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United Nations to investigate threats to BBC Persian journalists
THE UNION has welcomed a commitment from the United Nation’s fact-finding mission on Iran to investigate the targeting of the country journalists and their families both inside and outside Iran. The NUJ has repeatedly condemned
threats by the Iranian regime against Persian language journalists reporting on human rights breaches in the country. For more than a decade, the regime has used legal and illegal tools to try to stop NUJ members at the BBC’s Persian service reporting on its activities. Journalists’ families have also been persecuted to exert pressure on them and stymie reporting. Since nationwide protests erupted in Iran last autumn, the
regime has intensified its campaign against journalists, including targeting BBC Persian and Iran International journalists in the UK. The BBC made submissions about the harassment of BBC News
Persian staff and reprisals against them and their families. The NUJ has consistently pressed the UN, the UK government and others to take these threats seriously before other regimes adopt them to stop journalists reporting on rights violations. The union has also called on the Iranian authorities to free all journalists wrongly imprisoned and drop bogus cases. Paul Siegert, NUJ national broadcasting
organiser, said: “If Iran’s war on journalists and independent journalism isn’t stopped, other countries will follow suit. “We urge the UN’s fact-finding mission to
reveal and report the extent to which the Iranian regime targets journalists using methods many of our members have reported. “Journalists have been subjected to abuse and kidnapping
threats and have had assets frozen. Iran must not be permitted to continue such practices and there must be strong international condemnation.”
National World faces strike ballot
THE NUJ will ballot more than 300 journalists for strike action at publisher National World in an ongoing dispute over pay.
The union has been negotiating with the company since an initial claim was submitted in
February. The claim sought a pay rise to help members cope with rising costs, as well as measures to address low pay and pay inequalities. National World has offered
staff a below-inflation pay offer of 4.5 per cent, backdated to 1 April 2023.
The NUJ has stressed that the impact of high inflation and growing living expenses will be easily consumed within that award, making it a real terms pay cut for staff. Despite extensive engagement with the company including talks at
the conciliation service Acas, the union believes that the publisher has failed to put forward a far pay deal. The strike ballot follows a
vote by members of no confidence in David Montgomery, executive chairman of National World.
inbrief...
CALL OVER RETENTION OF MATERIAL IN UK Parliament’s Joint Human Rights Committee has urged the UK to prevent the Investigatory Powers Commissioner from retaining journalistic material where there is no public interest. It was reporting on plans for a draft Investigatory Powers Act 2016 remedial order. The act allows confidential journalistic material to be intercepted in bulk, examined and retained.
INDIAN JOURNALIST IS FOUND DEAD Indian journalist Abdul Rauf Alamgir was found dead in a river in Assam two days after being abducted in June. The Indian Journalists Union condemned ‘the brutal murder’ and called for the arrests of those responsible . The International Federation of Journalists has called for an urgent investigation into his death.
TURKISH EDITOR IS CHARGED Merdan Yanardağ, editor-in-chief of Turkish broadcaster TELE1, was arrested at the end of June after an investigation into his comments broadcasted about Kurdistan Workers’ Party leader Abdullah Öcalan. The journalist has been charged with ‘raising crime and the criminal’ and over ‘propaganda for a terrorist organisation’.
Yet more job cuts at Reach
REACH, the national and regional news publisher, is planning further redundancies with 11 roles put at risk of redundancy and seven job losses expected. The cuts will affect roles in regional sport,
In Your Area management and four specific roles in the Live Network. The redundancies are another blow to journalists who are deeply concerned about job security and whose morale is low following several rounds of redundancy. Chris Morley, NUJ Reach national coordinator, said: “This is the third set of redundancies within Reach this year and the uncertainty this brings is clearly extremely distressing for those put at risk and
has a corrosive effect throughout the workforce. “We understand that previous savings
targets may not have been met so these jobs are now in the line of fire. “We are looking for a line to be drawn under the massive £30 million cuts total set at the beginning of the year to counter poor trading conditions.”
Ipso criticised for ‘polemic’ finding
The NUJ’s ethics and disabled members
councils have urged regulator Ipso to insist on ethical reporting and criticised it for not acting
over harm from negative narratives about disabled people and benefit recipients. Following more than 600 complaints about a Telegraph article headlined ‘Exactly how much of your salary bankrolls the
welfare state?’, Ipso said the Editors’ Code of Practice hadn’t been breached. NUJ president Natasha Hirst said: “To suggest the persistent negative
framing of disabled people is mere ‘polemic’ demonstrates a shocking disregard for the consequences of this rhetoric.”
theJournalist | 07
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