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Victory for No Stone Unturned journalists


THE NUJ welcomed the move by police in England and Northern Ireland to finally drop their controversial investigation into two NUJ journalists who made a documentary about the murder of six Catholic men who had been watching a World Cup match in a pub during the Troubles. There had been a public outcry about the


arrests and investigation of Trevor Birney (pictured left) and Barry McCaffrey (pictured right) and continued pressure from the NUJ, Amnesty International and other campaigners. The warrants for the arrest of the pair, who made the No Stone Unturned film about the Loughinisland massacre in 1994, were quashed by three appeal judges at the High Court in Belfast after the Lord Chief Justice Declan Morgan said that they were inappropriate. The Durham constabulary and the Police


Service of Northern Ireland then said that they would no longer investigate Trevor and Barry who were arrested and put on police bail in August 2018. They had to appear at police stations on a number of occasions to have their bail extended. They have now collected their computers, phones and documents and other items which


had been seized by police in the investigation. The two journalists said: “The police have


dropped the case for one reason only – finally they accept that by arresting us and raiding our homes and offices, they were the ones that acted unlawfully. The PSNI put the cudgel in the hands of Durham constabulary and let them loose on us and on press freedom itself.” Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general


secretary, said: “The manner in which warrants were secured, the execution of those warrants, the severe bail restrictions imposed on Barry and Trevor and the damage done to their reputation cannot simply be brushed aside after a High Court judgement which could not have been more damning. There should be an independent investigation into the police handling of this case.”


Freelance wins £8,360 holiday pay The company had cited its


A FREELANCE NUJ member won £8,360 in holiday pay after an employment tribunal declared he should be classed as a ‘worker’. David Walsh worked for


Scotsman Publications for several years and had had requests for holiday pay turned down because he was deemed self-employed.


standard freelance contract, which states that the freelance is self-employed and an independent contractor. The employment tribunal ruled that Walsh met the legal definition of a worker, rather than an independent contractor.


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NUJ MEMBERS at the Scotsman Publications, which includes The Scotsman, the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotland on Sunday, have


said they don’t know how they will manage to get titles out after fresh redundancies. The NUJ chapel said: “Since


Johnston Press was acquired by its new owners, there has been a constant process of cost-cutting – from closing offices to closing titles. This latest round of jobs cuts leaves


There should be an independent investigation into the police handling of this case


Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary


inbrief...


JAILED TURKISH JOURNALIST FREED The jailed journalist ‘adopted’ by the NUJ has been released from Bakirkoy prison in Istanbul. Ayşe Düzkan started an 18-month sentence at the end of January. She was released on probation in June, but must sign in at a police station every three days, undertake unpaid work and cannot leave Istanbul.


ORWELL PRIZE GOES TO JOINT WINNERS Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore and the deputy editor of Prospect magazine Steve Bloomfield jointly won this year’s Orwell prize for journalism. The prize is awarded for commentary or reporting which comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition to make ‘political writing into an art’.


FALL IN INFLUENCE OF PRIVATELY EDUCATED The percentage of top journalists who went to private school has fallen over the past five years. Social mobility charity The Sutton Trust said 43 per cent of the UK’s 100 most influential journalists were privately educated, an 11 per cent drop from 2014.


This meant he was entitled to full holiday pay and received £8,360 in compensation. David Hoey, the employment


judge, said Walsh was an ‘integral part’ of a team he worked with and he didn’t have an arm’s length relationship with the newspaper group.


Staff face ‘intolerable’ conditions


the remaining staff questioning how they can produce newspapers under what would reasonably be considered intolerable conditions. There has been little or no guidance from our managers – rather, there has been almost total silence on what our future holds.”


EVENING STANDARD LOSES £11 MILLION London’s Evening Standard made a loss of £11 million for the second year in a row. It made a pre-tax loss of £11.6 million in the year ending September 2018, compared with £11.8 million in 2017. Turnover rose two per cent to £65.4 million.


CHESTER CHRONICLE LEAVES CITY HOME The Chester Chronicle has shut its office in the city leaving it without a base in the community for the first time in its 244-year-history. Some 14 staff who worked for The Chronicle and the North Wales Daily Post in the Sealand Road office are now travelling to a regional office at Liverpool, Colwyn Bay or Manchester or working from home. No jobs have been put at direct risk by the move.


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