news in brief...


LAST JOURNALISTS LEAVE FLEET STREET The last two reporters on Fleet Street – Gavin Sherriff and Darryl Smith of the Dundee-based Sunday Post – left at the end of July. Publisher DC Thomson’s office has remained but it no longer has any journalists. The previous newsroom to leave the London street was Agence France Press in 2009.


HIGHLAND RIVALS IN MERGER DEAL Two rival weekly papers in the Scottish Highlands are to merge, citing ‘technological and economic changes’ as the reason for the deal. The Lochabeer News, owned by Scottish Provincial Press, and The Oban Times published by Wyvex Media, will now appear as The Oban Times.


NEWS CORP SEES DROP IN PROFITS News Corp saw a 28 per cent decline in profit to $684 million for the year to the end of June. It had a seven per cent fall in revenues for news and information services to $5.338 billion. Advertising revenues fell 11 per cent compared with the year before. Circulation and subscription sales fell two per cent.


PA BUYS LAST STAKE IN CONTENT AGENCY PA Group, which owns the Press Association news agency, has acquired the remaining 20 per cent stake in content marketing agency Sticky Content from its founder Catherine Toole. The move follows PA Group’s initial investment in 80 per cent of the business in October 2013. Catherine Toole will remain as a non executive director and consultant.


NEWSNIGHT’S JUPP TO EDIT PANORAMA Newsnight’s deputy editor Rachel Jupp has been appointed editor of Panorama. She takes over from Ceri Thomas as editor of the BBC’s weekly investigative programme. Jupp has been deputy editor on Newsnight for three years and oversaw last year’s investigation with Buzzfeed into the running of Kids Company.


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Dublin office. She joined as assistant organiser and was subsequently appointed Irish organiser.


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Journalism out of reach of poorer candidates


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A survey of 700 journalists found one in five earned less than £19,200 a year


ow wages and expectations over qualifications are making a career in media increasingly remote for people


from disadvantaged backgrounds. The NUJ’s submission to the All Party


Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility inquiry into Access into Leading Professions said too many people are being priced out of a career in journalism. Wages, even on some national newspapers, are not enough to keep up with the cost of living in London, members have reported. A survey of 700 journalists by the Reuters


Institute for the Study of Journalism found one in five of them earned less than £19,200 a year, putting many below the living wage; 83 per cent of journalists in their mid to late 20s earn less than £29,000, an income that makes buying a home difficult. Research by the Sutton Trust, which is acting


as the secretariat for the inquiry, shows that graduates from low and middle-income backgrounds are hugely under-represented at the top of professions; this includes the top jobs in journalism and broadcasting. The trust’s 2006 study, The Educational


Backgrounds of Leading Journalists, found that more than half (54 per cent) of the country’s leading news journalists had been educated in


private schools and just under two-fifths (37 per cent) of the top journalists in 2006 who went to university graduated from Oxford. More than a third of new entrants to journalism have a master’s degree, which can typically cost between £7,500 and £10,000 in tuition fees. A City University London survey found that the British journalism industry is 94 per cent white.


The NUJ’s submission points to a number of


newspaper and broadcasting schemes, such as its own George Viner Foundation charity, which provide bursaries for black and ethnic minority students.


Qualified success, page 12


Block Celtic purchase plan, minister urged The commission will look


he NUJ has called on Irish communications minister Denis Naughten


to veto the takeover of Celtic Media Group by Independent News and Media. The NUJ and the Irish


Congress of Trade Unions have expressed concern over the proposed acquisition, and have asked the Consumer Protection and Competition Commission to reject it.


into the merger, then make a recommendation to Naughten. NUJ Irish secretary, Séamus


Dooley, told the commission the union had previously welcomed the buyout because it had ensured diversity in the regional media market but INM was now seeking to extend its control to a level which was unacceptable.


In his submission, Séamus


Dooley said: “The NUJ strongly opposes further acquisitions by Independent News and Media in this sector and believes the application,


IRISH ORGANISER NICOLA LEAVES Nicola’s appointment as assistant


he NUJ said goodbye to Irish Organiser Nicola Coleman at the end of August after 12 years in the


organiser was her first post as a full- time official.


She had been a long-time activist with the Civil and Public Service Union and served on the executive of that


if granted, will have negative consequences on the media industry on the island of Ireland, serving to reinforce the dominant position of Independent News & Media.”


union while working in Irish public services.


In the Viewpoint column on page 9,


Nicola draws lessons from her work in Northern Ireland, where she made her mark across a range of titles.


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