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Offer under-30s what they want from a union


As the only NUJ member on a 10-reporter-strong desk on a national newspaper, I often get asked why I’m in the union. The other reporters are mainly in their 20s on modest wages and saving up for deposits on first properties. They cannot understand why I pay hundreds of pounds


a year in membership fees, and I struggle to tell them why, for them, it would make financial sense. I’ve explained how collective bargaining, for instance, is good for all us and the help the union can give in times of trouble. Thankfully, few of them have been through rounds of redundancies and so this aspect does not strike a chord either. Has the union considered cut-price membership for


under-30s as a way to get them through the door? I fear the reasons people used to join – to improve working conditions, promote freedom of the press and so on – are not enough. Like newspapers offering subscriptions with 2-for-1 cinema deals and free Fitbits, the NUJ should entice the next generation with things they actually want. Sam Brodbeck London


Once based on the area of journalism in which you worked, with the highest rates for those in national newspapers and broadcasting, the NUJ’s subscription rates are now based on actual earnings – a move designed to introduce greater fairness and consistency for new recruits to the union. There is a minimum rate of just £10 a month for the lowest paid, provisions for members to apply for a further discount subject to eligibility and special deals for student members as they move into their first jobs or are trying to establish themselves in journalism. While we do not currently have a deal specifically for the under-30s, we do regularly offer special deals for people joining, particularly in areas where we are organising to build stronger chapels and gain recognition – vital ingredients to build collective strength and enable chapels to push for better wages and improve terms and conditions.


Michelle Stanistreet NUJ general secretary


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Open identity would end abuse on social media Amid the rising tide of vitriolic abuse across social media, there have been few real breakthroughs in regulating hate speech. It occurs to me there is one step that would both reduce the volume of digital hatred and, perhaps, make it slightly easier for the police to act in extreme cases. That would be to place the onus on Facebook and other outlets to insist


24 | theJournalist


more forcefully on open identity of the person posting. The current system has only an IP address to go on. If users had to supply verifiable ID to be allowed the privilege of using social media outlets, then I would guess some 80 per cent would not risk making foul tweets and posts. The verification data could be kept out of view, but name and location should be visible. There would be a great cost to the


social media giants to ensure systems could verify as much as possible. But, as with letters to the editor in the traditional media, in all cases anonymity would be discouraged. It would also make it easier for the


rather pedestrian police action against hate crimes to act to prosecute such glaring abuses of free speech. Still, if the police can’t even defend the offices of the attorney general from threatening thugs, then we may have a


Email to: journalist@nuj.org.uk Post to: The Journalist 72 Acton Street, London WC1X 9NB Tweet to: @mschrisbuckley


long wait to see them catch out the social media hate-mongers. Dave Siddall Cumbria


First black team caption was not playing rugby Michael O’Hare is right to point out that too many publications fail to differentiate between the two codes of rugby (Letters, March/April). However, I believe he is mistaken to claim rugby league gave Britain its first black captain of any national sports team. That honour belongs to Guyana-born


Andrew Watson, who was the world’s first black footballer to be capped at international level. Remarkably, he captained Scotland on his international debut, a 6-1 victory over England at the Oval cricket ground in 1881. Journalist readers may be interested


to know that a crowdfunding scheme has recently been launched to fund a mural in memory of Watson at the site of the original Hampden Park. David Petrie Glasgow


Worked on Slough’s old Evening Mail? Fancy a pint? It’s May 1969. Two of Britain’s biggest newspaper groups – Westminster Press and Thomson Regional – have decided not to spill blood and fight a newspaper war on the streets of Slough and have agreed to go 50-50 on a new evening paper, the Evening Mail. What seemed like half the Yorkshire


press corps left the north and headed for Slough to show soppy southerners just how daily journalism is done. The pubs of Slough rang with northern accents and titles such as the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, Scarborough Evening News and Middlesbrough Evening Gazette were held up as simply the best. Fifty years on, some of the now old


Evening Mail hacks are still hanging around Thames Valley pubs wondering whatever happened to … ? Trying desperately to remember the names of reporters, photographers and subs who shared some good times.


TIM ELLIS


£30 prize


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