news Calls for fair pay as Reach makes £102m


THE NUJ has urged news publisher Reach to fairly remunerate journalists at the company following news that it made £102.3 million in operating profits in 2024. Reach, whose titles include The Mirror, Express, Irish Star and Manchester Evening News, recorded a six per cent increase in profits on the previous year. But any decision on pay will now be taken by a new chief executive after the sudden departure of Jim Mullen (pictured right) in March. Mullen, who led Reach for six years, is to be the new chief executive of the Jockey Club starting in June. But he stepped down at the end of March and was immediately succeeded by Piers North who has been Reach’s chief revenue officer since 2020.


The union has said that with pay talks now underway, journalists at the company


2016 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP “


should receive a pay offer that fairly reflects their the invaluable role they have played in contributing to the company’s success. Reach’s figures for last year


revealed that although print revenue was down seven per cent on 2023 results, increases including in digital advertising where yields grew


by 19 per cent were achieved. The union has said that it is crucial this year’s pay award allows for the retention of the skilled and talented journalists at the company. Chris Morley, Reach NUJ


Group Chapel national coordinator, said: “The return to growth for Reach’s digital operations


Concern over Turkey’s actions


THE NUJ has written to the Turkish ambassadors to the UK and Ireland, expressing grave concern over the expulsion of Mark Lowen, a BBC journalist, from Istanbul because of his coverage of anti-government


protests, and the ongoing crackdown on media freedom. The union has also highlighted its concerns with the UK and Irish governments and with Michael McGrath, EU commissioner for democracy,


justice, the rule of law and consumer protection. Lowen, who was the BBC’s


Istanbul’s correspondent for five years until 2019, was detained for 17 hours in Turkey and then deported to London


King applauds local journalists


KING CHARLES and Queen Camilla hosted hundreds of regional journalists, including the NUJ’s president Natasha Hirst and other union members, at a Buckingham Palace reception in March. The event was held to acknowledge and


appreciate the important role played by regional media across all forms of news outlets. Acknowledging the industry had shrunk by


75 per cent in 20 years, King Charles said in a statement: “I have long believed that regional media, in all its forms, has a unique and vital role to play in society, perhaps even


more so in these uncertain times. “As I said in a speech to mark the


tercentenary of Britain’s first daily national newspaper, back in 2002, the press, alongside other long-standing institutions, is at the forefront of ‘defining, describing and celebrating the more profound values of our nation’. “Two decades on, when too much focus is


given to that which divides us, that role for your whole industry is more important than ever – and it starts from the ground-up, at local level, in your hands.”


theJournalist | 03 NIKKI CHAMPAGNIE


which it has put central to its business strategy - and the continued stability of print revenue - is to be welcomed in today’s announcement. “The positive strides in


digital revenue have come about on the back of the company’s journalists who were asked to significantly boost their productivity. They


for “being a threat to public order”. Lowen said the whole experience had been ‘extremely distressing. Turkish authorities took


several journalists from their homes after large street protests against the imprisonment of the mayor of


The positive strides in digital revenue have come about on the back of the company’s journalists


Chris Morley, Reach NUJgroup chapel national coordinator


met that challenge and put the company back on track - that now needs to be recognised through a decent and fair annual pay settlement.” He said references by management to further costs savings of between four and five per cent were of concern to the NUJ.


Istanbul who is the biggest rival to the long-standing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.


The union and the


International Federation of Journalists have repeatedly highlighted the undermining of media freedom in Turkey.


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