Jeremy Dear

Conference acts to defend journalism

2009-11-23T11:06:00.002Z

The NUJ's conference is over - it's been a weekend when we've faced up to the real challenges facing members and the union as a result of both the economic crisis and the structural changes hitting our industry.

It led to tough debate, inspiring speeches and the odd moment of fun, all resulting in a mass of new campaigns, policy ideas and action to defend journalists and journalism.

It has been rigorously documented by 25 student journalists here and there's a round-up on the NUJ website and there will be more in-depth coverage in the next issue of The Journalist.

Thanks to all those who helped make the conference such a success...I'm off to lie down in a darkened room. I'll be back at work Thursday.

Resign, resign..oh, you have. Well done.

2009-11-17T14:59:00.006Z

Good decision by Alan Rusbridger to resign from the PCC Code Committee and he set out precisely why we've had so many concerns about the failings of the PCC in recent years.

"If you have a self-regulation system that's finding nothing out and has no teeth, and all the work is being done by external people, it's dangerous for self-regulation. If you have a regulator behaving this uselessly, I suspect MPs will start saying this is not regulation...I believe in self-regulation because I cannot imagine a country in which the government regulates the press, or there is statutory regulation. But the press is in a very weak position today because its own regulator, its self-regulation, has proved so weak."

Today we've also been reacting to the DCMS response to the consultation on the future of local news. There are good (no top-slicing at this stage) and bad points (still relying on that dodgy poll to say people support top-slicing) about it - but there are so many unanswered questions. And it's not as if some of them are new questions. I've personally asked Ofcom and the Secretary of State and the Special Advisers at DCMS and many others have too - what will happen to existing staff when you have pilots of the Independently Funded News Consortia, what happens if the pilots fail, what criteria are there for quality and so much else.

Now it's back to preparing for our National Executive tomorrow and writing speeches for our conference which starts on Thursday in Southport

The Journalist - the end of one era, the start of another

2009-11-16T17:30:00.006Z

Big congratulations to Christine Buckley who has been elected the new editor of The Journalist. She led from start to finish in the eight-person contest, winning by almost 1000 votes.

I've known Christine as an industrial correspondent for many years, covering TUC conference and enjoying the odd drink at Glastonbury's sorely-missed Leftfield. She'll be a real asset to the union and I'm excited about working with her to oversee the integration of our communications.

I've kept as quiet as possible during the campaign about the relative merits of candidates but I am angry at the way Richard Simcox was attacked and the union's reputation rubbished by Mark Watts. Richard didn't deserve that.

It's also a sad day for the NUJ - Tim Gopsill, editor for the past 21 years leaves today and I wish him well and hope he enjoys the retirement he deserves. I have said in the annual report that Tim wrote the union's history but he deserves a place in it himself. We've not always seen eye-to-eye - it's I suppose inevitable that the General Secretary and editor of the union's journal will not always agree - and for others it's probably a good thing, but I respect greatly the work Tim has done, particularly around press freedom issues which he has championed in the union.

Global organising....in London

2009-11-12T18:43:00.003Z

Have spent a full day with representatives from the International Federation of Journalists and unions, media and journalism colleges in South Africa, Denmark, Belgium, Canada, Australia, Spain as part of the IFJ Future of Journalism group, discussing the changes to media, jobs and union organising priorities. We are putting together a report and action plan for journalists' unions. I will present details of the first draft on Saturday morning to the IFJ Executive which is meeting in London.

Yesterday I met with our officials dealing with Trinity Mirror to plan responses to the proposal to axe the final salary pension scheme before a meeting with union leaders from the PCS, RMT, FBU, URTU and NAPO to plan a major trade union conference for early next year and discuss our lobbying and amendments around the Equality Bill, the Agency Workers' Directive and public services, including public service broadcasting.

Had a management meeting yesterday afternoon and a big run through all the details for the union's conference which takes place at the end of next week.

Another Mirror pensions scandal

2009-11-10T07:56:00.006Z

Spent yesterday morning at Canary Wharf being briefed by senior Trinity Mirror managers about their proposals to close the final salary pension scheme to all - and replace it with an inferior scheme.

The company had written to everyone late on Friday afternoon (they're all heart) saying they could no longer afford the scheme and therefore had to close it. There is a consultation until 8 January about the plans but no-one is under any illusion that this is a consultation in name only to meet legal obligations, not to really listen to the views of staff. NUJ officials will be meeting on Wednesday to plan our response. The problem we will face is years of poor decision making and returning cash to shareholders instead of saving for a rainy day mean that now it is pouring down and with a refinancing deal looming the company has little cash, despite the fact it keeps churning our profits. The problem for the company is that most people now no longer believe they have a strategy to grow the company.

Friday's news came as I was attending the seminar A Media Manifesto for the Digital Age and speaking as part of a panel which included Lord Norman Fowler, Don Foster MP, Caroline Thompson from the BBC and Natalie Fenton from Goldsmith's. A copy of my speech is available here

Saturday morning I spoke at the SERTUC Building Trades Councils' conference. A copy of my speech is available here.

Saturday evening I had dinner with Mark Serwotka and Christine Blower, General Secretaries of the PCS and NUT respectively, their partners and some friends. A very pleasant way to set the world to rights.

After yesterday's Trinity Mirror meeting I met Meic Birtwistle, NEC member for Wales and Ken Smith, chair of the NUJ's Welsh Executive Council to discuss the work there, including the prospect of recognition at the Trinity titles in Llandudno and recruitment initiatives in Caernavon before speaking at the London Magazine Branch, which ended up in a really interesting discussion about unpaid work experience and the future organisation of the union - should we be organised on a sector basis, company basis, geographical basis and should subscriptions be based on income, sector or some other factor. This is a debate which will have to be had across the whole union because the current structures and subscriptions grades are outdated and will be incapable of supporting the union's activities in the future.

This morning I'm off to the TUC Executive.

A postcard (or a1000) to Ben Bradshaw

2009-11-06T11:47:00.005Z

Had a lie in till 7am following the news that the postal workers action had been called off while talks go on. It meant no early morning picket line visit.

Yesterday afternoon NUJ Broadcasting Organiser Sue Harris and I delivered 1000 signed postcards to Ben Bradshaw's office protesting about government plans to top slice the licence fee. That 1000 added to hundreds, possibly thousands of others sent in by other organisations across the UK. But don't stop sending them in. The Queen's Speech later this month will signal the start of the parliamentary battle against top-slicing - so keep up the pressure.

pic: Jonathan Warren

The debate on the future of the media switches to the British Academy tonight where I will share a platform with a government minister, Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster, Lord Norman Fowler, Caroline Thomson, the chief operating officer from the BBC, Peter Wilby and others in an open seminar "A Media manifesto for the Digital Age". The premise of my contribution, being surrounded by so many politicians, will be that the media are failing democracy because politicians are failing the media. It will be a strong call for an economic stimulus plan for journalism not to prop up failed corporate business models but to invest in newsgathering in the public interest.

Before heading off to that I'm meeting the Latin American Workers Association and have staff meetings. Tomorrow morning I'm speaking at the South East Region TUC Conference.

It's in the post...

2009-11-05T12:05:00.002Z

Spent yesterday buzzing between meetings with Skillset, the BBC's new Director of People Lucy Adams and then did some clandestine union organising at a national newspaper (the fruits of which you will have to wait until they blossom - that sounds like a badly mixed metaphor but I can't work out what it should be).

I also finished my contribution for an International Federation of Journalists' discussion document on the future of journalism, due to be considered by their Executive which meets in London in a week's time with a final report presented to their Congress in Cadiz in May next year. Given the speed things are moving at I'll probably have to rewrite my section a few times before then!

This afternoon I'm off to DCMS to hand over 1000 Don't Top Slice the BBC Licence Fee postcards as part of our campaign to defend public service broadcasting.

In the morning I'll be off to support CWU members on their picket lines. Find out what you can do to support their action here - remember, in every dispute we have had they've supported us. You never know when you might need the posties!

Citizens, rise up...

2009-11-03T15:38:00.004Z

Last night I was at the Parliamentary launch of the Citizens Coalition for Public Service Broadcasting hosted by John Grogan MP, a brilliant defender of PSB.

He rightly ridiculed James Murdoch's assertion that profit is the guarantor of quality and independence and set out a very firm opposition to top-slicing the licence fee as part of the attempts to maintain quality local and regional news on ITV.

Carole Tongue, former MEP, set out clearly the case for levies to address the funding gap, a move supported by the NUJ and BECTU.

Levies operate in almost every other European country - and it seems logical that those who benefit from public service content should pay towards its creation. Not if you're a politician maybe, but to the rest of us it's logical. Carole also pointed out that the 5 terrestrial TV stations - BBC 1 and 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Five - are responsible for 90% of the investment in original UK PSB content. All the others put together are responsible for just 10%, despite the fact their revenues are 10 times those of the terrestrial PSBs.

John Whittingdale displayed a remarkable political arrogance in saying, despite the fact that the public had consistently backed levies over top-slicing the licence fee in Ofcom consultations, that he "didn't believe what people told Ofcom". He also said the BBC had more resources than the rest of the broadcasting industry put together. It's not true. He also signalled that commercial public service broadcasters would get a far easier ride under the Tories (and here were we thinking it couldn't get any easier!). He said: "We can't go on requiring them by law to carry on providing public service content". All hail the market!

What became clear from the civil servant from DCMS present is that mechanisms for distributing contestable funds (from top-slicing?) will be in the Queen's Speech and that there is effectively then a 12-week Parliamentary timetable to get it on to the statute books.

That means all of us who care about quality public service broadcasting, who oppose top-slicing as the thin end of the wedge, who care about the universality of PSB need to get active now. There's some ideas for action here.

If it's good enough for Robert Peston....

2009-11-02T20:55:00.003Z

Remember me?

OK, so it’s been a while..but I see even Robert Peston has had to make excuses on his blog today for a long period with no posts. He's been too busy too.

If I tried and catch up on everything that’s happened since my last post we’d be here ‘til Christmas. So instead you can get the highlights on the NUJ website including:

* news about our campaign to protect public service broadcasting

* the latest on our equal pay campaigning

* our jobs summit for journalists in the magazine and book sector

* all the activity by NUJ chapels and branches, across the UK and Ireland, who continue to stand up for journalism.

And of course there’s more: dozens of internal meetings, rallies and events. I could go on, but I won’t.

Now back to business…

More gravy...less news

2009-07-31T16:30:00.003Z

Two bits of news that sum up so much of what is wrong with the current business models in media reach us. First amidst the Guardian Media Group's poor results today is the fact that Mark Dodson, the man who has overseen dozens of job cuts and the closure of offices across Greater Manchester and the halving of staff at Channel M has been rewarded with a massive bonus, equivalent to 10% of the company's profits. What a disgrace.

Then the row erupts between Chris Bullivant and Trinity Mirror in the Midlands over the future of some of the titles shut this week. Chris Bullivant claims he could have saved them. Trinity Mirror denies this and would rather close them - and stop any competition. Whatever the merits or otherwise of Chris Bullivant's claims the fact that Trinity Mirror aren't forced to divest themselves of these titles is another disgrace.

Communities are suffering, staff are being axed but the gravy train rolls on and shares rise. Treble gins all round...

Keeping occupied

2009-07-31T14:22:00.002Z

Was looking forward to the picket lines in Birmingham and Coventry on Thursday but instead had to make do with the satisfaction of the chapels' strong stands resulting in compulsory redundancies being withdrawn and staff being redeployed. Despite the allegations that our threatened action was negligent and reckless it was effective in stopping those who did not want to go from losing their jobs...and that's what a trade union is about.

As is happening in lots of other unions there was discussion about tactics for the dispute, even occupying, sitting in and other forms of more radical action. Members have rightly ruled nothing out in fighting to stop compulsory redundancies. Occupations were once common place in the media industry, particularly for some reason in magazine and book publishing. Now that they are spreading across other industries - and there is news today of another one at Thomas Cook in Dublin - media workers are seeing such tactics can be effective. I'm sure it won't be long before we see such action in a media company. Support the Thomas Cook workers here

Today we had a campaigns meeting putting in place details of fringe events at the Labour Party and Lib Dem conference as part of the campaign against top-slicing the BBC licence fee and booked tickets for travel to far-flung places - well Manchester, Brighton, Liverpool as we prepare to take our campaigns on the road. Have also finished off and sent out a branch newsletter, welcomed the excellent victory for press freedom in Ireland (yes, another one!), had a meeting with BBC World Service management about jobs in the South Asia service, written to members of the Local Media Commission established by the union to update them on the submissions, campaigning and other activity we've been involved and spoken to MPs and the IFJ about assistance to an Iranian journalist currently in hiding.

Hope the weather's good tomorrow for a barbecue chez Serwotka. Mark is not just an inspirational General Secretary of the PCS he's a pretty mean chef to boot...

After the floods...plague and pestilence

2009-07-27T11:37:00.006Z

After the floods come plague and pestilence. Emergency planning for swine flu pandemic now well under way...two staff now gone down with it. Hopefully quick action will contain any spread - so after you read this blog, wash your hands. And don't panic - just follow the advice!

So back to last week. Tuesday I met the union's bank before heading to the Gambian High Commission in London to protest at the arrest and trial of 7 journalists. The joint TUC, Amnesty International, NUJ event was well attended and a good launch to the global day of action.

On Wednesday morning I met Brendan Barber, the TUC General Secretary before heading to the TUC General Council at which I urged wider support for the campaign against top-slicing the BBC licence fee. Joined TUC President Sheila Bearcroft to judge the TUC's awards for reps - organising and health and safety - before shooting off to Parliament to meet John McDonnell MP and the leaders of the RMT, PCS, URTU and POA to discuss joint campaigning around rights at work, public services, the Equality Bill and other cross-union issues.

We also responded to the release of Alan Milburn's Unleashing Aspirations report which took up some of the issues we have been highlighting about access to journalism and how it is increasingly becopming the preserve of those who can afford it. The report falls short of what we want, which is proper and active enforcement of the National Minimum Wage, but it is a useful tool in highlighting the issue and moving it up the political agenda.

Thursday morning I was at the BBC with Bectu General Secretary Gerry Morrissey meeting HR to discuss upcoming negotiations on the move to Broadcasting House or W1 as the project is called and raising some issues regarding BBC pensions and expenses. Later on we had an NUJ/Bectu meeting to talk about recruitment and organisation in the commercial broadcasting sector.

Friday, I had a telephone conference with reps from Trinity Mirror in advance of the strike action planned for this Thursday at titles across the Midlands. I'll be heading up to join them on the picket lines. A second telephone conference with Jim Boumelha, Pierre Vicary and Michelle Stanistreet to discuss the consultation on the future direction of the International News Safety Institute which will be considered at their AGM in Malta. A quick management meeting rounded off the afternoon.

Friday night I was at Wembley - it may be the only time Tottenham get there this year so I wasn't going to miss the chance - for the mighty Wembley Cup watching the best team in the world...play Barcelona.

Saturday morning up far too early to head to Manchester for the NUJ day school on reporting the BNP. Ian Wood the Assistant Editor of the Manchester Evening News was really interesting on the debates they had had before launching their The Truth About the BNP campaign and members from papers where the BNP have a presence on local councils provoked good debate about the nature of coverage. We also touched on the issues of terminology, the physical threats by far right activists to journalists who write about them and sorting the myths from fact around issues such as housing, immigration and so on. A stimulating day.

This morning I'm catching up with all the emails I failed to answer last week (sorry!) and writing letters - to the union's lawyers and to the BBC, putting in place early arrangements for a Jobs Summit for the union's magazine sector (10 October - save the date), and putting the finishing touches to a branch newsletter.

Then it's the dentist...is it ok if i cry now?

Flood waters rise...

2009-07-15T13:16:00.006Z

Came in this morning to the news we'd been flooded after a water cooler exploded over night and so electricity and phones were out of order - ended up having to send most staff home with the building in darkness and no access to emails, computers etc.. The worst part was no coffee.

Luckily there was coffee at the Publishing Skills Council meeting - the first one I've been to since the convoluted process to enable the union to be represented whilst pretending it is not (I'm called the employee rep or something like that). The PSC is part of Skillset, the sector skills council and it was an interesting meeting beginning to get to grips with the big discussion about the skills needs of those entering the publishing industry today at a period of such massive transformation. There's a range of views around the table but a common understanding that good vocational training and clear advice about training and careers opportunities is important.

Yesterday I spent nearly 4 hours representing a member in a disciplinary hearing before heading to my own union branch - Central London. In the morning I attended the TUC Executive which adopted a good position paper on Digital Britain and in particular in opposition to top-slicing and in favour of the NUJ/BECTU position on levies.

Monday I had been at a meeting of the BBC World Service newsroom chapel discussing some of the ideas for campaigning around top slicing and the likely funding cuts World Service may experience when its Grant in Aid is reviewed as part of government spending plans.

It is clearly going to be a very difficult time for the BBC - we had briefings at the end of last week on the situation facing the pension fund and with Ben Bradshaw on the war path jobs and programmes are going to be under threat. We understand all too well why people want to criticise BBC management - we do it every day but we also understand why many of the media have an interest in attacking the BBC's funding and it is important we distinguish between addressing poor management and action which will weaken the BBC's public service broadcasting. At the moment the cuts include environment and economics correspondents and journalists covering world news and arts. Where's the 'tackling waste' in that.

Friday was the union's National Executive Council - 9 hours of debate and discussion on topics covering job cuts across the industry, union finances, membership, motions for annual conference, policy issues as well as topics like the News of the World hacking revelations and the implications of Digital Britain.

The NEC also gave its full backing to all those resisting job cuts at profitable media companies and those defending quality in their workplaces. Authority for action was given at newspapers in Middelsborough, Newcastle, Birmingham, at Penguin, at Signal Radio in Stoke whilst the NEC welcomed the campaigning in Scotland which had resulted in MSPs criticising the impact of cuts in newspapers.

The FCO has better canapes than the TUC

2009-07-08T07:55:00.003Z

A relatively successful evening's schmoozing and lobbying at the TUC's annual reception for Parliamentarians.

First target was Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw to secure a meeting with him about Digital Britain and its implications for media workers. He's the first to arrive and I'm first in there. Job done.
Follow that up with a chat with John McDonnell about arranging a lobby of Parliament over top-slicing and then an agree with Tribune editor Chris McLaughlin to pen something about it for a forthcoming issue. Had a chat with TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O'Grady about the work of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions which is looking at a number of issues, including, thanks to the lobbying of ourselves and BECTU, the issue of the abuse of work experience. Frances sits on the panel for the TUC and has been instrumental in getting NUJ and other unions concerns on the agenda. The report is expected shortly and whilst it is unlikely to offer a panacea I am hopeful it will be another tool in trying to halt the shameful abuse of those wanting to break in to journalism and break down some of the barriers students from poorer backgrounds face in getting in to our increasingly privileged profession.
Catch up with NUJ members covering the event, like Kevin Maguire from The Mirror, communications and press officers from the CWU, Unite and others before Gordon and Sarah grace us with their presence and the PM says a few words while a few bemused tourists peer at him through the windows of Church House.

Earlier in the evening I'd been with campaigners from Colombia at a reception at Lancaster House where the new Minister Chris Bryant was due to speak. He hadn't by the time I left for the TUC event but I can report that the canapes were far fancier. But one question bugged me. It was an event about Latin America and all the serving staff were Latin American. Coincidence or cheap labour or tasteless gimmick? Answers on a postcard to.....

Today I've meetings on union recruitment followed by meetings of the National Joint Council (NJC) at the BBC with the Trust followed by a briefing on the state of play with BBC pensions.

Digital Britain dominates workload

2009-07-06T07:24:00.004Z

From meetings with BBC Director General Mark Thompson to discuss Digital Britain and the threat of top-slicing to protesting outside the Gambian High Commission over the arrest and trial of 7 journalists it was a hectic week last week - hence the late catch up on the blog.

The week kicked off with a meeting with the General Secretaries of Equity, Musicians Union and Bectu to discuss our campaigning on Digital Britain before a series of meetings with staff at the
union's HQ and an hour to draft motions for the NEC to table to the next conference. On Tuesday we had the NUJ Parliamentary Group and again Digital Britain took centre stage but we also discussed how MPs can back up the union's Freelance Month activities and whether the Iraq War Inquiry announced by Gordon Brown will have a remit to consider the killing of journalists - particularly Terry Lloyd. We also touched on press freedom issues in Gambia and Qatar. In the evening I met with around 20 Labour MPs and raised the issue of the killing of journalists and trade unionists in Colombia.

Wednesday I met with the TUC and Amnesty International to plan the activities in support of 7 journalists jailed in Gambia. I also wrote to Paul Davidson the Chief Executive of Newsquest about further threatened redundancies in the group. Thursday was spent largely at the BBC with meetings with the new director of BBC People and Director General Mark Thompson. Friday morning I chaired the Federation of Entertainment Unions when we discussed BBC and ITV activities as well as training and equality issues across the sector. From there I went to the Gambian High Commission to join the protest and hand in a letter before racing to ULU to speak in a media workshop at Marxism 2009 before heading back to catch up with emails.

3rd is the new first

2009-06-24T08:32:00.002Z

Winning would be showing off (someone tell Unite) and coming last would be embarrassing (someone tell the TSSA) so a creditable 3rd place was the perfect outcome for the NUJ team at last night's inaugral Justice for Colombia quiz night.

Held at the TUC with Brendan Barber as quiz master the NUJ line-up of Michelle Stanistreet, Roy Mincoff, Sue Harris, Miles Barter, Richard Simcox, Stephen Pearse and me proved we knew a lot about Colombia, a fair amount about food and drink, a slightly poor amount about sport and politics and bugger all about trade unions. Oh well.

Before heading off to the TUC I was at meetings with Unite discussing joint activity at Trinity Mirror and other newspaper companies and discussing issues across the publishing sector. This morning I'm at BBC meetings and in discussions with Bectu. I'm glad to see Mark Thompson has finally come out strongly against top slicing. Yesterday we set about planning the next few months of campaigning around the issue.

The final tweaks have also been made to the NUJ's 2009/10 budget which I present to Finance Committee tomorrow.

There is no alternative? Oh yes there is...

2009-06-23T10:47:00.004Z

Started the week doing an interview with Al Jazeera about the implications for journalism of Suzanne Breen's excellent victory before heading off to chair a Federation of Entertainment Unions event on funding public service broadcasting. Professor Patrick Barwise made an excellent speech setting out the case for industry levies as an alternative to government plans for top slicing. He was quoted in Polly Toynbee's article on Saturday too which took up the argument.

In his comments Patrick said: "once one starts looking at the numbers, it's clear industry levies ought to be a large part of the answer...if the net is spread widely, even a very small revenue levy can generate enough to fill the PSB funding gap. ..there will be fierce debates about the right combination of levies, spending priorities, market distortion and state aid, accountability and so on. But don't let anyone suggest that a levy is inherently difficult or impractical...only five out of 27 countries in the EU don't have a levy on the sales of new recording equipment".

There were also excellent contributions from John Smith the General Secretary of the Musicians' Union and Luke Crawley, Assistant General Secretary of Bectu.

The NUJ and Bectu commissioned a report from IPPR earlier this year about levies. A copy can be downloaded here.

This is getting embarrassing

2009-06-18T16:41:00.004Z

..and now we've been named hero of the week for our campaigning on civil liberties. cheers!

Landmark victory for media freedom

2009-06-18T16:33:00.004Z

Fantastic - Suzanne Breen has won - and convincingly. The judgement was as good as it could have been. Congratulations to Suzanne.

Here's some of the early media coverage, including Suzanne's comments outside the court and here's what our Irish Secretary Seamus Dooley had to say.

What with that and the comments of Lord Carlisle it's been quite a day.

Oh and we're under fire from the BNP - as fascists. ha, ha, ha.... The worrying thing is that so are other media and some others are so worried by the abuse they are getting they may decide not to run any more stories. That way the BNP would win. Tonight's meeting is precisely to help us organise against this kind of intimidation.

High noon on judgement day

2009-06-18T07:43:00.002Z

At midday today a court in Belfast could effectively pass what amounts to "a death sentence" on a journalist. Of course, Suzanne Breen may be given a choice - she can go to jail instead. But there is a chink of light. Thanks to the fabulous campaign she and her paper and the union have run she has massive support for the principle of protection of sources and the court could uphold that principle. Whatever the outcome today the union will support Suzanne to the hilt. She is protecting a fundamental principle of journalism. If she is forced to hand over her notes and records not only will she be placed in danger but investigative journalism will be dealt a massive blow. Good luck Suzanne.

In the event that the judgement goes against her not just the union but the whole of the media must react. It is all our rights under attack.

While the court case is going on we'll be holed up in the union's Policy Committee meeting covering our Parliamentary work, our TUC work and our international work. With the release of Digital Britain there's much to discuss. Our campaigning against top-slicing needs to be stepped up with the news that 3.5% of the BBC licence fee is to be 'shared'. So they are still planning to rob Peter to pay Paul and give a massive public subsidy to commercial organisations whilst asking little in return. The report is a failure in that it fails to identify new money to help public service broadcasting or other media - it just plans to share out the same pot even thinner putting more pressure on quality.

I met the new Culture Secretary (and NUJ member!) Ben Bradshaw last night at the All Party Parliamentary Media Group reception at Channel 4 and had a chance to urge a rethink and push the alternative he says he is interested in finding. It's called levies. And having been told by all and sundry they are difficult to deliver politically we then get a levy on the public to pay for part of the broadband roll-out. Oh the hypocrisy! Anyone interested in hearing the case for levies should come along on Monday to an event organised by the Federation of Entertainment Unions.
It's time to join the battle. It may be our last chance to save the licence fee from a future rapacious government. I also had a good chat with Don Foster MP and Austin Mitchell about Digital Britain. They have both made excellent interventions standing up for journalism in the current debate.

Apart from hob-nobbing with the media glitterati at Channel 4, I've moved office (to make room for the GFTU who move in next month), had a number of internal staff meetings and attended meetings of the TUC Executive and the unattractively named Organisation and Representation Task Group but which is actually the key cross-unions committee at the TUC dealing with employment rights issues and union recruitment. We had an interesting discussion about plans to try to reverse the decline in union membership which is particularly acute because of the recession. The pattern is uneven with some unions gaining members whilst others have suffered heavy losses. We're doing not too badly given the huge job losses there have been in our industry. Recruitment remains high but it is not keeping up with the numbers leaving the industry at the moment. Over the next few months our attention will be on breaking in to new areas and building the number of union reps we have to help build the effectiveness of the union in more workplaces.

Is there a future for journalism?

2009-06-12T08:35:00.002Z

Yes. That's the simple answer but it's taken us two days to come up with that. Well, not strictly true, it's taken us two days to set out the changing landscape of journalism and the implications of that for journalists, journalism and our unions.

I've been taking part in an International Federation of Journalists Consultative Group on the Future of Journalism with leading journalists from Spain and Belgium, union reps from Canada, Australia, Denmark and a media academic from South Africa as well as IFJ officers covering the Middle East, Africa and Europe and General Secretary Aidan White.

The brief is to map the changing landscape of journalism - both providing support and assistance to those fighting the current crisis affecting parts of the media and sketching out the changing working practices for journalists, changing models of journalism and the development of new forms of journalism and to assess how journalists and in particular journalists' unions need to respond.

It was a stimulating discussion - but now the hard work starts. We've each been given one section of the project to develop, research, write up, make recommendations on before a final report will be produced later in the year. Mine's on the changing nature of journalistic work - any contributions welcome!

Key to the work though is the actions that come out of it - there's plenty of academic reports and this one has to provide support for unions in the recruitment and organisation of journalists in developing areas of the media. Outside the conference I had the opportunity to swap ideas with Claire O'Rourke from our sister union in Australia who are facing many of the same problems and taking up the new challenges in an active way through their future of journalism project. Sharing experience, in particular where we have had successes, is vital.

Hello Jeremy, I'm Jeremy...

2009-06-09T13:15:00.003Z

I'm sat in Parliament having just had an interesting meeting on the future of local media with the Conservatives' Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson Jeremy Hunt. We covered issues about the licence fee, the future of local and regional news on ITV and how to fund and support new local media initiatives. We also gave him a copy of the union's economic stimulus plan for the media which we launched earlier today.

This morning I met with freelance journalist Stephen Grey to talk about a new initiave he's working on to support investigative journalism - it sounds really exciting and I'm keen the NUJ gets involved in the project. More on this in the coming weeks I'm sure.

This afternoon I'm meeting Mark Donne to talk about yet another new initiave - Real Fits - an online project supporting original journalism. In particular they have an exciting new project called Breaking News 2020.

It's good to see so many people looking for creative solutions to sustain quality journalism in the midst of the crisis brought about by the corporate greed of too many media owners.

Yesterday was taken up with internal meetings - first up I presented the draft budget to the union's national officers before a lengthy management meeting to discuss the relocation of offices inside Headland House in preparation for our new tenants - the GFTU - moving in and to monitor progress on implementing our savings plans.

Tomorrow I'm off early to Brussels for an IFJ round table on the future of journalism.

Victory for quality journalism

2009-06-03T14:06:00.002Z

Congratulations to Alice O'Keeffe and the rest of the New Statesman team for their victory at the Amnesty International Media Awards last night. It was a pleasure to hand the award over to Alice and the team who produced No Place for Children - and great to hear her remind everyone that human rights abuses do not just happen in far away lands. The way we treat asylum seekers in the UK and in particular their children brings nothing but shame on us as a society.

Congratulations too to Dan McDougall and Robin Hammond for their excellent Observer magazine piece on the persecution of Roma in Italy which picked up the other periodicals award.

A full list of winners is available here - well done to them all, they are proving journalism really does matter.

Before heading off to the awards I was at the rather less glamorous Civil Service Club speaking to members of Westminster Trades Council - and setting out the case for a People's Charter which the NUJ has now signed up to.

Evening meetings followed a day of negotiations with staff unions and putting the finishing touches to the draft 2009/10 budget which will be presented to our National Officers on Monday, to our Finance Committee later this month and then to our National Executive for endorsement in July.

Back to life, back to reality

2009-06-02T08:59:00.003Z

After the excitement of Baghdad, it's back to the more mundane - although that's a kind description of five hours of pay negotiations at the BBC. Given the economic climate and the fact that most members are focused on saving jobs and looking ahead to a battle to save the current salary scheme we felt we got a reasonable offer out of the BBC. No-one will be rich but at least most people will get a rise with the lowest paid benefiting the most.

Thursday was a day of BBC talks - first up an interview with Newsnight about the state of the local newspaper industry followed negotiations over BBC Sport's move to Salford. Next up it was talks with Bectu about the BBC/ITV partnerships and the likely Digital Britain outcomes before beginnning the marathon pay negotiations.

Friday I was up early to travel to Eastbourne for the TUC's Trades Councils Conference, which I chair. After a committee meeting we hosted a rally against the far right before the conference proper debated motions on the economic crisis, the environment, education, public services and much more. It must have been the warm weather and the fact we were meeting in a windowless room but we were all finished by 11am on Sunday - surely a record, which I put down to great chairing! It at least allowed me a couple of hours on the beach.

No rest for the wicked. Monday morning it's in to the office for a management meeting before trying to plough through emails and head to the TUC for a meeting.

Tonight is the Amnesty International Media Awards which I am looking forward to - I was a judge and am handing over two of the awards. Before that I've got negotiations with our own staff unions and am making a speech to a joint meeting of trades union councils in London.

Guess who's back...?

2009-05-28T07:17:00.012Z

No, not Eminem or even Slim Shady but me...and bloody glad to be so having just returned from Baghdad.

I was honoured to be part of making history, being part of the first international conference to take place in the city since the invasion and occupation began in 2003. With the rather grand title of the Baghdad Journalism Summit 2009: Iraqi Media Working for Democracy the conference brought together around 200 members of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate (IJS) with colleagues from around 30 countries to discuss issues from public service values in media to building professional solidarity, to safety issues to tackling impunity, promoting ethical journalism and media development. Organised jointly by the IJS and the International Federation of Journalists the conference was broadcast live on Iraqi TV, made all the Iraqi newspapers as well as a number of international media.

Being so high profile and a potential propaganda coup for the government or one faction or another security was beyond tight. We were met at the airport by armoured vehicles mounted with machine guns, by trucks full of armed security - police, army and private security - who led us in convoy from the airport along what Iraqi journalists told us was the most dangerous highway in the world because of the number of roadside bombings, to the Al Rasheed hotel inside the heavily fortified Green Zone.

The route was lined with high, thick concrete walls topped with barbed wire with numerous check points staffed by machine gun toting soldiers. Watchtowers with machine gunners looked over the road. Vans with explosive detection equipment swept the road. It's fair to say at this point the whole delegation looked a little pale.

The hotel was a ghost town - after all there aren't many tourists - and it had taken us nearly 2 hours to get through security. Our hotel was surrounded by high concrete walls, had an armed sentry post at the end of the drive and another at the main gates to the hotel where every time we came in and out we had to be searched by the Peruvian security force guarding the hotel. Then there was another search at the front door of the hotel. Finally we got to our rooms. Faded grandeur - in ten years it will be retro chic.

Down for some dinner and the first chance to meet Moaid Al Lami, the President of the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate. His predecessor was murdered last year - one of more than 250 Iraqi journalists killed - and he himself was targeted in a bomb attack. He expresses to us how important a show of solidarity it is for us to come to Baghdad and speak up for journalists and journalism in Iraq and support the union.

A rather sleepless night - you can hear the helicopters flying over the hotel - before the conference opens the following morning. It's the pomp and circumstance bit. Drummers, singers and entertainers warm us up for the arrival of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al Maliki whilst CIA agents and Iraqi security sweep the building. Despite the ceremony Maliki says nothing of any value and doesn't take questions but is forced to sit and listen as IFJ General Secretary Aidan White and Moaid Alami make the case for sweeping away the media laws established by Paul Bremer as the imperial power in Iraq in 2003 and for greater action on bringing to justice the killers of journalists.

On to the conference proper and speakers from Spain, the US, Lebanon join two Iraqi colleagues to talk about building independent media. It clearly is a huge issue here as journalists feel under pressure either from government or one faction or another. And that's not just pressure through strong opinions but is commercial and physical pressure too. In the afternoon we discuss a new model for public service broadcasting in Iraq.

It's Saturday night in downtown Baghdad..and we get ready to go out. Armoured vehicles - check. Lots of soldiers - check. More guns than you knew existed - check. We're ready to roll. We head through town to Abu Nawaas Street on the banks of the Tigris, famous for its restaurants. One of the bridges over the river has been shut so we are forced to take a different route and get stuck in a traffic jam. The one thing we've been told is not to stop in traffic. There's no choice and the tension levels rise again - after all it's hard to blend in in an armoured convoy. Soldiers run about shouting and pointing guns at drivers doing nothing wrong and clear a path for us to drive through. After another hair-raising journey we reach the restaurant and sit o0n the roof with the Tigris one side and the Palestine Hotel the other - the scene of the killing of Jose Couso, the Spanish journalist by US troops in 2003. As with 19 other cases where US troops killed a journalist no-one has been brought to justice for the killing - a point we make in TV interviews during the meal. Every move we make is filmed. When we eat, drink, chat there is always a camera (or several) in our faces.

The meal is late and we miss the curfew to get back in to the Green Zone and so we spend nearly two hours negotiating our way back in to the hotel through the various security checks.

Sunday morning it's my turn, speaking as part of a panel on the Ethical Journalism: The Challenges facing Journalism. I get to talk a bit about the Suzanne Breen case and protection of sources, about union action to take up ethical issues, about codes of practice, our ethics council's work, about a framework of law, about our conscience clause campaign. It goes down well and a few people ask for copies of my speech. If only I'd written it down....

Immediately after my panel I'm asked to take part in another one to report on the IFJ's work on impunity before the families of media victims joint together in a strong call for justice. The wife of Shihab Al Tamimi, the murdered former head of the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate makes an emotional plea for her husband's killing to be properly investigated. It is a poignant reminder of just how dangerous it remains to be a journalist and trade unionist in Iraq. The lie that life is normal again in Baghdad just doesn't wash. In the three days before we got there around 100 people were killed in suicide bombings. The night we arrived an American contractor was blindfolded, stabbed several times and had his throat slit inside the Green Zone, not far from our hotel.

It's lunchtime and a small group of us are piling back in to the minibuses and joining the by now familiar convoy to head to a meeting with the Minister of the Interior. As we arrive he sits resplendent on a gold chair (some might call it a throne) and we are ushered in to sit around. Pleasantries over I am asked to say a few words on behalf of the delegation and ask the Minister to update us where they are with their investigations in to the killing of journalists and progress on ensuring journalists can work free from threat and independently. He consults with officials and answers a different question. Then he suggests lunch. Over lunch we have another go - he promised a report to us a year ago on the status of the investigations - can we have the report? He again promises it at an future date. He will email it to us. Just as Eduardo Marquez from FELCOLPER, the Colombian journalists' union, begins asking him a question the lights go down and a blaring propaganda film starts about how good has triumphed over evil and all are happy in Baghdad. Then the message is reinforced by a play all in Arabic but which is apparently very funny judging by the audience reaction.

Despite attempts to ask more questions we are ushered back to conference. On the way out we do a series of TV interviews setting out the key demands of the Iraqi journalists for better conditions, greater freedom of expression, greater transparency and freedom of information and so on. When we see the interviews on TV they have been dubbed so I've no idea how it came across - but we tried.

Back at the conference we endorse a lengthy declaration setting out an action plan for the next two years to help the IJS build its strength and to enable it to play a greater role in building an independent media, solidarity amongst journalists and tackle the huge problems of corruption brought about by lack of job security, poor wages and the pressure applied to journalists.

It's our last night in Baghdad - and as if things hadn't been surreal enough - we are convoyed to a park - where we sit in armchairs and are entertained by Iraqi folk musicians and an Iraqi cosmonaut (yes, really!). Once again TV crews broadcast our reaction - and our dinner - live. There's one slightly scary moment when the generators fail and all the lights go out and we realise we're sat out in the open, having been shown live on TV doing so, in the pitch dark. The security are obviously a bit nervous too and move in closer to protect us. But the fear is short-lived, the lights are back and the show can go on.

We understand from our Iraqi hosts that the government wanted the event broadcast because it would help show life in Baghdad was returning to normal. You could sit in a park, enjoy a meal and some music...what could be more idyllic. I'm sure the TV didn't show the fact that the park had been cleared of 'ordinary' people and that it was surrounded by tanks, armoured vehicles and heavily armed soldiers. Still, why let reality intrude.

Monday morning it's back along the airport road and through rigorous airport security, including having to empty your bag out on the tarmac just before going up the steps of the plane and soon we're on our way back to Amman. There's a real sense of relief.

So what to make of it. We all knew before going it was going to be tough, that a conference was not going to solve all the problems faced by Iraqi journalists, that the government and others would try to use the visit for propaganda purposes but at the same time we believed we owed solidarity to our sisters and brothers in Iraq - not just by passing motions in conferences in London but by coming to Baghdad to understand a little better the daily reality for them, the dangers and pressures they face and discuss in detail how we can learn from each other's experiences and build genuine trade union solidarity.

This was a start - and I'm proud I was able to be part of it - there's a long way to go- but if the courage and commitment we saw from so many ordinary Iraqi journalists is anything to go by they will struggle for their freedom and independence from the occupiers, the government and all those factions who seek to control the message.

Normally after you've been away you dread coming back to work. Today it felt good. I'm sure it won't last....