news


Newsquest scraps second subbing hub


A


fter closing its subbing hub in Newport, Newsquest is now


stopping production at its hub in Weymouth. In a letter to staff, Carl Blackmore, regional production manager, said 17 full time equivalent staff are at risk of redundancy, including copy-editors and regional coordinators. Editing work will cease at the end of June.


The final 14 journalists in


Newport were told they were being made redundant in March. The centre had employed 70 people.Staff are now being expected to work to a “write to shape” system, writing copy and headlines into a template. The union described Newsquest’s policy


of sacking experienced subbing staff as a mistake. The group chapel said “write to shape” will remove checking for quality, readability and accuracy. Chris Morley, the NUJ’s


Newsquest coordinator, said: “By first setting up the subbing hubs and then


trashing them after just a couple of years, with all the trauma and disruption to the lives of many journalists involved, Newsquest has proved itself ruthless and incompetent. Without proper quality control, where will that leave the reputation of the group’s titles as the chief executive exhorts his staff to pile up stories and photographs from its readers, with cash prizes for the titles with the most free content?” The group chapel said: “Having scythed the number of content managers locally, Newsquest will have achieved its ultimate goal if it closes not one, but two subbing hubs which were created to absorb the subsequent workload.”


CASH PRIZES FOR FREE CONTENT N A


ewsquest is to give £9,000 in prizes to its centres that publish


the largest amount of free copy and photographs taken by readers. Chief executive Henry


Faure Walker, wrote to staff about a competition, which will result in a league table of


newspapers and websites that produce as many pages/ stories as possible from outside unpaid contributors. There will be a top prize of


£4,000, £3,000 for second place and £2,000 third. The letter says the


competition will be based around each publishing


centre’s performance on publishing unpaid content from their communities. According to research


commissioned by the NUJ, Newsquest was the regional newspaper publisher to shed the most staff – with the loss of 139 posts – in the preceding 17 months.


George Viner scholars celebrated


passion to investigate under-reported stories; a desire to work in


television after studying English at Oxford; a plan to switch into television journalism from working for Google and a wish to land a staff writing job on a national newspaper are all being helped by the NUJ’s George Viner Memorial Fund. The fund provides bursaries for student journalists from


black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds and this year’s scholars are Soila Apparicio, Nasim Asl, Ben Hunte and Joshua Surtees. They are all studying at City University in London. Guardian journalist Gary


Soila Apparicio, Joshua Surtees, Nasim Asl and Gary Younge


Younge was guest of honour at an event to celebrate the work of the scholars and the fund established by former NUJ president Lionel Morrison who died this year.


“ ”


The final 14 journalists working in Newport were told they were being made redundant in March


in brief...


SUICIDE ATTACK ON AFGHAN TV STATION Suicide bombers killed four media workers and a producer in an attack on the Afghanistan Public Radio and Television station in Jalalabad last month. Two suicide bombers forced their way into the station and blew themselves up while other attackers also entered the main building


NUJ MEMBERS WIN LITERARY AWARDS The former MoC at BBC Radio Foyle in Derry, and the chair of the NUJ’s Irish Executive, have won literary awards. Freya McClements, now a freelance, has won a Saboteur award as the best arts reviewer. She and NUJ Chair Felicity McCall shared the Saboteur Best Wildcard and Best Collaboration, as part of Women Aloud Northern Ireland.


CAERPHILLY PAPER REACHES 100 ISSUES A news website that began publishing a fortnightly paper four years ago has marked its 100th edition. The Caerphilly Observer was first an online publication in 2009 but moved into print in 2013. It has a circulation of 10,000 covering South Wales.


BAUER BLASTS OFF TO PLANET ROCK Bauer has launched a new music magazine called Planet Rock, linking with the radio station of the same name. Further editions are due in July and September but no decision has yet been made on how frequently it will be published. It is produced by existing Bauer editorial staff and freelance contributors.


NATIONAL NEWS FOUNDER RETIRES Mike Doran, the founder of the National News press agency, has retired. Doran began his agency career at Central News Agency, which specialised in court reporting. But in 1988 he left Central to establish National News with partners Bill Bloom and Nick Haycock as a rival to Fleet Street News Agency. The agency was bought by South West News Service 18 months ago.


theJournalist | 03


MARK THOMAS


ALAMY STOCK PHOT


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28