06 Informed Update So farewell Nadine… DCMS


She was almost the last fan standing as she cooed at the Prime Minister’s baby while he made his not-quite resignation speech at 10 Downing Street.


Nadine Dorries (pictured) stayed loyal


to the end as her colleagues resigned in droves to force Boris Johnson out of his job. And while for now she remains as Culture Secretary, it is extremely unlikely she will remain in her post. Indeed, according to Te Sunday Times, she will be made a peer by Johnson and return to writing more of her shawl and clogs sagas. Tere have been 10 culture secretaries in the past decade and Dorries will probably go down as, if not the worst, certainly the most ill-informed of her brief. She famously said Channel 4, which she wants to be privatised, was funded by the taxpayer, when giving evidence to an MPs’ commitee. When told that the broadcaster’s revenue was almost totally from advertising, she gave a startled look towards her Permanent


Nadine Dorries


Secretary Sarah Healey, who somehow managed to deadpan. She later told MPs that the public consultation showed 96 per cent supported privatisation when in fact 96 per cent were against. She shocked a Rugby League audience in St Helens by referring to Jonny Wilkinson – who plays for the different code. A DCMS insider said she wrongly thought she was clever enough to ad lib from the briefs prepared for her by staff. Optimists in the industry,


overwhelmingly against the sell-off of


Channel 4, hope the proposal will be dropped with her departure. It was to be part of a media bill, now expected in the next Parliamentary session. Te Online Safety Bill could also be in jeopardy, as its progress through Parliament has been halted. Failed prime ministerial candidate Kemi Badenoch said she would ditch it. Te NUJ believes it is a “dog’s dinner of a bill” which could threaten journalistic content on the internet and gives too many powers to the Secretary of State. One of its conundrums is how to ban content that is legal but harmful – perhaps Dorries’ toe-curling TikTok rap explaining the legislation would have qualified. Aſter going absent without leave to appear on It’s a Celebrity Get me Out of Here, and being kicked out first, but not before eating an ostrich’s anus, she could never have dreamed of ataining high office – but her Brexiteer views and blind loyalty to Johnson paid off. In 2019, DCMS estimated that the creative industries contributed £115.9 billion to the UK, but Nadine Dorries was too busy bashing the BBC to do anything constructive. Let’s see what yet another Culture Secretary will bring to the job.


Welcome trend John Barsby, NUJ honorary treasurer, told the NEC with hope tinged with caution that the NUJ’s finances were the healthiest for many years owing to tight budget controls and savings made during the pandemic. Te net surplus for the first six months of the financial year was £905,000. However, upcoming big-ticket items included Delegate Meeting costs, replacement of windows in the NUJ’s London headquarters, and servicing the debt in the staff pension fund. On that basis


the treasurer emphasised the need for continued prudent management of the unions finance. Owing to the pandemic, 520 freelances leſt the union as did 300 members from newspapers, mainly through redundancies; recruitment in other sectors had increased..


Student bursaries Applications to the George Viner Memorial Fund, the NUJ’s charity which improves the diversity of journalists working in the British and Irish media by


providing bursaries to help with studies and subsistence, close on Monday 25 July. Find out more and hear BBC reporter and presenter, Monika Plaha, talk about the amazing opportunities the scheme has given her. htps://www.nuj.org.uk/ resource/george-viner- memorial-fund-2022.html


Google training Te union, in partnership with Google News Lab, is launching a new training programme to improve journalists’ digital skills and also develop the


management skills of members in the UK and Ireland during their mid- career. Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary said: “Tis partnership is an opportunity to improve the digital skills of our members by using technology to verify the authenticity and accuracy of images, and training will be available to help members progress towards leadership roles, with a particular emphasis on groups under-represented within the industry’s management.”


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