in brief... news


EXPRESS MORE THAN TRIPLES ITS PROFITS Express Newspapers more than tripled its pre-tax profits from £9.1 million to £30.5 million last year after job cuts and a reduction in printing costs.This was despite a fall in sales from £197 million in 2014 to £174 million last year. Earlier this year Express NUJ members wrote to their MPs to complain they hadn’t received a pay rise in eight years.


WINNER OF PHOTO COURAGE AWARD Adriane Ohanesian won this year’s Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award. The award, made by the International Women’s Media Foundation, recognises the work of women photojournalists. It is in honour of Pulitzer Prize- winning AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2014.


BBC TEAM EXPELLED FROM NORTH KOREA BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and his team were expelled from North Korea after over their reporting. The team was in North Korea ahead of the Workers’ Party Congress, accompanying a delegation of Nobel prize laureates. North Korea’s leadership was displeased with reports on life in the capital.


SUNDAY TIMES IS 10,000 NOT OUT The Sunday Times last month celebrated 10,000 editions with a supplement looking back on its nearly 200 years of history. The newspaper, which was bought by Rupert Murdoch in 1981, was the first to launch a separate review section; a standalone magazine supplement; and a special business section.


THE I RETURNS TO NORTHERN IRELAND The i newspaper re-launched in Northern Ireland last month. The title, which was bought by Johnston Press from The Independent in February, is being sold at more than 1,300 retailers. The i was withdrawn from Northern Ireland in 2013.


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failure to treat freelance workers in accordance with the rights enshrined in the


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Call for Welsh Assembly action on the media


In the past 18 months, Wales has seen budget cuts at the BBC and S4C, newspaper office closures, media job losses and the acquisition of Local World titles


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he NUJ is calling on the National Assembly for Wales to establish a media and communications committee. While media policy has not been devolved


to the Welsh Government, the union believes that members of the national assembly are well placed to scrutinise media developments in Wales at a time when the provision of quality national, regional and local news is being diminished. It could also look at ways to support Welsh media at a time of crisis in the industry.


Without an effective, plural and robust


Welsh media, matters of great importance in Wales, including national and local politics, law and order, education, business, health and the environment, could go unreported. Recently, Trinity Mirror announced it would be withdrawing the North Wales Daily Post’s Welsh Affairs correspondent, who covers Assembly matters at the Senedd, from Cardiff. Members at the NUJ’s Delegate Meeting in April, passed a motion, proposed by the union’s Cardiff and South East Wales branch and Welsh Executive Council, calling on the Welsh Assembly to establish a committee that would “monitor developments in the media industry and, with the input of experts, recommend solutions”. In the past 18 months, Wales has seen


budget cuts at the BBC and S4C, newspaper office closures, media job losses and the acquisition of Local World titles by Trinity


Mirror, giving that company a virtual monopoly of the nation’s daily newspapers. Paul Scott, NUJ national executive member


for Wales, said: “At a time of crisis for the media in Wales, it


is vital that those elected to serve the interests of the Welsh people properly review, scrutinise and address the diminution of quality journalistic output. “We believe a media and communications


committee could go a long way towards demonstrating that our decision makers fully appreciate the role the media plays in holding the powerful to account as well as putting the spotlight on, and giving a voice to, ordinary people.’


NEW PAPER FOR THE NORTH OF ENGLAND


orthern England is to get its own national daily newspaper


– The North’s National – which is aimed to be similar to the free daily Metro but with a northern slant on stories.


Launched by the independent regional publisher CN Group it will take 95 per cent of its content from the Press Association. Former Express


Newspapers journalist


Mike Haworth is the title’s editor and two reporters from the group’s existing regional titles - the North West Evening Mail and The Cumberland News – will work exclusively on the new paper.


CN Group said that the paper would be distributed across an area with a population of 1.15 million people. The area is not currently covered by Metro, which has an edition in Newcastle.


ILO to challenge Ireland’s freelance rules


he International Labour Organisation (ILO) is to challenge Ireland’s


organisation’s convention. Following a complaint by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Irish government faces questions at the ILO assembly in Geneva about


the treatment of freelance workers. Currently in Ireland, freelance workers are denied the right to be collectively represented by unions. This is a result of the actions of the


former Competition Authority in Ireland. The complaint about


Ireland’s action was lodged with the support of the NUJ and sister union SIPTU.


PAUL HERRMANN


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