The NUJ in the newsNUJ members in the east of England have tabled their own proposals for restructuring in a bid to challenge cutbacks by Johnston Press, the NUJ website is reporting.
The relatively modest demands include a plan to keep production of titles and the journalists who work on them closer to their readers.
NUJ Left is holding a public meeting on media ownership.
The aim is to develop our ideas about media ownership and state aid. There has probably never been a better time to have this discussion.
By a BBC activist
It’s surely been a bad week at the BBC for DG Mark Thompson, after his personally imposed ban on the airing of the Disasters and Emergency Committee appeal for Gaza caused outrage within his own organisation and across virtually the spectrum of political opinion.
New Labour ministers and opposition politicians, 170 MPs, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, 21,000 viewers, anti-war activists, and much of the press lined up to heap scorn on the paltry reasoning that allowing the humanitarian appeal to be broadcast risked “compromising public confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in the context of covering a continuing news story where issues of responsibility for civilian suffering and distress are intrinsic to the story and remain highly contentious”, and on the claim – denied by the UN – that the aid delivery situation on the ground was too volatile.
The NUJ jobs summit at the weekend was inspiring and practical, with sessions on building community campaigns and tackling the massive wave of redundancies sweeping our industry.
The conference agreed a motion proposed by general secretary Jeremy Dear and seconded by deputy general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, which called for co-ordinated industrial action and a series of regional rallies and debates about the future of journalism.
NUJ Jobs Summit - Saturday 24th January 11am – 4pm. IS NOW AT – The School of Pharmacy, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AX. (MAP). For more info click here.
How deep is the current recession? Are we seeing the end of around 500 years of the development of corporate capitalism? Are we seeing the rebirth of a society based on creativity rather than profit? Is digital media changing the world in ways we don’t even realise?
All these issues and more formed part of a speech by one of the world’s most important media theorists to the International Conference of the communications regulator Ofcom in November. Douglas Rushkoff, Professor of Communications at NYU and author of a series of books that have mapped the development of digital media and the societal changes it’s brought with it, told the assembled media big-wigs something they probably didn’t want to hear.
The NUJ is organising a special one-day event to bring together NUJ members to help them take a stand against the redundancies, budget cuts and pay freezes currently being inflicted on our industry. Click here for more info.