The Socialist 27 February 2008 Rich get richer - We pay the bills Rich get richer - We pay the bills Editorial: Stop witch-hunts in Unison - defend those attacked! Trade union activist fights intimidation Members protest at Unison witch-hunt Student feature: Fighting fees Building the Campaign for a New Workers' Party Journalists battle for union rights Scotland - Vendetta against Tommy Sheridan condemned Feature: Fidel Castro's resignation opens up new chapter Pakistan elections: Crushing defeat for Musharraf, landslide for opposition parties Miliband's extraordinary apology on rendition Sleaze in Northern Ireland: Keeping it in the family Don't let our hospital pay the price for PFI Fight Devon and Somerset fire cuts Marching against single status pay cuts Neither Labour nor Tories will defend public services Sheffield buses campaign: 'Saving our services' |
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Home | The Socialist 27 February 2008 | Join the Socialist Party Journalists battle for union rightsJournalism matters - how can we attain quality journalism in the multimedia age? - was the subject of a public meeting organised by Swansea and District National Union of Journalists (NUJ), attended by around 40 people on 20 February. The meeting included journalists, media students and trade union activists from the Swansea area. An NUJ memberThe meeting was organised to address the growing pressure on journalists to produce quality journalism against ever-tighter budgets and smaller staffing levels. It was also organised to support journalists at the regional daily paper, the South Wales Evening Post, who are conducting a campaign for union recognition and collective bargaining at the paper. The first speaker was one of the new reps from the Evening Post who explained that ever-increasing pressures from senior editorial staff and managers had led many journalists to conclude that they should join the NUJ. Union membership had doubled at the South West Wales Media group in the last year and union reps and members were now confidently embarking on a campaign to achieve union recognition. Two of the main speakers at the meeting were former BBC political correspondent Nicholas Jones and NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear. Firstly, though, Kate Carr, chair of the NUJ Wales council and a rep at the BBC, highlighted the battle that the union was conducting in a fight against job cuts and pressures that were undermining the ability of the BBC to deliver public service broadcasting of any quality. Nicholas Jones explained how a strong union had always been the best safeguard for maintaining journalistic standards and fairer, quality coverage in the media. NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear spoke about how the union was making a stand against "churnalism" by defending journalists, pay and conditions and fighting for adequate staffing levels. He pointed out how, in the light of recent controversy of media coverage of the spate of deaths and suicides of young people in the nearby Bridgend area, the union had been the first body in the media to issue guidelines on reporting suicide. He also highlighted where journalists were fighting back in disputes in Milton Keynes and Coventry and how the Stand up for Journalism campaign was challenging the corporate-dominated model of journalism. Activities on the days leading up to and after the meeting saw further new recruits for the NUJ in the area at the South Wales Evening Post and other media outlets in the area. In this issue
Unison witch-hunt
Socialist Students
Campaign for a New Workers Party
Workplace news
International socialist news and analysis
Socialist Party campaigns
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