Informed NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE issue 26 February 2019 Honk! We’re on strike Newsquest staff in Cumbria on strike


If Dame Frances Cairncross needed any more evidence of the state of the UK’s regional newspapers as she put the last touches to her report on the sustainability of the press, the strike by Newsquest journalists couldn’t have made it clearer. Picket line placards at the Carlisle


News and Star, the Cumberland News, the Workington Times and Star and the Whitehaven News before Christmas cried: “Local News Maters”, “Stop the Cuts”, “We Need a Pay Rise”, while the journalists reported on the high levels of stress among staff and the loss of experienced reporters at their newspapers.


Te striking journalists earned huge support across the union movement, plus praise from local Tory MP, Rory Stewart, Lib Dem, Tim Farron, the


Also in this issue:


Michelle’s Message Page 2


Labour leaders of Cumbria and Carlisle councils, the Carlisle Green Party chair and a host of local councillors. Newsquest made more than a 100 people redundant since it took over Cumbria Newspapers in March 2018. Te strike highlighted poverty wages, with trainees earning £16,500 and seniors starting on £20,500. News that notorious “vulture capitalist” MNG Enterprises had offered Gannet, Newsquest’s US parent company, a buy-out was chilling news for staff at the UK-based titles. Plans by the new owner of Johnston


Press, JPIMedia, to close, merge or move offices in Belfast, Peterborough, Sunderland, Harrogate and London’s Cavendish Square, boded ill for those working there since the newspaper group announced a prepack administration


Sexual Harassment Page 5


deal which could cancel JPIMedia’s responsibility for JP’s pensions and dump its scheme on the government’s Pension Protection Fund. At Reach, the third of the big three provincial publishers, cuts continue. In Ireland, the union expressed grave concern about further cuts at Independent News & Media and is helping editorial workers faced with the threat of redundancy. Meanwhile lay-offs and cuts at the so-called new media outfits such as BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and Vice have shown the problems of revenue raising in the digital sector. As NUJ Informed went to press, the Cairncross report was imminent and, as Ian Burrell reports (page 9), all the signs suggest that the government will consider moving towards some sort of regulation and a “tech tax” on the likes of Facebook and Google to offset their free ride in scooping up media advertising and taking content from the press. During a meeting with Jeremy Wright,


Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, impressed upon him that handing over any tech-tax bounty to the existing news groups would not help encourage quality, public interest journalism and that any further funding mechanisms would need strict criteria to help deliver quality content and boost plurality. Michelle discussed with Jeremy


Wright how diversity in broadcasting and the wider media industry could be improved and updated him on the union’s equal pay claims at the BBC. He sought the union’s views on improving media literacy among young people and how to combat the online abuse of journalists. It was a very positive meeting and the department has shown it is keen to maintain a constructive relationship with the union.


Te Year Ahead Page 9


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12