Local news


Our changing landscape


Dan Walsh gives a perspective from south east Ireland


T


hese are difficult days for the media. Journalists are being squeezed into retirement or pressured


to surrender their jobs as multinationals buy out traditional regional titles. Those in control of journalism, photography and other media-related work, operate under the guiding principle of ‘do more with less’ as the workforce declines. The Irish South East branch of the NUJ


has more than 90 members, which is a healthy membership. However, the wide area it covers can make it difficult for people to attend meetings. Nonetheless branch chairman Damien Tiernan, who is also an active member of the Irish national executive council, and myself (I am secretary/treasurer), recently held a highly successful branch meeting at Talbot Hotel in Wexford. A key part of the gathering was to pay tribute to three retiring members – journalist Maria Pepper and photographers Ger Hore and John Walsh.’ They had given ‘outstanding service to local journalism’ and, between them, unselfishly devoted almost a century to local press coverage. Those attending the event included members new to journalism and employed at Wexford’s only surviving newspaper office. The company is known locally as The People Group and is still serving readers with individual titles in the towns of Gorey, Enniscorthy, New Ross and Wexford.


In June 2017, the Wexford Echo group


of newspapers, which has titles in Gorey, Enniscorthy and New Ross, went into liquidation with the loss of 27 in-house jobs at its Enniscorthy headquarters. Consequently, membership of the


NUJ was dealt a severe blow. There were also fewer opportunities for a place on the news desk, covering the great sporting events at the weekends and to write opinion pieces, as well as the loss of popular specialised articles on history, farming, humour and community events.


Pepper said she joined the NUJ as a


young reporter and recounted “a time when the job was very different” from the one she left earlier this year. “In the early days, I typed my copy on sheets of paper on a manual typewriter before putting it in an envelope on the train from Wicklow to the head office in Wexford town to be edited and printed,” said Pepper. “If I missed the train, I had to drive like a lunatic to the next station.” Pepper recalled the introduction of the computerised newsroom, the Internet, email and more recently digital first. “I am proud and pleased to have experienced the full trajectory,” she said.


Hore and Walsh both recalled the long list of tasks and the tight schedules in meeting the deadlines for getting pictures onto the editorial desk. Nonetheless, they always obliged and


took pride in the saying “a picture paints a thousand words”. “There was always great camaraderie amongst all the photographers – some of the best laughs we had were at the most serious of events,” recalled Walsh. Hore was described at the meeting as


‘the most famous man in Wexford’. This description was underlined by the fact that he had already been honoured at a civic reception by the mayor and members of Wexford district council, as well as by members of Rosslare municipal district. Pepper summed up the current


situation perfectly: “For anyone who chases the news and writes the stories, covers the courts and council meetings, the job is essentially the same. In an era of audience analysis, page views and push notifications, there is probably more need now than ever for people to be part of a union to protect the livelihoods and working conditions of journalists.” I will never forget a quote from a


“


There was great camaraderie among the photographers – some of the best laughs were at serious events


Welsh delegate at last year’s conference in London. He said: “Our town once had four separate newspaper titles. Today we have none. That doesn’t mean there is no news in our town every day – it is just there is no means of sharing it.” Following the serious business of the meeting, the emotion and the nostalgia began to flow. Proud, retired journalists, who retained a passion for the craft that they had practised so professionally for the weekly pleasure and informed dialogue of their readers were relived – even if only over a coffee or a beer.


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