06 Informed


News Update


Commission on Irish media finally launched


A commission on the future of the Irish media has finally got down to work.


Te original make-up of the commission, chaired by Dr Brian MacCraith, recently-retired president of Dublin City University, was heavily criticised for the exclusion of NUJ representation and the absence of relevant Irish media industry and experts in journalism education. Tat deficit has been rectified with the appointment of Siobhan Holliman, co-chair of the union’s executive council and NUJ representative on the Press Council of Ireland.


While Siobhan has been appointed in her own right, her contribution will reflect her experience as a newspaper journalist and trade unionist with a particular knowledge of the regional media, print and broadcasting. Te commission is due to report in September 2021. Te NUJ’s Irish Executive Council (IEC) is seeking submissions from branches, chapels and individual members in preparing the NUJ submission to the commission.


It began life as the Commission on the


Future of Public Service Broadcasting, with the appointment of Prof MacCraith as chair announced on December 10 2019 by the then minister Richard Bruton stating it would report by September of this year.


and Environment appears to represent a more strategic approach to media policy. Te NUJ voiced concerns at the impossible workload involved in a Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. On November 17, a union delegation


led by Dara Brady, co-chair of the NUJ’s IEC, with Siobhan held a virtual meeting with minster Catherine Martin to stress the need for a stimulus package for the meeting in line with the union’s News Recovery Plan.


No further action was taken on establishing of the commission until aſter the general election. Te NUJ successfully argued that the terms of reference of the commission should be broadened to include the future of all media.


Te decision of the new government


to take on board the NUJ call, combined with removing responsibility for media policy from the sprawling Department for Communications, Climate Action


Earlier this month, Séamus Dooley, assistant general secretary, addressed the parliamentary commitee dealing with media maters warning it that urgent intervention was needed to address the multi-faceted crisis in the industry. He also reminded TDs and senators that last March the union called for a forum on the crisis facing the media industry and that as far back as September 2014 the NUJ requested for the establishment of a government commission on the future of the media in a submission to a Broadcasting Authority of Ireland seminar, Ensuring Plurality in the Digital Age. Te commission will make recommendations on the role and financing of public service broadcaster RTÉ.


Save union learning Te government has announced it is to scrap the Union Learning Fund which finances union-led training in England in April. Tis affects Federation of Entertainment Unions Training which is one of the few places freelances can access free workshops and webinars to help with their professional careers and to acquire business skills. Tousands of journalists are


losing their staff jobs and will become self-employed; FEU Training offers a vital bridge to make that change. Sign the petition to get decision overturned: htps:// www.megaphone.org.uk/ petitions/uk-gov-don-t-cut- union-learning


Parliamentary Group Grahame Morris, Labour MP for Easington, has become the co-chair of the NUJ


Parliamentary Group with Lib Dem peer Baroness Jane Bonham-Carter. Grahame has already promoted the union’s News Recovery Plan in Parliament, and the union will be briefing the group on the BBC, the #FairDeal4Freelance campaign, the journalists’ safety report and the Undercover Policing Inquiry, which revealed police officers had spied on journalists.


Press cards Aſter incidents at an anti- lockdown demonstration in London, the union received assurances from police chiefs that the media’s role as key workers and newsgatherers would be respected by their officers. Journalists should carry their NUJ UK press card and a copy of the press-police Covid-19 protocol. Press card holders must use them only when they are working.


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