news
Union issues plan for media to survive the crisis and then thrive
THE NUJ has drawn up a news recovery plan to sustain the media through the coronavirus crisis and make it stronger in the longer term. It is lobbying the Government to enact the measures. In From Health Crisis to Good News: a Recovery Plan for the News Industry, the union is calling for: • A windfall tax of six per cent on big technology companies •Tax credits and interest-free loans to support jobs for reporters covering the crisis • No public money for firms making redundancies, cutting pay, giving executive bonuses or blocking union organisation •Investment by central and local public bodies in advertising, including for the hyperlocal sector • Further funding by Nesta
From Health Crisis to Good News A recovery plan for the news industry by the NUJ
www.nuj.org.uk
(a charitably-funded grant organisation) for innovative, public interest journalism and a similar scheme in Ireland • Free vouchers for online or print subscriptions to all those aged 18 and 19 and tax credits for households with subscriptions. The NUJ is seeking
initiatives including: • A government-funded journalism foundation – as recommended in the Cairncross Review – to invest
in local news and innovation • Giving local papers ‘asset of community value’ status so they can potentally be preserved through community ownership • Tax breaks, rate relief and other financial support for local social enterprises and cooperatives taking over titles from regional operators • Employee representation of 25 per cent on boards in receipt of public funding • Independent, sustainable funding of public service broadcasting • Reform of media ownership
https://content.yudu.com/ web/3pylg/0A43xvo/ NewsRecoveryPlan/html/
index.html?origin=reader
Ray Snoddy, page 9 To the Rescue, page 14
IFJ joins NUJ in call for tax on tech giants
THE INTERNATIONAL Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has launched its international recovery plan. The Global Platform for Quality Journalism, like the NUJ’s plan, calls for a six per cent tax on Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and
Microsoft to create a $54 billion worldwide journalism fund. Anthony Bellanger, IFJ general
secretary, said: “Unions naturally work collectively, and the media industry recovery plan concerns several actors in our professions –
International media offered state support
SOME governments have announced support packages specifically for the media, including those of France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and New Zealand. The amount of support
varies, and measures include directing government advertising at newspapers, compensating media organisations for the fall in advertising revenue, paying
for the newspaper delivery and giving targeted support to local broadcasting. In the UK, newspapers have been allotted a three-month £35 million package of government advertising, which mostly concerns messages to the public about coronavirus. The UK chancellor has also
cancelled VAT on digital newspaper and magazine subscriptions.
journalists, of course, but also employers and governments. “The NUJ, the Americans and the Danes have also made excellent proposals – a recovery plan will only be possible with real political courage.”
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The union is calling for no public money to be offered to firms making redundancies, cutting pay, giving executive bonuses or blocking union organisation
inbrief...
MAIL GIVES HARD-HIT FIRMS FREE ADVERTS The Mail, Metro and i titles are giving small businesses facing difficulties during the coronavirus crisis free advertising worth £3 million. The papers’ publisher – the Daily Mail and General Trust – is offering 1,000 companies £3,000 worth of advertising each. The scheme is being run in conjunction with the Federation of Small Businesses.
EX-TELEGRAPH AND TIMES CHIEF DIES Former Telegraph editor in chief and Times managing editor and author John Bryant has died at the age of 76. Bryant began his journalism career at the Edinburgh Evening News and his subsequent roles included consultant editor at the Mail and editor of the Sunday Correspondent and The European.
REACH SEES REVENUE DROP 30 PER CENT Reach, the publisher of the Mirror, Express and Star, saw revenue fall by nearly one-third in April as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. April was the first full trading month hit by the lockdown. Group revenues dropped by 30.5 per cent, with print revenue down 32 per cent and digital revenue falling by 22.5 per cent.
The Stage
keeps actors connected
The editor of The Stage has said that the 140-year-old title is acting as a community glue for
those in the theatrical profession who are not in work or are
working remotely. Alistair Smith told Press Gazette that, although print sales had been hit,
digital traffic had grown by 20 per cent year on year in March and April.
theJournalist | 03
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