Informed NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE issue 38 February 2022


Recovery starts for media industry


Te effects of the pandemic are still being felt by NUJ members as the news and publishing industries report a bounce-back in digital advertising revenue and evidence that consumers will pay for quality information. On page 10, media journalist, Ian


Birrell, finds the outlook for journalism “surprisingly good” with publishers saying subscriptions are growing and a new generation of start-ups is appearing. Preliminary results from the current NUJ all-members’ survey show shiſts in the ways people are working because of the pandemic and that some are slowly clawing back work from the darkest days of the lockdown.


Almost 70 per cent of freelance members said their income had been adversely affected by Covid. Of these, a third said their pre-lockdown employers had not returned, and of those half had


Also in this issue:


BBC


Bashed Page 02


not found new clients to replace them. Nine per cent of those surveyed said


they had been made redundant since the pandemic struck, with only a third finding new work within three months. A quarter of members said they had been asked to do work for no pay, with more than one in five (22 per cent) having done so. More than two-thirds of members (67 per cent) said the pandemic had led to greater flexibility in atending the office and home working but, of those working from home, more than half (54 per cent) did not receive a home-working allowance from their employer. Almost 60 per cent of those surveyed said they did not receive a pay rise in 2020 – in 2021 only 33 per cent got an increase. Tis has been feeding into the latest pay rounds, with members having had their pay frozen particularly anxious


Dacre’s Return Page 09


as the threat of ever-higher inflation looms. Many members are clearly feeling the pinch, with 28 per cent saying their earnings were not enough to cover the cost of living and more than half (53 per cent) not earning enough to permit savings. One in five (20 per cent) said they had experienced harassment, hostility or threats while doing their job. Despite a digital recruitment drive in the regional press following the redundancies of 2020 the NUJ is dealing with threats to jobs at Reach and JPIMedia. Newsquest’s working conditions remain grim; low staffing levels, high workloads and poor pay mean members are voting with their feet and geting jobs elsewhere. Freelance members have also complained Newsquest is not paying them. BBC members were hit with the news that the licence fee will be frozen for two years, puting real pressure on budgets already brutally hacked back (see page 4). A third of those who took part in the


survey said they had sought help from the union in the past three years. Te union was also able to provide financial aid for many members in difficulty from its welfare charity, NUJ Extra, which now finds itself in good health following a generous bequest and donations from members and branches (page 5). Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary, said: “Positive signs of growth in the industry are to be welcomed, and will act as a spur to the organising and campaigning work taking place and planned throughout the union, particularly around pay and working conditions.”


Have your say before the NUJ


survey closes on Monday 7 February: htps://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ nujmembers2021


News Recovers Page 10


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