Thursday morning headed to New Scotland Yard to meet senior police officers about our photo event on 16 February highlighting the introduction of new laws making it unlawful to photograph police buildings or officers. Then on to City Hall to meet Guto Hari, Boris Johnson's press head honcho to talk about ways the Mayor can promote quality journalism in London - the day the front page of the Evening Standard is dominated by Boris' alleged 'f-word tirade'. We've also written to the London Assembly urging them to take action to protect quality and diversity in London's media as more local titles are merged, offices closed and jobs cut. A full staff meeting at Headland House rounded off the day.
Friday morning I met with Morning Star Chapel officers about their dispute, sent the formal industrial action notice to the company, produced a newsletter for Johnston Press reps, met with representatives of the Journalist Editorial Advisory Board and had conversations with both the TUC and Unite about union recognition at Pearson Education (Oxford). The afternoon was dominated by a meeting with Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and senior finance and editorial managers - during which they announced their plans for a pay freeze for all staff - we've not accepted the need for the freeze, instead asking them key questions about the company's finances. Further information-gathering meetings will take place before pay negotiations next month.
Spent several hours trying to deal with all the outstanding emails, correspondence, phone calls etc before heading home to prepare for my holiday...see you in three weeks!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
More on that BBC DEC decision
News reaches me from the BBC Director General’s meeting with staff on the corporation’s decision not to air the DEC appeal for humanitarian assistance.
I wasn’t there so others may have another view (feel free to post it here) but more than one source has confirmed this version of events…
“This was probably the most cynical piece of news management I think I've experienced at the BBC…..Thompson and Byford and their minders used every trick in the book to suppress genuine criticism and deeply felt anger directed towards them from BBC staff (as witnessed during two bruising encounters with staff at the BBC Arabic Service and BBC Monitoring last week).
To start off with, they buried news of this important meeting. A small notice was posted in the BBC weekly paper, Ariel, more than a week earlier and no further mention was made. There was no email sent out to staff to say it was happening. This is an astonishing omission given the seriousness of the allegations against Thompson and the level of staff criticism about this decision. Someone fortunately sent me a link on Wednesday to an announcement which was hidden on the Internal Communications website, otherwise I wouldn't have found out about it. (I was told it had been on the front page of the BBC intranet site Gateway on Thursday morning, but I doubt many members of staff would have seen it there and it was too late anyway).
If you were lucky enough to stumble on news about the meeting, you had to contact IC to ask to attend, and only then would they tell you about the venue. A number of my colleagues emailed on Thursday morning and were told it was full. This is an interesting concept, because the venue was in fact TC6, a huge studio at TV Centre that could hold at least 400 people. What they laid on was about 12 round tables with white tablecloths, which could have seated at least 12 people each but had only four to six chairs per table.
A nice "Audience Management" lady with a clipboard (with our names on - not on the list? no entry!) told me they had made places for 100 people. A couple of unsuccessful applicants who came along anyway were taken to a "holding area" and then allowed to fill empty seats. This bizarre gala dinner layout was, by the way, especially tailored for this meeting and it was cleared away afterwards. There were two red chairs allocated for Thompson and Byford on a stage on one side, but they never used them. Instead they wore radio-mics and stood, quite aggressively and confrontationally right next to the front table
Questions got an answer from both Marks, sometimes they had more than one stab at each answer. Their spiel was exactly what was expected - not about not wanting to be seen taking sides in the Israel-Palestine conflict, it's just that this is a "controversial" issue, an "on-going" news story, "consistent with 30-40 years of BBC policy", would do the same even if it wasn't Israel-Palestine. we would do the same even if Israel wasn't involved; there are no "innocent victims of war" in this conflict; Aid agency employees are not angels, but ambitious individuals who knew the BBC's position but called the appeal anyway.
Thompson said the Trust would rule in about two weeks whether the decision was correct and the complainants had pledged to take their case to judicial review if they failed with the Trust.
During the 80 minute session, several speakers managed to land punches from the floor, a few examples of which are below:
- Do they think all the resources we've put into covering Mid-East story have been wasted, if the audience cannot make their own judgments about things like this? (er no, but they had to do it anyway)
- Since when was our impartiality so fragile that we shied away from negative reaction for something we considered important?
- Why wasn't there an announcement before and after the film and a strap running through the film saying it wasn't BBC editorial content? (MB had apparently suggested this too, but MT said it was never done like that with DEC appeals)
- Was it worth the catastrophic damage to BBC reputation in the Middle East? (apparently it'll blow over - like Jerry Springer - apparently MT has an annual meeting with evangelical Christians and the atmosphere is improving)
- If as they claimed we were damned-if-we-did/damned-if-we-didn't on this one, why did they choose the option which meant not helping people?
- Why didn't they consult people meant to know about the Middle East who could have told them what a disaster this would be? (apparently because they wanted to protect them from taking this difficult, divisive decision)
- Weren't they worried about safety of staff in the region after such a provocative decision? (yes, but never mind, they'll look after them)- Aren't we putting the perception of impartiality over the need to provide food, clothing, shelter for needy people?
After this meeting the Arabic Service staff circulating petition deploring the decision and seeking its reversal."
Watch this space…
I wasn’t there so others may have another view (feel free to post it here) but more than one source has confirmed this version of events…
“This was probably the most cynical piece of news management I think I've experienced at the BBC…..Thompson and Byford and their minders used every trick in the book to suppress genuine criticism and deeply felt anger directed towards them from BBC staff (as witnessed during two bruising encounters with staff at the BBC Arabic Service and BBC Monitoring last week).
To start off with, they buried news of this important meeting. A small notice was posted in the BBC weekly paper, Ariel, more than a week earlier and no further mention was made. There was no email sent out to staff to say it was happening. This is an astonishing omission given the seriousness of the allegations against Thompson and the level of staff criticism about this decision. Someone fortunately sent me a link on Wednesday to an announcement which was hidden on the Internal Communications website, otherwise I wouldn't have found out about it. (I was told it had been on the front page of the BBC intranet site Gateway on Thursday morning, but I doubt many members of staff would have seen it there and it was too late anyway).
If you were lucky enough to stumble on news about the meeting, you had to contact IC to ask to attend, and only then would they tell you about the venue. A number of my colleagues emailed on Thursday morning and were told it was full. This is an interesting concept, because the venue was in fact TC6, a huge studio at TV Centre that could hold at least 400 people. What they laid on was about 12 round tables with white tablecloths, which could have seated at least 12 people each but had only four to six chairs per table.
A nice "Audience Management" lady with a clipboard (with our names on - not on the list? no entry!) told me they had made places for 100 people. A couple of unsuccessful applicants who came along anyway were taken to a "holding area" and then allowed to fill empty seats. This bizarre gala dinner layout was, by the way, especially tailored for this meeting and it was cleared away afterwards. There were two red chairs allocated for Thompson and Byford on a stage on one side, but they never used them. Instead they wore radio-mics and stood, quite aggressively and confrontationally right next to the front table
Questions got an answer from both Marks, sometimes they had more than one stab at each answer. Their spiel was exactly what was expected - not about not wanting to be seen taking sides in the Israel-Palestine conflict, it's just that this is a "controversial" issue, an "on-going" news story, "consistent with 30-40 years of BBC policy", would do the same even if it wasn't Israel-Palestine. we would do the same even if Israel wasn't involved; there are no "innocent victims of war" in this conflict; Aid agency employees are not angels, but ambitious individuals who knew the BBC's position but called the appeal anyway.
Thompson said the Trust would rule in about two weeks whether the decision was correct and the complainants had pledged to take their case to judicial review if they failed with the Trust.
During the 80 minute session, several speakers managed to land punches from the floor, a few examples of which are below:
- Do they think all the resources we've put into covering Mid-East story have been wasted, if the audience cannot make their own judgments about things like this? (er no, but they had to do it anyway)
- Since when was our impartiality so fragile that we shied away from negative reaction for something we considered important?
- Why wasn't there an announcement before and after the film and a strap running through the film saying it wasn't BBC editorial content? (MB had apparently suggested this too, but MT said it was never done like that with DEC appeals)
- Was it worth the catastrophic damage to BBC reputation in the Middle East? (apparently it'll blow over - like Jerry Springer - apparently MT has an annual meeting with evangelical Christians and the atmosphere is improving)
- If as they claimed we were damned-if-we-did/damned-if-we-didn't on this one, why did they choose the option which meant not helping people?
- Why didn't they consult people meant to know about the Middle East who could have told them what a disaster this would be? (apparently because they wanted to protect them from taking this difficult, divisive decision)
- Weren't they worried about safety of staff in the region after such a provocative decision? (yes, but never mind, they'll look after them)- Aren't we putting the perception of impartiality over the need to provide food, clothing, shelter for needy people?
After this meeting the Arabic Service staff circulating petition deploring the decision and seeking its reversal."
Watch this space…
Global response needs to be bolder
Am in Brussels at the grandly-titled Council of Global Unions - an attempt to bring together all the main international trade union groups. It's the follow-up to the Washington meeting I attended last December.
The global economic crisis is dominating our agenda - and how we respond. It's frustrating to see the bureaucracy of the global labour movement at work whilst out on the streets hundreds of thousands are striking, demonstrating and protesting. There are some startling statistics - 800,000 jobs lost in one month in the US, one billion people facing starvation - and our response needs to be bolder, quicker and more pro-active.
Last night I took the chance to do a meeting with NUJ Brussels branch members and try to address some concerns they have about how the union supports members in Continental Europe.
Due to the wonders of wi-fi i have also been able to write to Vernon Coaker about ongoing concerns about photographers' rights, to write to David MIlliband about the UK government's opposition to the draft Ministerial Resolution on developments in anti-terrorism legislation in the Council of Europe and its impact on freedom of expression and information. I've also sent emails to NUJ executive members, chapels, branches, councils about mobilising for a lobby of Parliament in March over the future of local media.
The global economic crisis is dominating our agenda - and how we respond. It's frustrating to see the bureaucracy of the global labour movement at work whilst out on the streets hundreds of thousands are striking, demonstrating and protesting. There are some startling statistics - 800,000 jobs lost in one month in the US, one billion people facing starvation - and our response needs to be bolder, quicker and more pro-active.
Last night I took the chance to do a meeting with NUJ Brussels branch members and try to address some concerns they have about how the union supports members in Continental Europe.
Due to the wonders of wi-fi i have also been able to write to Vernon Coaker about ongoing concerns about photographers' rights, to write to David MIlliband about the UK government's opposition to the draft Ministerial Resolution on developments in anti-terrorism legislation in the Council of Europe and its impact on freedom of expression and information. I've also sent emails to NUJ executive members, chapels, branches, councils about mobilising for a lobby of Parliament in March over the future of local media.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Snow joke (and a variety of snow-related puns)
Why is it the more you do the more interesting things you’d have to blog about but the less time you have to do it.
So, another quick catch-up, dominated by strike ballots.
Monday I braved the snow in suit and wellies – always a fetching look – only to find everyone I was due to meet hadn’t made it in to London. I did however manage to hold a telephone conference with Johnston Press reps about the latest situation and in particular building support for the strike ballots at the Derry Journal and Yorkshire Post/YEP and plough through weeks worth of outstanding correspondence and wrote and did the lay out for our NEC newsletter, Informed.
Tuesday I met with Pension Trustees followed by the NUJ Staff Pension Scheme AGM – an hour of answering questions about the performance of the pension scheme. Never the easiest task – in the middle of a global economic meltdown (or is it a depression?) an unenviable one. Wednesday we had a 3-hour management team meeting before heading over to The Independent for their chapel meeting that massively backed a motion to move to a ballot for industrial action.
Thursday morning I had negotiations with Morning Star management as part of the current dispute there. Some progress was made and talks are ongoing. After a meeting with NUJ staff unions over finance and budgets I went across to City Hall to talk to Guto Hari, Boris Johnson’s head press honcho (and a former Cardiff School of Journalism classmate of mine). But that damned snow – and Boris’ response to it – kept intervening so we’ve rearranged for next week. We wrote setting out our concerns at the closures of local newspapers, loss of jobs and merging of newspaper offices in London, seeking the support of the GLA and Mayor of London for a campaign to protect diversity and quality in London’s media. From there a quick phone call to the BBC regarding our industrial action ballot there and to see what progress could be made in negotiations in advance of ballot papers going out and then straight over to the Morning Star for their evening Chapel meeting to report back on negotiations. Hopefully more talks will take place in the coming days.
Missed the Money Programme on the future of newspaper industry last night but had some texts saying I looked like I was trying to hold up a building because of the way I was leaning against it – you know these TV types, getting you to pose for them. Hopefully that didn’t distract from making the important points about the damage being done to the industry by profiteering and unnecessary cuts.
And now it's snowing again. Great.
So, another quick catch-up, dominated by strike ballots.
Monday I braved the snow in suit and wellies – always a fetching look – only to find everyone I was due to meet hadn’t made it in to London. I did however manage to hold a telephone conference with Johnston Press reps about the latest situation and in particular building support for the strike ballots at the Derry Journal and Yorkshire Post/YEP and plough through weeks worth of outstanding correspondence and wrote and did the lay out for our NEC newsletter, Informed.
Tuesday I met with Pension Trustees followed by the NUJ Staff Pension Scheme AGM – an hour of answering questions about the performance of the pension scheme. Never the easiest task – in the middle of a global economic meltdown (or is it a depression?) an unenviable one. Wednesday we had a 3-hour management team meeting before heading over to The Independent for their chapel meeting that massively backed a motion to move to a ballot for industrial action.
Thursday morning I had negotiations with Morning Star management as part of the current dispute there. Some progress was made and talks are ongoing. After a meeting with NUJ staff unions over finance and budgets I went across to City Hall to talk to Guto Hari, Boris Johnson’s head press honcho (and a former Cardiff School of Journalism classmate of mine). But that damned snow – and Boris’ response to it – kept intervening so we’ve rearranged for next week. We wrote setting out our concerns at the closures of local newspapers, loss of jobs and merging of newspaper offices in London, seeking the support of the GLA and Mayor of London for a campaign to protect diversity and quality in London’s media. From there a quick phone call to the BBC regarding our industrial action ballot there and to see what progress could be made in negotiations in advance of ballot papers going out and then straight over to the Morning Star for their evening Chapel meeting to report back on negotiations. Hopefully more talks will take place in the coming days.
Missed the Money Programme on the future of newspaper industry last night but had some texts saying I looked like I was trying to hold up a building because of the way I was leaning against it – you know these TV types, getting you to pose for them. Hopefully that didn’t distract from making the important points about the damage being done to the industry by profiteering and unnecessary cuts.
And now it's snowing again. Great.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Coming up for air
Finally time to draw some breath in what is a hectic period for the union.
Quick update - Tuesday I met Journalist editor Tim Gopsill to discuss the next stage of our web integration plans before meeting staff union reps to discuss the union's financial situation and our response to it. Barry Fitzpatrick, Michelle Stanistreet and I then met Malcolm Vickers, head of HR for Johnston Press to press our concerns about jobs cuts, centralised subbing plans, pay freezes and so on and to get an update on company plans and finances. Tuesday evening I did a media interview (as a source so i'm saying no more!).
Wednesday morning I and Sue Harris met with Mike Danson the joint owner of New Statesman for constructive talks on the union's recognition claim. There is an agreement in principle to recognise the union - we've now given ourselves a 4-week period to flesh out the details of the collective bargaining agreement.
I then did something I hate doing - had to pull out of a conference at the last minute. I was due to speak at the British Institute of Human Rights Conference but got tied up helping out a chapel about to go in to dispute after they received legal threats from their management.
Thursday morning I met with Stephen Pearse to build on plans agreed at the Jobs Summit in respect of the debate on media ownership, state aid and our plans for lobbies and protests. More details will be announced shortly...and some may just be a surprise!
I then did an interview on media portrayals of Islam and muslims before heading across to The Independent to talk to chapel negotiators about the next stage of the campaign there over threatened redundancies. A quick dash across to Shepherd's Bush for Bectu General Secretary Gerry Morrissey and I to meet the new head of the BBC in Salford, Peter Salmon and the HR team (or People people as they are) followed by a meeting of the joint unions national reps with the Salford team.
This morning I went to New Scotland Yard to speak to around 50 senior police officers as part of their Advanced Public Order Officers training course. This was one of the initiatives to come out of our meetings with the Home Office to try to ensure the media guidelines are better undertstood and enforced. I ran through a number of examples of the types of complaints we'd had, tackled some of the thorny topics raised by questions about cordons, media pens, the papparazi, who should make moral decisions about what pictures can and can't be taken (i'll give you a clue - not the police), how journalists identify themselves, how we enforce our code of conduct (this gave me the chance to have a rant about Thatcher's anti-union laws) and many other topics. It was a useful, if gruelling exercise.
Back to the office to try and catch up on some of the emails/correspondence/bills which have been neglected for a few days before heading to London Metropolitan University to address a UCU/Unison job cuts rally. Amongst the things I said are:
"There is a fundamental reason why every trade unionist should be standing with you.
UK PLC is in recession. Hundreds of thousands of jobs will go. At such a time further and higher education becomes not less but more important. Expanding education is a vital response to economic crisis. London Met, a vibrant university with a mix of class and ethnicity and culture must be central to helping re-skill and retrain Londoners facing a daunting future not adding to the unemployment figures. Education cuts are a false economy".
Now I've drawn breath I'm getting ready to write to Ofcom about S4C, the BBC about the safety of journalists and looking forward to a weekend of putting together Informed, the NEC newsletter.
Quick update - Tuesday I met Journalist editor Tim Gopsill to discuss the next stage of our web integration plans before meeting staff union reps to discuss the union's financial situation and our response to it. Barry Fitzpatrick, Michelle Stanistreet and I then met Malcolm Vickers, head of HR for Johnston Press to press our concerns about jobs cuts, centralised subbing plans, pay freezes and so on and to get an update on company plans and finances. Tuesday evening I did a media interview (as a source so i'm saying no more!).
Wednesday morning I and Sue Harris met with Mike Danson the joint owner of New Statesman for constructive talks on the union's recognition claim. There is an agreement in principle to recognise the union - we've now given ourselves a 4-week period to flesh out the details of the collective bargaining agreement.
I then did something I hate doing - had to pull out of a conference at the last minute. I was due to speak at the British Institute of Human Rights Conference but got tied up helping out a chapel about to go in to dispute after they received legal threats from their management.
Thursday morning I met with Stephen Pearse to build on plans agreed at the Jobs Summit in respect of the debate on media ownership, state aid and our plans for lobbies and protests. More details will be announced shortly...and some may just be a surprise!
I then did an interview on media portrayals of Islam and muslims before heading across to The Independent to talk to chapel negotiators about the next stage of the campaign there over threatened redundancies. A quick dash across to Shepherd's Bush for Bectu General Secretary Gerry Morrissey and I to meet the new head of the BBC in Salford, Peter Salmon and the HR team (or People people as they are) followed by a meeting of the joint unions national reps with the Salford team.
This morning I went to New Scotland Yard to speak to around 50 senior police officers as part of their Advanced Public Order Officers training course. This was one of the initiatives to come out of our meetings with the Home Office to try to ensure the media guidelines are better undertstood and enforced. I ran through a number of examples of the types of complaints we'd had, tackled some of the thorny topics raised by questions about cordons, media pens, the papparazi, who should make moral decisions about what pictures can and can't be taken (i'll give you a clue - not the police), how journalists identify themselves, how we enforce our code of conduct (this gave me the chance to have a rant about Thatcher's anti-union laws) and many other topics. It was a useful, if gruelling exercise.
Back to the office to try and catch up on some of the emails/correspondence/bills which have been neglected for a few days before heading to London Metropolitan University to address a UCU/Unison job cuts rally. Amongst the things I said are:
"There is a fundamental reason why every trade unionist should be standing with you.
UK PLC is in recession. Hundreds of thousands of jobs will go. At such a time further and higher education becomes not less but more important. Expanding education is a vital response to economic crisis. London Met, a vibrant university with a mix of class and ethnicity and culture must be central to helping re-skill and retrain Londoners facing a daunting future not adding to the unemployment figures. Education cuts are a false economy".
Now I've drawn breath I'm getting ready to write to Ofcom about S4C, the BBC about the safety of journalists and looking forward to a weekend of putting together Informed, the NEC newsletter.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Hitting the DEC
Saturday’s Jobs Summit was hugely inspiring and set the basis for a real fight to tackle redundancies and start turning the tide against profiteering in local media.
Reports of the conference can be found at the following sites:
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2009/01/26/nuj-jobs-crisis-summit-round-up-murdoch-and-dacre-have-brought-us-into-disrepute/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/26/nuj-day-of-action-newspaper-job-cuts
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=42911&c=1
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1088
Reports of the conference can be found at the following sites:
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2009/01/26/nuj-jobs-crisis-summit-round-up-murdoch-and-dacre-have-brought-us-into-disrepute/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/26/nuj-day-of-action-newspaper-job-cuts
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=42911&c=1
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1088
Picture: (c) Pete JenkinsAnd no sooner had Nick Davies suggested we blow the whistle on employers cuts which damage journalism than we were on the campaign. Let us know how the cuts in your newsroom/company are damaging your ability to deliver quality media – all in total confidence.
The union’s National Executive Council met all day on Friday – discussing the jobs crisis (we gave authority for industrial action ballots at a record number of workplaces), a new recruitment strategy, the situation facing journalists in Gaza, the future of public service broadcasting and the Digital Britain report, recognition at the New Statesman, BBC pay, copyright and John McDonnell, secretary of the NUJ’s Parliamentary Group may have been banned from Parliament after his mace-wielding antics, but he’s always welcome at the NUJ. He kicked off a debate on media ownership and state aid for the media industry which is to become a major topic for the union over the coming weeks. The NEC backed plans to establish a commission to consider new business models, regulation and ownership rules.
We’ll be inviting people to participate over the next few days.
The NEC also discussed at length the tough financial climate facing the NUJ with the likelihood that membership will be hit by the redundancy crisis. Even with just a 2% year on year membership fall for the next three years the union would have a shortfall of £500,000 per annum by 2012. It means the NEC is having to look hard at how we can save money.
Today has been dominated by the DEC appeal fallout. Along with Bectu General Secretary Gerry Morrissey I have written to Mark Thompson and wrote a Tribune column on the issue. I’ve also spoken to some senior BBC journalists who are angry and feel betrayed by the decision and believe that the Balen Report – the report on BBC coverage of the conflict which the BBC are fighting to keep under wraps - is at least one driving factor in the decision.
Then I answered 94 emails – and wrote this.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Local media concerns top agenda
What a day. In the office at 6.30am - get some work done and across to Oxford for the Media Convention. Managed to get a question in to Andy Burnham about profitable local newspapers begging for state aid, trying to make the point that any aid of any sort should have stringent conditions about investment in editorial, stopping profiteering and a commitment to public service.
Then was part of a panel in the session The News is Dead, Long Live the News along with Peter Horrocks, Lord Norman Fowler and Charlie Beckett from Polis. Of course news isn't dead but it is danger of being killed off by profiteering, poor management and reckless borrowing (that's my 7 minute speech in 20 words). There was a good degree of agreement that new media offers great new opportunities to journalism if companies invest in building quality content and serving local communities. Did a quick interview with Matt Wells at Media Guardian then dashed back to London and off to Fleet Street (yes, really) to do a BBC interview for the Money Programme about the crisis facing the media. Meant I had to miss the fantastic rally against job cuts at the FT with Tony Benn (yes, really) addressing almost 170 FT journalists and supporters.
Back to office to meet with various NEC members in advance of today's meeting, talking about finances, Saturday's Jobs Summit, the OFCOM report, journalists in Gaza and much more. Home at 11.30pm.
Yesterday I was at a meeting of all our BBC M/FoCs and then a joint meeting with BECTU reps at the BBC to talk about this year's pay claim and other industrial issues. Later in the day I was at the parliamentary launch of the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group with MPs and other trade union general secretaries. It was supposed to be hosted by John McDonnell, but after his mace waving in the Commons he's banned. Still he'll be allowed in to our National Executive today where he's giving his report from our Parliamentary Group. And he'll be welcome - we like people of principle!
Then was part of a panel in the session The News is Dead, Long Live the News along with Peter Horrocks, Lord Norman Fowler and Charlie Beckett from Polis. Of course news isn't dead but it is danger of being killed off by profiteering, poor management and reckless borrowing (that's my 7 minute speech in 20 words). There was a good degree of agreement that new media offers great new opportunities to journalism if companies invest in building quality content and serving local communities. Did a quick interview with Matt Wells at Media Guardian then dashed back to London and off to Fleet Street (yes, really) to do a BBC interview for the Money Programme about the crisis facing the media. Meant I had to miss the fantastic rally against job cuts at the FT with Tony Benn (yes, really) addressing almost 170 FT journalists and supporters.
Back to office to meet with various NEC members in advance of today's meeting, talking about finances, Saturday's Jobs Summit, the OFCOM report, journalists in Gaza and much more. Home at 11.30pm.
Yesterday I was at a meeting of all our BBC M/FoCs and then a joint meeting with BECTU reps at the BBC to talk about this year's pay claim and other industrial issues. Later in the day I was at the parliamentary launch of the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group with MPs and other trade union general secretaries. It was supposed to be hosted by John McDonnell, but after his mace waving in the Commons he's banned. Still he'll be allowed in to our National Executive today where he's giving his report from our Parliamentary Group. And he'll be welcome - we like people of principle!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Rearranging the deckchairs...?
It's official! Broadcasting regulator Ofcom has signed the death warrant of local news on ITV. Hundreds of ITV staff will leave in the coming weeks as news programmes are merged, axed or reduced in length. Viewers and citizens will lose out, local democracy will be damaged but ITV's shareholders will have been given a big boost as they take steps towards their final goal - ditching their public service commitments and becoming a purely commercial channel.
For Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland an as yet undefined consortia can bid for as yet undefined amounts of money to produce as yet undefined amounts of news for the nations. If the experience of contested funding for news elsewhere is anything to go by we'll see a competitive process that drives down the cost, quality, range and scope of news. It's not the answer.
The rest of Ofcom's report raises as many questions as it answers. Their plans so far are robbing Peter to pay Paul, taking money off one public service broadcaster and giving it to another or a consortia of others.
Here's our official take on it.
Alongside the Ofcom report we have the increasing clamour from newspaper owners for state aid to prop up the ailing newspaper industry. Does their greed know no bounds? Whilst they have made excessive profits over the past decade or so and failed to properly manage their businesses they now want taxpayers to bail them out - not because they are losing money but because they can't maintain such high profit levels. And on top of that they want further relaxations in media ownership rules as a way of solving "the crisis". Each time ownership rules have been relaxed we've been told this will solve the crisis, each time it has led to more job cuts, a fall in quality and a boost in profits - until the next crisis comes along. Any merger/takeover resulting from any relaxation of ownership rules should only be approved under conditions on investment, resources for news-gathering and employment rights. Anything less would simply be feeding the insatiable appetite of the corporate news industry.
So what else have i been up to? On Friday I took over as President of the Federation of Entertainment Unions and chaired the annual general meeting before meeting with the families of a number of murdered journalists - Kate Peyton, Anna Politkovskya, Roddy Scott - as well as media safety campaigners and the IFJ to talk about improving the support given to families and friends of journalists killed in the course of their work. On Saturday I spoke as chair of Justice for Colombia at a Latin America solidarity event at Bolivar Hall.
This week has so far been dominated by meetings going over budgets, staffing issues and pension funding and with preparing for today's meeting of BBC reps to talk about the pay claim for this year and getting ready for Saturday's Jobs Summit which has had to move to a bigger venue given the level of interest.
For Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland an as yet undefined consortia can bid for as yet undefined amounts of money to produce as yet undefined amounts of news for the nations. If the experience of contested funding for news elsewhere is anything to go by we'll see a competitive process that drives down the cost, quality, range and scope of news. It's not the answer.
The rest of Ofcom's report raises as many questions as it answers. Their plans so far are robbing Peter to pay Paul, taking money off one public service broadcaster and giving it to another or a consortia of others.
Here's our official take on it.
Alongside the Ofcom report we have the increasing clamour from newspaper owners for state aid to prop up the ailing newspaper industry. Does their greed know no bounds? Whilst they have made excessive profits over the past decade or so and failed to properly manage their businesses they now want taxpayers to bail them out - not because they are losing money but because they can't maintain such high profit levels. And on top of that they want further relaxations in media ownership rules as a way of solving "the crisis". Each time ownership rules have been relaxed we've been told this will solve the crisis, each time it has led to more job cuts, a fall in quality and a boost in profits - until the next crisis comes along. Any merger/takeover resulting from any relaxation of ownership rules should only be approved under conditions on investment, resources for news-gathering and employment rights. Anything less would simply be feeding the insatiable appetite of the corporate news industry.
So what else have i been up to? On Friday I took over as President of the Federation of Entertainment Unions and chaired the annual general meeting before meeting with the families of a number of murdered journalists - Kate Peyton, Anna Politkovskya, Roddy Scott - as well as media safety campaigners and the IFJ to talk about improving the support given to families and friends of journalists killed in the course of their work. On Saturday I spoke as chair of Justice for Colombia at a Latin America solidarity event at Bolivar Hall.
This week has so far been dominated by meetings going over budgets, staffing issues and pension funding and with preparing for today's meeting of BBC reps to talk about the pay claim for this year and getting ready for Saturday's Jobs Summit which has had to move to a bigger venue given the level of interest.
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