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Sean Meleady discusses the difficulties and demands of night shifts


uploaded an article, logged out, switched off my laptop and then went to bed hoping to get some sleep. This trivial set of events in August 2022 might seem very ordinary especially as it was just after midnight – but I was taking


part in a rare national newspaper strike. Of course, cosying up in my bed and forming my own


one-man virtual picket line was not heroic. Still, I participated in industrial action that won salary increases from 14 per cent to 44 per cent. I started striking at this unusual hour because, as a remote casual reporter for The Daily Express website, I worked the night shift from 11 pm to 7 am. For 14 months, I worked nights full time for five and occasionally six times a week – a bruising schedule that was maintained through excessive caffeine consumption while battling the nocturnal slowdown of the internet and the urge to fall asleep in front of my laptop. My sleeping patterns were irregular, my social life was difficult and, even when not working, I felt constantly tired.


On the graveyard shift According to the NUJ, journalists who work overnight fall under the protection of the 1998 Working Time Regulations which class night work as being at least three hours of work between 11pm and 6am. The regulations stipulate that employers cannot force employees to work more than eight hours at night in a 24-hour period, with workers entitled to a 20-minute rest period during any shift that is six hours or longer and at least two days’ rest every fortnight. The challenges of working overnight were highlighted by a motion sent to the 2023 delegate meeting (DM) by the BBC World Service branch. It argued that night work should be voluntary or that journalists should be able to opt out of night shifts upon reaching a certain age or after a certain number of years of working at night. There were also suggestions that hours worked at night should count for more than those worked during the day, and that pay for any part of a night shift after 6am should be at triple time; in addition, night workers should have the same facilities as those working during the day (such as access to canteens, IT assistance and HR) and be able to take officially sanctioned naps in ‘dedicated sleeping areas’. Former NUJ president and NUJ official at the BBC World Service Pierre Vicary accepts that, given the worldwide remit of the flagship radio broadcaster, some night work is almost inevitable. Nonetheless, he suggests that some programmes could be produced live in different time zones to negate the impact of night shifts for UK-based journalists.


14 | theJournalist


World Service journalists typically work in blocks of four shifts with early shifts followed by four days off then four night shifts usually lasting from 9pm to 6am. According to Vicary, these night shifts result in logistic and editorial issues as foreign correspondents around the world often are not available; this means that World Service journalists sometimes pretend to be the correspondents themselves while listeners are usually none the wiser. Reflecting on the arguments made in the motion to DM, Vicary laments that the ‘BBC want to be 24/7’ but the broadcaster does not provide the same facilities that journalists working during the day enjoy at Broadcasting House in London. For example, canteen facilities are limited, and the cleaners tend to make a lot of noise at night, which is disruptive. However, he does admit that, despite the difficulties of


“


Nights were busy as that’s when most of the trouble broke out with police and army firing plastic bullets and doing baton charges


producing top-quality broadcasting in the early hours of the morning, particularly towards the end of a shift, there is one benefit – no managers are around. Colin O’Carroll, senior broadcast journalist at U105 Radio, constantly worked nights when covering The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. Covering the Drumcree standoff was particularly challenging. The Orange Order insisted on marching through nationalist areas in Portadown County Armagh during successive July marching seasons from 1995 to 2000, leading to clashes with local nationalists. “In the 1990s, I was a radio reporter covering murders and shootings, especially around the time of Drumcree. I slept in the field for a couple of weeks – there were me, the cops and the army together. “The first-year loyalist paramilitaries were there making


threats and, in fact, a Catholic taxi driver was murdered and shots fired at police and the army during one night when I was sleeping in the field.


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