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Newsquest journalists in national pay campaign


NUJ members working for Newsquest, Britain’s second-largest regional and local newspaper company, have launched a national pay campaign. Many journalists working for Newsquest, which is owned by the US company Gannett, have only had two cost of living pay rises in the last 11 years. Trainee journalists can start on £16,500 and


some of the highest-paid reporters, with up to 30 years’ experience, earn £26,000. But the company has also started taking on editorial apprentices who currently earn the minimum wage when starting. Journalists are asking Newsquest for a


decent pay rise this year that reflects big productivity gains from cutting jobs and loading new technological requirements on to the remaining journalists. They also point out that the national living wage will be rising by 4.8 per cent in April so their pay should not get left behind. NUJ chapels are submitting local pay demands which reflect local conditions but most are asking that the unpaid 3 per cent cost of living rise last year should be added to a further 5 per cent rise in 2019, making a total of 8 per cent or a minimum of £2,000,


whichever is the greater. In the last 18 months Newsquest has spent


£13.5 million buying Isle of Wight County Press Group, NWN Media Ltd and CN Group in Cumbria.


Chris Morley, Newsquest NUJ national


coordinator, said:“While Newsquest’s parent Gannett is fending off the unwanted attentions of a $1.4 billion hostile takeover bid by vulture capitalists, the thousands of UK employees in Newsquest cannot be ignored and condemned to exist on rubbish pay forever. “That is why NUJ chapels are working


collectively to give the biggest possible reminder today to bosses that they deserve a little more love from the corporate hierarchy in the form of cold hard cash for their amazing productivity, skill and invention.”


Jeremy Wright, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has asked the Charity Commission to determine if groups which promote public interest and investigative journalism could be given charitable status following a recommendation from the Cairncross review into the future of the media.


Charitable status for papers? Dame Frances Cairncross


had warned that the closure of local newspapers threatens democracy.


But she noted that many local


newspapers which are vital to ensuring local democracy have cut investment and many journalists’ jobs in an effort to maintain profit margins because of high levels of corporate debt.


“


Digital media suffered big blows early this year with plans by Buzzfeed to cut 200 jobs worldwide, 800 job losses at Verizon Media Group, the owner of the HuffPost, Yahoo and AOL, and the closure of the UK website The Pool. Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s founder, said 15 per cent of staff would be


Thousands of UK employees in Newsquest cannot be ignored and condemned to exist on rubbish pay forever.


Chris Morley inbrief...


HUMPHREYS SAYS FAREWELL TO TODAY John Humphrys is to leave Radio 4’s Today programme by the end of the year. Humphrys has been with Today for more than 30 years. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter for BBC Television’s Nine O’Clock News


BETH RIGBY IS SKY’S POLITICAL EDITOR Beth Rigby has been appointed Sky News political editor, replacing Faisal Islam who is becoming the BBC’s economics editor. She joined Sky News in 2016 as a senior political correspondent. Her previous roles include chief political correspondent at the FT.


THIS WEEK TO END WHEN NEIL QUITS The BBC will end its late-night politics show This Week when Andrew Neil leaves the programme after hosting it for 16 years. The programme will end after its current run in July. The BBC said it couldn’t imagine the programme without Andrew Neil.


Mr Wright has asked the


Competition and Markets Authority to conduct a study of the digital advertising market. He has also written to former Obama advisor Professor Jason Furman who has been asked by the government to examine digital competition in UK.


Raymond Snoddy, page 23


MANCHESTER GETS NEW SUNDAY EDITION The Manchester Evening News has launched its first Sunday edition. The new edition is a digest of the week’s news and features but with additional new content and a lifestyle and leisure supplement. It also includes long reads which have appeared online.


Digital media hit by cuts and closure


leaving. Last year Buzzfeed UK laid off a third of its staff and in January Janine Gibson, the UK editor-in-chief, left the company. The Pool went into administration owing


money to staff and freelances. A crowdfunding initiative to help those affected was set up by the literary agency boss Julia Kingsford.


WORLD MEDIA DEATH TOLL REACHES 84 The International Federation of Journalists’ annual list of media workers killed doing their job shows that 84 journalists, camera operators, fixers and technicians died in targeted killings, bomb attacks and cross-fire incidents. Afghanistan, Mexico, Yemen and Syria topped the killing fields for media workers in 2018. The list includes Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.


theJournalist | 03


ROBERT CHARLESWORTH


PICTOKRAFT / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


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