news


Bullivant strike action saves jobs and opens up talks


NUJ members working for Bullivant Media in the Midlands have won concessions from the company and an agreement to future dialogue after they staged four days of strikes in August and September. Plans for five compulsory redundancies were reduced to three job losses last month. All editorial workers are union members.


They formed a chapel earlier this year amid concerns over unauthorised deductions from wages at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, targeted compulsory redundancies and detrimental working practices which saw non-editorial staff taking on editorial work. The company runs weekly free newspapers


and websites with titles including the Coventry Observer, Leamington Observer, Rugby Observer, Stratford Observer, Solihull Observer, Redditch Standard, Bromsgrove Standard, Worcester Observer and Evesham Observer. The Bullivant Media NUJ chapel said: “We


have secured agreement on working practices and been provided with details of the company’s editorial structure for the months ahead.


“Our demands from the outset were fair


and reasonable and based on the desire to produce quality journalism that serves our local communities. “That is what our readers want and deserve. Quality journalism makes economic sense and is key to the survival of local media. “Our thanks to the directors of Bullivant


Media for the open and engaging way they approached discussions once meetings began. By listening to each other, we have been able to secure a positive and welcome agreement.” Jane Kennedy, NUJ organiser, said the chapel members “have been able to achieve a range of significant outcomes”.


TUC and NUJ events go virtual


THE TUC’S annual congress was scheduled for Brighton this year. But, instead of being beside the sea, delegates found themselves logging onto the first virtual


congress in the TUC’s 152-year history. Meanwhile, the NUJ is looking into virtual options for its biennial delegate meeting, which had been


due to be held in April this year. The finance committee is considering technological options and dates. The TUC congress was


joined by thousands of trade “ PR workers more stressed


MORE than three-quarters of PR workers have been putting in longer hours than usual during the pandemic, with almost four out of five feeling more stressed than usual. Two-thirds told the NUJ they had experienced abuse through social media or from clients during the pandemic. The NUJ’s public relations and communications council survey


carried out in July found the pandemic has had a significant impact on the work of PR workers, a specialism where many are not union members. With most now working from home, it was positive to see that


most employers had ensured the right equipment was provided with two-thirds of the 120 respondents saying they had the screens, chairs, desks, tools or software they would expect if working in an office.


Our demands from the outset were fair and reasonable and based on the desire to produce quality journalism for our local communities


Bullivant Media NUJ chapel


inbrief...


NEIL SETS UP TV NEWS CHANNEL Andrew Neil is leaving the BBC to start a new TV news channel – GB News. He will be the chair and evening programme host at the channel, which is aimed at people who feel under-served by the existing news media. The BBC had said that Neil’s show would not return after it came off air during the pandemic.


LYRA MCKEE PRIEST TELLS HIS STORY Broadcast journalist Siobhann Tighe has made a radio documentary – Heart and Soul – featuring the priest who gave Lyra McKee the last rites . Father Joe Gormley describes the impact of her death on him and the community. Hear it on BBC Sounds at https://tinyurl.com/ y2pmhtds.


unionists who watched the event as it was live streamed from Congress House in London. There would usually have been around 500 delegates in the hall but this year it held just a few people. TUC news, pages 6 and 7


WHITE STARTS COMMUNITY PAPER Aidan White, former general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists and founder of the Ethical Journalism Network, has set up a community newspaper in east London. Newham Voices is being published monthly with the hope it will go weekly.


Q magazine closes after 34 years


Q magazine, which was founded in 1986 by Smash Hits writers Mark Ellen and


David Hepworth, closed in the summer with publisher Bauer blaming the


impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It follows a review of the publisher’s UK portfolio during which it was unable to find a new owner. The


magazine’s circulation had fallen to 28,000 per month from a peak of 200,000 in 2001.


theJournalist | 05


MARCUS MINGINS

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