news


Call for 25 per cent rise in union subscriptions


THE NUJ’S national executive council (NEC) is seeking increases in subscription rates of between 25 per cent and 28 per cent over two years. There has been no increase for six years. Its motion to the union’s delegate meeting (DM), which was due to be held in April but is now on hold because of the coronavirus crisis, says the rise is needed to “reflect the increase in the cost of living and the challenges facing the union in order for the NUJ to sustain itself as an independent, vibrant campaigning trade union”. Currently, the


monthly rates are: £15 (€18) for grade 1 members earning up to £20,000 (€24,000); £18 (€23) for grade 2 members earning £20,001-£29,000 (€24,001-€36,000); and £25 per month (€31) for those earning above £29,000 (€36,000). Under the NEC’s plan, the monthly rates


would rise this year to £17 (€20.50) for grade 1; £20.5 (€26.50) for grade 2; and £29 (€35.60) for grade 3. Next year subscriptions would rise to: £18.70 (€22.5) for grade 1; £22.5 (€31.90) for grade 2; and £32 (€39.20) grade 3. That is an increase over the two years of 24.6 per cent for grade 1, 25 per cent for grade 2 and 28 per cent for grade 3 members. Some NUJ branches want smaller increases, and for higher paid members to pay more. There is also a call for a discounted new joiners’ rate. The last DM rejected a subs


increase after the union reported a £200,000 budget


surplus. Those who spoke against a rise warned of the impact on the lower paid. Changes to subs rates need to be approved


by two-thirds of delegates rather than by a simple majority. The next DM may also be asked to change that requirement so only a simple majority is needed in future.


Student wins prize for sport injury story His winning investigation


JAMIE BRAIDWOOD, 22, a student at Edinburgh Napier University, won this year’s Ian Bell New Writing award for unpublished writers in Scotland aged 30 and under.


was entitled: ‘Why isn’t football taking concussion more seriously?’ He said: “My piece was part of a wider series of


articles investigating concussion in Scottish sport and was produced for my fourth-year major journalism project at university.” The competition is in


“ Cummings ‘whacked’ over BBC


A GAME of Dominic Cummings Whack-A-Mole kicked off a campaign to protect the BBC. It was coordinated by public ownership campaign group We Own It. People dressed as the prime minister’s adviser whacked popular BBC programmes, including Planet Earth and Eastenders, with a giant mallet. We Own It is calling for the BBC to remain publicly owned and funded. The Sunday Times quoted a government source saying that


ministers were planning to ‘whack’ the BBC. The campaign is also supported by the New Economics


Foundation and the New Weather Institute. We Own It director Cat Hobbs said: “If Dominic Cummings


gets his way, we’ll be left with little more than a Fox News style broadcast media.” Clive Lewis MP, a former BBC journalist, joined the campaign launch outside Broadcasting House.


The increase is needed for the NUJ to sustain itself as an independent, vibrant, campaigning trade union


NUJ National Executive Council


inbrief...


PROFITS FALL AT INDEPENDENT Independent Digital News and Media saw pre-tax profits fall to £2.3 million in 2018-19 from £3.1 million in the previous year. It attributed much of the fall to a boost in its editorial team and product development. Revenues rose by 9 per cent to £27 million.


ALAMY BOUGHT BY PA MEDIA GROUP Photo agency Alamy has been bought by the PA Media Group, which is attempting to diversify its sources of revenue. Natasha Hirst, chair of the NUJ’s photographers’ council, said: “While the NUJ welcomes the assurance from PA Media Group that it has no plans to change prices or terms, it will be writing to the new owners seeking a meeting for guarantees around its future direction.”


memory of award-winning journalist and author Ian Bell, who died in December 2015. It was set up by his family and the Edinburgh branch of the NUJ.


MILLS QUITS SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE Eleanor Mills is leaving her role as the Sunday Times’ magazine editor and the paper’s editorial director after 22 years with Times Newspapers. This follows the appointment of Emma Tucker as the new editor of the paper. Mills is thought to have also been in the running for the editorship. She joined The Sunday Times in 1998.


Radio station fined


over Galloway comments Talkradio has been ordered to pay a


£75,000 fine by Ofcom after the broadcast watchdog found George Galloway broke


impartiality rules in three programmes in the space of five months in 2018. Two breaches were over Galloway’s comments on anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and the


third related to the government’s response to the Salisbury poisoning.


theJournalist | 07


JESS HURD


MARK KERRISON / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


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