In the days when The Independent was a newspaper, it would have provided a more international, objective outlook. The new online Indy has changed utterly, not least because 100 out of 175 journalists have lost their jobs. With lists of six toilets with the best view, the 20 best countries in which to bring up a family, people banned from Half Moon pub in Herne Hill in south London, then nine puzzles that only smart people can solve, clickbait rather than journalism is the order of the day. It would be funny if it were not so sad. On the other side of the fence, you can rely on The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Sun and Daily Star to face blatantly in the Brexit direction. The Times and the Sunday Times will be more even-handed although before the end – unless remain is far ahead in the polls – you will see the influence of owner Rupert Murdoch heading for the exit. Sun editor Tony Gallagher will have little choice. He has already boasted more than 50 anti-EU leaders and he notes the majority of Sun readers are for Brexit. Take one day – the day when the Corbyn speech was covered – as an example. Apart from Corbyn, there were two significant referendum-related stories. One was a report for TheCityUK by consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers predicting the loss of up to 100,000 City jobs if the UK left. PwC had earlier suggested the loss of up to 950,000 British jobs
overall. The second was a warning from the Bank of England that current uncertainty could weaken growth and suffer further in event of Brexit. The Mail covered neither story, although an Alex Brummer column attacked both the IMF and the World Bank for daring to “support” the remain campaign. The Times covered only the Bank of England story. It’s not too late for newspapers to provide more honest coverage on how Brexit might affect their readers’ lives. If they fail, then we will just have to rely on the journalists of the BBC for balance and objectivity.
For the latest updates from Raymond Snoddy on Twitter go to @raymondsnoddy theJournalist | 21
arts by Amy Powell Yeates Pulitzer prize-winning Suzan Lori-Parks’ awardwinning play, two Somalian girls share a painful secret in a play on tour, secrets from the Sicilian sea on show, alternative France, essays inspired by Magna Carta, music and the miners’ strike, and James Foley’s story on film Theatre Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 and 3) Royal Court Theatre, London 15 September-22 October Although performances don’t start until September, this trilogy by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by US director Jo Bonney, is likely to get booked up early. In 1862 in West Texas, Hero, a slave, is promised his freedom if he joins his master in the ranks of the Confederacy against the Union. In a nation at war with itself, he must work against those striving to abolish slavery. The family he leaves behind debates whether to escape or await his return, and fear that, for Hero, freedom is an empty promise that may come at great cost. The production received critical acclaim in the US. www.royalcourttheatre.com Cuttin’ It UK tour Until 30 July Teenagers Muna and Iqra get the same bus to school but they’ve never really spoken. Muna wears Topshop and sits on the top deck gossiping about Nicki Minaj, while Iqra is alone downstairs in her charity shop clothes. They were both born in Somalia but 22 | theJournalist
with attitude
come from different worlds. As they get closer, they realise their families share a painful secret. Tackling the urgent issue of female genital mutilation in Britain, this new play by Charlene James, winner of the George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright and the Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play, reveals the price some girls have to pay to become women. www.youngvic.org Exhibitions Storms, War and Shipwrecks: Treasures from the Sicilian Seas Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 21 June-25 September More than 200 objects rescued from the bottom of the sea are
he Some of t s to best thing h a o wit see and d al bite ic it l o p f o bit
shedding light on the past 2,500 years of Sicilian history. Sicily has become one of the major sites of focus for archaeological divers. Among the finds on display are a series of Roman and Carthaginian warship arms, the discovery of which confirmed the location of the Battle of the Egadi Islands in 241BC. The conflict marked a pivotal moment in history, ending the First Punic War and ensuring Rome’s domination of the Mediterranean. www.ashmolean.org Books A Guide to Mystical France: Secrets, Mysteries, Sacred Sites By Nick Inman Findhorn Press, pbk, £14.99
email: For listings NUJ.org.uk journalist@
This book by NUJ member Nick Inman (Paris branch) explores France’s lesser known ancient wisdoms and secrets, and can be used as both an alternative travel guide and a history book. Themes include the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, Black Virgins, prehistoric cave paintings and labyrinths. The backdrops include Chartres, Rennes-le-Château, churches carved out of rock and mountain sanctuaries. The guide also delves into the historical reasons behind the way structures such as Notre Dame cathedral, Mont-Saint-Michel and the
indepth
Red Ladder day
The Red Ladder Theatre company was born in 1968 out of agitprop – a radical socialist theatre movement that grew in Britain in an era of demonstrations and revolts. It is arguably the most prolific
political theatre company in the UK today and certainly one of the most important, taking its work to audiences all over the country. Despite this, Red Ladder had all of it Arts Council funding cut last year. The company is, however, doing an admirable job of finding ways to continue creating work; last year, it collaborated with Park Theatre in north London to co-produce two new plays by Avaes Mohammad – Hurling Rubble at the Moon and Hurling Rubble at the Sun. In early 2016, it toured a production of The Damned United, a stage adaptation by politically focused playwright Anders Lustgarten, based on the novel of the same name by David Peace about football manager Brian Clough’s disastrous tenure at Leeds United. The production was made financially viable by the author donating the stage rights, which
allowed the company to bring a vibrant new production of a known title to audiences. Red Ladder’s latest project will be performed in June at the Leeds Carriageworks. This involves a community cast of 40 local performers and musicians, who will be joined by the Leeds Rhinos and Great Britain international Rugby League player Jamie Jones-Buchanan for his debut appearance on stage. Leeds Lads is a new play that celebrates the multicultural city that Leeds has become, and follows the story of Tara, who begins a voyage of discovery about the sacrifice of her forefathers on the day that the city commemorates the Leeds Pals at the Battle of the Somme. Visit Red Ladder’s website to find out how you can support the company and the work it creates.
www.redladder.co.uk
arts alignments of Carnac were built. www.findhornpress.com Pit Props: Music, International Solidarity and the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike Edited by Granville Williams Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, pbk, £11.99 Pit Props marks the end of an era in coal mining in the UK and highlights how the incredible year-long struggle by miners in defence of jobs and communities still resonates today.
One section is dedicated to the creative links that developed between music, politics and protest during the strike. The book also explores the international support offered to miners and their families during the struggle, as well as unfinished business from the strike, including the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign. www.cpbf.org.uk Taking Liberties Amnesty International Walker Books, hbk, £8.94 (due for publication in August) Inspired by the 800-year anniversary of Magna Carta being granted, a variety of writers and artists explore the rights and freedoms still lacking in today’s society. The contributors include Tony Birch, John Boyne, Sita Brahmachari, Russell Brand, Kate Charlesworth, Sarah Crossan, Neil Gaiman, Jack Gantos, Matt Haig, Frances Hardinge, Jackie Kay, AL Kennedy, Liz Kessler, Elizabeth Laird, Sabrina Mahfouz, Paul
Muldoon, Chibundu Onuzo, Bali Rai, Chris Riddell, Mary and Brian Talbot, Christie Watson and Tim Wynne-Jones. www.amnestyshop.org.uk The Good Immigrant By Nikesh Shukla Unbound Books, publication due soon Nikesh Shukla’s book sheds light on immigration, a subject that is often oversimplified by the media. The book gathers together a collection of essays by “good immigrants” including journalists, such as Kieran Yates and Coco Kahn, poets and artists. It has been fully funded through crowdsourcing publishing website Unbound Books and is due for publication imminently. You can still donate to support the book through the website to secure your copy; other rewards can be obtained in exchange for additional support. www.unbound.co.uk
Films Jim: the James Foley Story Dogwoof National release On Thanksgiving Day 2012, journalist James Foley was kidnapped and went missing for two years. In 2014, a video of his public execution shocked the world. The Foley family had been threatened with prosecution by the US government if they paid a ransom. Brian Oakes, a film-maker and childhood friend of Foley, tells his story through interviews with friends and family, which takes him to the frontlines of Libya and Syria, where Foley reported on the plights of civilians affected by war. www.dogwoof.com
Together we can make a difference Ten reasons why you should be in the National Union of Journalists • Protection at work • C ommitment to improving the pay and conditions of journalists • Free legal advice service • T he leading trade union in the fight for employment rights • Expert advice on copyright issues • Skilled representation at all levels • Your own national press card • Strong health and safety policies • A champion in the fight for press and broadcasting freedom • Major provider of training for journalists
Who should join the NUJ? Journalists including photographers, creative artists working editorially in newspapers, magazines, books, broadcasting, public relations and information, and electronic media; or as advertising and fashion photographers, advertising copywriters and editorial computer systems workers. We also welcome student journalists. If you have any questions please contact the membership department on Tel: 0845 4500373 or email info@nuj.org.uk putting ‘Membership Enquiry’ into the subject field.
Application forms available at
www.nuj.org.uk theJournalist | 23
YourSay... inviting letters, comments, tweets
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Please keep comments to 200 words maximum
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH tim ellis
Partisan view in Europe debate I really don’t think that the disgraced Denis MacShane gives a fair account of the media in his article in the last edition of The Journalist. I expect The Journalist to give me a wide range of news and views. Yet Mr MacShane, as a noted pro-EU campaigner, misleadingly refers to “isolationist calls from Eurosceptics, Tories, Ukip and the BNP”. To him, it is “isolationist” to want to rejoin the wider world. Of course, it is nothing of the kind. And, as for his inclusion of the BNP (which I’m not sure even exists any more after its failure to register this year with the Electoral Commission), he clearly hopes to juxtapose anti-EU “isolationist” and presumably fascist opinion with his account of foreign travel and trade. And, in apparently assessing how the media are allegedly backing the “Europhobe” position, he conveniently forgets to mention the BBC which, we read elsewhere in The Journalist, is the single largest source of information to British citizens – and which receives EU funding. He also fails to mention Channel 4, which many would claim is equally pro-EU. Mr MacShane purported to give an assessment of the state of play with the media. In fact, he delivered a series of cheap slurs. Neil Graham Preston
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH We shouldn’t be using Denis MacShane’s work In the small contributor’s biography at the end of Denis MacShane’s article in the last magazine, the following ought to have been added: “Resigned as MP, suspended by his party, removed from the Privy Council and convicted of false accounting”. Could you not have found somebody with more credibility and better judgment? Hiring a convicted criminal to contribute to our house journal makes us look like a bunch of complicit, hypocritical clowns. This is a man who talked down the expenses scandal and tried to hide his crimes. As a journalist and a trade 24 | theJournalist
unionist, I don’t like seeing my subs being used to pay such a person. Please, use someone else next time. And think hard about hiring criminals. Craig Williams Glasgow Broadcasting Branch
I have always been passionate about causes Denis MacShane writes: It is typical of the anti-Europeans to play the man not the ball. I admit all my imperfections and wish that no one had ever shown me how to fill in an exes form when I started out at the BBC and Daily Mirror four decades ago. I have always been passionate about causes I support, including not isolating
ourselves from Europe. The vast majority of the press by circulation has been anti EU in the past 20 years. Even now, the BBC Today programme recently let the pro-Brexit Tory MP Angela Leadsom say that “60 per cent of our laws are made in the EU” which is a grotesque untruth. She wasn’t challenged. How can we expect citizens to vote on the facts when the BBC allows such factual inaccuracies to be broadcast about Europe?
Why no mention of future additions to the EU? Amid all the media coverage of the EU referendum, I am amazed that nobody ever mentions the future addition of new members to the EU. With the US
Email to: journalist@nuj.org.uk Post to: The Journalist 308-312 Gray’s Inn Road London WC1X 8DP Tweet to: @mschrisbuckley
and NATO pressing the EU to get Russia in an ever tighter corner, Ukraine and Turkey are being offered real or associate membership. Thus the geopolitical push eastwards will mean that even more people will be ready to come to the UK seeking work and better living standards. I personally think that immigration is what makes the UK a dynamic society, but I am nevertheless surprised how little comment there has been in the media about the Ukrainian plumber joining the Polish plumber in seeking a better life. Dave Siddall Cockermouth
Roy McHardy should be remembered with pride I was sorry that no space could be found in the Feb-March issue of The Journalist for an obituary of Roy McHardy, who died just before Christmas. Roy was a frontline on-screen reporter for BBC Scotland and was immensely proud of his uncanny (or canny?) ability to write, memorise and deliver a word-perfect report on any subject under the sun, directly to camera, exactly within the time allocated – and frequently live. He got the NUJ bug and became the BBC staff representative – he drew his BBC salary but worked exclusively representing NUJ members in tribunals, disciplinary hearings, salary disputes, grievances and more. There must be hundreds of BBC journalists who are grateful for his interventions. In his work, he toured the country from gig to gig like a 1960s rock band – one day in Norwich, the next in Penzance, the next in Inverness– and strangely seemed to like the life. Roy was a longstanding member of the NUJ National Executive Council. He was a bit right wing for me but he brought honesty and common sense, and all committees need a range of views. Someone like Roy McHardy, with his journalistic excellence, his commitment
inbox to the union and his achievements on behalf of members, should be remembered with honour and pride. Bernie Corbett Former NUJ honorary general treasurer, now general secretary of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain
A big figure in City news at the FT and Indy Former colleagues at the FT and The Independent were saddened to hear of the death of John Moore in March after a long illness. John was a prominent figure in City journalism in the 1980s for his coverage of the scandals at Lloyd’s of London and the activities of Tiny Rowland, the controversial boss of Lonrho, some of whose business practices were described as “the unacceptable face of capitalism” by the then prime minister, Edward Heath. John was named Specialist Writer of the Year in the 1982 British Press Awards for his Lloyd’s coverage. Nominally head of the FT’s bids and deals team, covering the mergers and acquisitions market, John had little
steve bell
time for everyday news – a stance that led to clashes with management. Not always the most organised of men, with a desk barely visible under a collapsing pile of paperwork, he could be difficult to work with. But he was always helpful to younger reporters and he was an engaging companion over a beer. John left the FT in the mid-1980s to join the newly established Independent as assistant city editor. His expertise in the often arcane corners of the insurance market and his excellent contacts with some of its less savoury characters were highly valued. A lifelong lover of opera, John was a Hogarthian figure who stood out in an often conformist City landscape. He will be missed. Charles Batchelor London
Irish highs and lows... If the December was a (welcome) bumper edition of the Journalist for Irish journos, the Feb/March edition … not so much. Cormac Campbell Belfast
twitter feed Tweet us your feedback: @mschrisbuckley Blazing Minds (@BlazingMinds) 17/02/2016, 18:02 Very interesting and informative read in the latest copy of the @NUJofficial magazine about “taking on the trolls”. C McV (@CraigMcVegas) 16/02/2016, 14:10 Opened up this month’s @NUJofficial mag and who’s staring back but @JoanaRamiroUK talking about Tintin! Great! pic.twitter.com/ TCD4zeCIgO @DenisMacShane Lovely to read the enthusiasm of @JoanaRamiroUK for the joy of being a journalist in the NUJ Journalist @mschrisbuckley Nigel Whitfield (@nigelwUK) 10/03/2016, 11:02 Just done @NUJofficial survey about the magazine. No option for “Used to read print edition cover to cover, forget about the digital one”
the owners
theJournalist | 25
and finally
g in rn a w h lt a e h a h it w s e m News co Chris Proctor is forced to switch off the radio to steady his nerves
. Butter was on the had great faith in polyunsaturates I was! that fool back burner. Oh, deluded isn’t bad for er butt that s new Last year saw the ates were atur uns Poly ! was er nev us at all – and ng butter easi incr passé. The Express revealed that ks to its than use, consumption is good for you, beca n’t had I . etes diab off es ing heptadecanoic acid, it stav , and ’d like to thank Radio Four for gett then l unti etes diab t abou g even started worryin me out of bed so promptly in the tion. I was already being offered a solu morning. Half past the hour, I leap up on the inside ping gallo , ever how , was s Bad new It from the linen like a lithe leopard. the anti-butter le lane. What about the workers? Whi is because of my hypochondria. rts of a dairy repo were e period was in full swing, ther me slips into in fashion, back is It is then that the Today program er butt now s. But its medical news. If industry in crisi ufacturers man g “frighten the punters” mode with mar don aban ly ced to such a are we to heartless redu be I’d it, to ned liste and I lay in bed ever spokesperson reveals that never arise again. to their fate? A Unil ably prob ld wou I that ic pan of e on. The worry stat the food giant may cease producti r. Alas! ulce What would be the point? ach is enough to bring on a stom safety of the rs ulce I sometimes eavesdrop from the ach stom on ical advice might be something Reliable med er. butt bathroom in the hope that there Like s. food y dair includes avoiding But one thing is bread positive, and sometimes there is. I hastily consume a breakfast of dry new a be will e ther day g win follo the – GP. ed my ante to guar and bottled water before repairing one and warning report condemning the previous He is soothing but mentions to boils, scurvy that its advice, if followed, will lead my cholesterol. This and baldness. If you’re lucky. is bad stuff that clogs her it with John Major’s chum Edwina started up your arteries. Or it k on an egg quite salmonella. I’d been going to wor s there is fateful day in 1988 was. Now it seem merrily since childhood until that as well as bad. Or maybe rol este chol d goo cracked another when I awoke to hear that if I ever Professor Adam Butterworth pantry and contact both or neither. people who shell, I may as well quit the family recently warned the BBC: “Some finished. I didn’t rol actually the funeral parlour. Basically, I was este chol d’ ‘goo of ls have high leve sounded fatal. ase.” know what salmonella was, but it dise t hear of risk er ed my poacher have a high generally The following morning, having binn Then there are avocados. These are my will, I read ten writ and ful. You care be pan, smashed the egg cups to deemed good, but you have ncil said that Ms have you and that the British Egg Industry Cou g; thin y, for one incorrect and highly can eat too man e don ing Currie’s remarks were “factually Hav fat. bad and to consider good the chances of cado Avo ia irresponsible”, It was claiming that forn Cali the all, us this, Lord save “less than 200 ’t use their being infected by the bacteria was Commission advises that if you don a ed seem this , bler gam be a well d million to one”. Although no ” method, you coul been instilled. Who “nick and peel because is This . reasonable punt. But the fear had way any gonner within the week peel the to do we believe? est clos are that “areas of the pulp fs, old cupboard more than ts The most commonplace foodstuf trien tonu phy ain cert are higher in menaces. Even as aled reve be t nigh over can staples, interior portions of the pulp”. fluorosilicic acid, us that I tap water is contaminated – with My paranoia has grown is so serio roxide and sodium media. My the aluminium sulphate, calcium hyd with d all contact that it manages to now try to avoi Jude dy’s Har silicofluoride for starters. I marvel mas Tho days are spent reading that lot inside it. Moses Alan to squeeze its way out of the tap with rs lette ning pen I remember how the Obscure and act. the into got an Wog y Terr be placed on Even demanding that a health warning ne he was flogging gari mar the hear to was I hed soot these health warnings. ght it by the te. was “rich in polyunsaturates”. I bou All in all, I’m in a right (fourth e)sta I , what they were bucketload. Although I had no idea
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26 | theJournalist
f cus
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DON’T LET THEM DESTROY THE BBC Join the Love it or Lose Campaign. You can: • Find out more on the NUJ website https://www.nuj.org.uk/campaigns/love-it-or-lose-it/ • Sign the petition https://campaign.goingtowork.org.uk/petitions/loveit-or-lose-it-save-the-bbc • Visit the campaign Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bbcloveitorloseit • Organise a branch or public meeting to get support for the BBC • Write to your MP
Join the NUJ online www.nuj.org.uk/join/
Nationa l
We need to show we love the BBC. We need to fight to protect it, else we stand in danger of losing it.
nalists ur
The BBC’s future is being decided and it is no secret the government wants to make huge cuts to the amazing service it provides for just 40p a day.
ion of Jo n U
L VE IT OR LOSE IT N UJ
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