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M A G A Z I N E O F T H E N AT I O N A L U N I O N O F J O U R N A L I S T S
WWW.NUJ.ORG.UK | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2021
The hidden
face of bullying
...and how the union can help
Contents
“
Main feature
14 No place for abuse at work
What can be done about bullying
A
t last there’s an end in sight to the
News
pandemic and while the return to
03 Fighting for Freedom of Information
normal life may take some time, Call to put pressure on the Government
at least hope is definitely on the 04 HMRC failed freelances, say MPs
horizon. Urgent explanations called for
Coronavirus has had a devastating impact on
those who lost their lives, jobs and education and 05 C
limbdown after photographer’s arrest
who have suffered psychologically from the lockdowns. Police held journalist in a cell for hours
The pandemic has swept through our industry as advertising 06 Irish media needs extra cash
dried up and newspapers made cutbacks and closed titles. NUJ lobbies media commission
To assess the fall-out on the ground, we start a new series
Features
looking at the state of the media throughout the regions of the
UK, Ireland and continental Europe. We start with Glasgow.
The NUJ continues to push its news recovery plan – a 10 Spotlight on Glasgow
programme of action, including a tax on the large tech How journalism is faring in the city
companies – to help bolster the industry and strengthen it
for the future. The plan has had a lot of good reaction in the 12 Climate changers?
UK and Ireland and a recent NUJ Welsh meeting on the issue Should the media be doing more
featured the actor and activist Michael Sheen. We have a report 16 Quick on the draw
on that on Page 8.
Looking back to 1895
We also look at the persistent problem of bullying in the
workplace and how perpetrators can sometimes disguise their
actions, and importantly what the union can do to help victims Regulars
get justice.
Our letters pages feature concern about The Journalist 21 Technology
continuing to be digital only. Do let us know what you think 24 Obituaries
about this and other issues. The magazine and the union 25 And finally...
welcome members’ feedback.
Christine Buckley
Editor
@mschrisbuckley
Editor
journalist@nuj.org.uk
Design
Surgerycreations.com
info@surgerycreations.com
Advertising
Melanie Richards
Tel: 07494975239
ads@journalistmagazine.co.uk
Print
Warners
www.warners.co.uk
Distribution
GB Mail
www.gb-mail.co.uk
02 | theJournalist
NUJ
72 Acton Street
London WC1X 9NB
info@nuj.org.uk
www.nuj.org.uk
Tel: 020 7843 3700
Manchester office ”
nujmanchester@nuj.org.uk
Glasgow office
nujscotland@nuj.org.uk
Dublin office
info@nuj.ie
ISSN: 0022-5541
Cover picture
John Devolle
Ray
Snoddy
Page 19
Arts
Page
20
Letters and
Steve Bell
Page 22-23
news
Join the fight for a genuine inbrief...
Freedom of Information service
BBC WORLD NEWS
BANNED BY CHINA
“
China has banned BBC World News
from broadcasting in the country.
THE NUJ is urging journalists letter was signed by the The move follows Ofcom’s decision
NUJ
in the UK to submit “Subject editors of The Times, the to revoke the broadcast licence of
Access Requests”, in order to Telegraph, the Financial the China Global Television
establish just how the Times, the Guardian, and the Network. China’s State Film TV and
government is centrally Mirror among others. We want government Radio Administration, said BBC
managing Freedom of Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ World News reports did not meet
Information (FoI) applications general secretary, said:“At the to be less secretive, ‘the requirement that news should
from the media. The union is
also keen to find out what
core of all public interest
journalism is the urge to
not more be truthful and fair’ and not ‘harm
China’s national interests’.
information Whitehall is search out information, shine
holding on journalists and light in dark corners, Michelle Stanistreet
their requests scrutinise and hold power to NUJ general secretary GOVERNMENT BACKS
Media reports have account. The media industry DOWN ON EXIT PAY
highlighted the existence of a is united in backing a The Government has revoked the
clearing house based at the Access Requests to the same campaign to expand the right Restriction of Public Sector Exit
Cabinet Office that is government departments as to information and secure Payments Regulations 2020, which
managing and coordinating they have previously greater transparency in public imposed a cap of £95,000 on exit
FoI requests from across submitted their FoI requests. life. We want government to payments including at the BBC. The
government. The NUJ is The NUJ’s call comes after be less secretive, not more.” NUJ was part of a legal challenge
concerned that this amounts an openDemocracy public Download the NUJ against the implementation of the
to illegitimate monitoring letter, signed by the NUJ and template letter to submit a regulations, saying it compromised
and risks journalists being put other media industry leaders, subject access request. equal pay settlements and
on a ‘blacklist’. demanding MPs urgently Access guidance on a undermined collective terms.
The union is asking investigate the government’s Subject Access Request from
journalists to submit Subject current approach to FOI. The the Information
NUJ LAUNCHES
REVAMPED WEBSITE
Delegate meeting is set for late May The NUJ has relaunched its website
to make it more user friendly,
THE POSTPONED NUJ delegate programme of work, was due to be aspect of facilitating voting as it isn’t informative and interactive. It has
meeting will take place online in the held in Southport in April last year but yet clear when large in-person been redesigned and features new
third week of May with decision had to be postponed because of the meetings will be allowed to go ahead. pages and an online joining facility.
making concentrated on Friday 21st coronavirus pandemic. The delegate meeting will be The large database of members’
and Saturday 22nd. Most unions are currently grappling supplemented by other online events details has also been overhauled.
The biennial delegate meeting, with the logistics of holding and training sessions staged in the www.nuj.org.uk
which sets the union’s policies and conferences online including the crucial week starting May 17.
Fresh threats in
Northern Ireland Confusion over
cross border work
UK NUJ members living in continental
THE UNION has renewed calls targeting journalists come
Europe are facing huge uncertainty about
to identify and punish those amid a dangerously hostile
who threaten journalists in climate in Northern Ireland their ability to work across borders. No
Northern Ireland. for the media, and they also provision was made for cross-border working
The latest call comes in imply that previous police and individual countries are expected to make
response to graffiti appearing action has been insufficient. their own rules but many members have
across East Belfast which Seamus Dooley, Irish had no information. The union has
threatened Sunday World secretary, said: “This been lobbying on the issue and the recent
journalist Patricia Devlin. The menacing graffiti is the national executive council called for
name of the reporter was behaviour of thugs who are an accelerated campaign for agreements
sprayed onto the wall in at trying to intimidate a specific to allow UK and EU media workers to
least two locations and was journalist, but they are also move freely for work..
accompanied by the image of trying to send a warning
a crosshair of a gun. message to other media
Repeated death threats workers.”
theJournalist | 03
news
HMRC should explain why it failed
to support freelances, say MPs
“
THE PUBLIC Accounts Committee has called on HM Revenue Pamela Morton, NUJ national freelance organiser, said:
and Customs (HMRC) to urgently explain why some freelances “Throughout the pandemic, the trade union movement has
– estimated to number three million – have had no access to had to keep pushing the UK government to provide the
government support during the coronavirus pandemic. financial support the self-employed need and the government
A report by the committee of MPs said that, while HMRC has consistently failed to address why millions of taxpayers Quirks in the tax
had provided £80 billion to support businesses and workers have not received any support.
since the first lockdown in March last year, some people had “There was no justification for these system have left
not received anything even individuals to be purposely excluded whole groups of
though they are unable to work. in the way they continue to be –
It said: “Quirks in the tax many simply for the way they have taxpayers without
system have left whole groups of
taxpayers without the financial
been taxed.
“There is also no justification for
the financial support
support offered to others through the delay in announcing what the offered to others
the COVID-19 pandemic – some of fourth grant of the Self-Employment
the workforce has ‘not had a Income Support Scheme will be. The third through the pandemic
penny’ even though lockdowns and tier restrictions mean grant covers only up to the end of January and with the UK still
some cannot work at all – while some large companies that in lockdown, the self-employed need proper support and the Public Accounts
have taken taxpayer support have continued to pay out details announced urgently.” Committee
dividends and high executive salaries.” The NUJ launched its Fair Deal 4 Freelances campaign last
The committee said HMRC should, within six weeks of the year. It calls for a charter of freelance rights that includes: the
report’s publication on January 20, provide an explanation of right to have a written contract with fair terms and conditions;
why it cannot help those freelances and other groups that have prompt payment and equal treatment at work in terms of
been excluded from receiving any support, and set out steps it health and safety; and the right to holiday pay, parental leave
could take to overcome those obstacles. and allowances and a pension. It also says that freelances
The NUJ has been campaigning for the ‘forgotten freelances’ should have the right to resist companies forcing them on to
since anomalies in support packages began to emerge last spring. pay as you earn taxation.
Montgomery buys JPI Media have reliably served their
communities and supported
footprint based on high
quality, unique content.”
JPI MEDIA, which published National World paid £10.2 published more than 100 UK local businesses, in some Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ
The Scotsman, the Yorkshire million and said it would regional newspaper titles cases for centuries, and general secretary, said the
Post, the Falkirk Herald and provide £6.5 million in and associated websites. never more than in the sale ended “the uncertainty
Belfast’s The News Letter and working capital to JPI. The company was sold in last year. that has hovered over the
about 200 regional papers David Montgomery, November 2015 to Reach plc “National World will company’s future for some
and associated websites in National World’s executive in a £220 million deal. uphold this tradition and years.” She said David
the UK, was bought by David chairman and a former He said: “JPI ‘s historic implement modern Montgomery had made a
Montgomery’s business national newspaper editor, publishing brands represent technology to grow the welcome commitment to
National World early this year. founded Local World, which the best in journalism and business across a wider expanding the company.
Scan here if you care
about journalism.
04 | theJournalist
news
Police back down after inbrief...
detaining photographer
NEIL MCINTOSH IS
SCOTSMAN EDITOR
“
Neil McIntosh has been appointed
editor of The Scotsman. He moves
THE UNION has called for an investigation my family. I cannot thank them enough and for to the paper from BBC Online where
into the action of Kent police following the working with Bindmans to ensure I received he was managing editor. He has
arrest and subsequent release of the best legal support possible. also worked on the Wall Street
photographer Andy Aitchison. He had been “Their advocacy as well as support have Journal and The Guardian.
covering a protest at Napier Barracks been immense – to have a question put It is of great concern Glasgow-born McIntosh started his
career on The Scotsman and the
in Folkestone.
NUJ member Andy (pictured)
to a minister about my arrest in the
House of Commons just blew me
when police arrest Edinburgh Evening News.
was held in a cell for seven away.” photographers for
hours despite attending the “Kate Goold, partner at
demonstration to publicise the Bindmans, said: “It is of great simply doing their job NEW EUROPEAN IS
treatment of asylum seekers
as a member of the press.
concern when the police arrest
journalists and photographers for
and has a chilling BOUGHT BY FOUNDER
The New European has been
His arrest caused huge simply doing their job and has a effect on press bought from Archant by its founder
and former editor Matt Kelly with
concern in members of the union
and the News Media Association.
chilling effect on press freedom.
Public interest journalists are essential to
freedom investment from former Financial
Questions were asked in the House of our democracy to document and publicise Times editor Lionel Barber and
Commons of culture secretary Oliver Dowden, events as they unfold, especially during the Kate Goold ex-New York Times chief executive
and Andy was offered support by his local MP Covid lockdown when the public cannot witness Bindmans Mark Thompson. Kelly launched the
Damian Collins. such protests themselves. Remain newspaper in 2016 and
Following the outcry, Kent police said there “Through the support of the NUJ, we were was its editor for three years.
was no evidence to charge him and returned able to act swiftly to ensure that Mr Aitchison
his phone and camera memory card. had no further action taken and his phone
Andy said: “The NUJ has been fantastic with and memory card returned without the police FT STARTS ONLINE
their support [at] a very tricky time for me and viewing this confidential journalistic material.” CLIMATE SECTION
The Financial Times has launched
a climate change section on its
Iconic cuts more jobs and hours with a change in its attitude
towards union recognition.
digital platforms in response to
growing demand from readers.
ICONIC Newspapers, the Irish consultation with the NUJ or Editors of Iconic’s regional Seamus Dooley, NUJ Irish Climate Capital features stories
publisher controlled by UK staff representatives. titles issued a letter to secretary, wrote to the about climate change. It offers
businessman Malcolm At least 13 editorial staff readers calling for support of editors, saying that both sides subscribers a community and virtual
Denmark, has cut more jobs have been laid off, with at the newspaper print sector. wanted a strong future for events programme, and provides
and reduced working hours. least 20 more having their The union urged the printed newspapers and they information on emerging risks and
The move was announced hours and pay cut by 20 company to match its call for should meet to discuss their opportunities for business.
to staff without prior per cent. Irish government support aspirations and differences. Climate changers?
Page 12
General secretary election Lyra McKee
training bursary opens
may be held in the summer Applications are invited for the Lyra McKee
Investigative Journalism Training Bursary Scheme, run by the
Centre for Investigative Journalism. The scheme was established
NUJ members may be asked in the summer to vote for a
general secretary to lead the union. two years ago in memory of journalist Lyra McKee who was shot
The union is planning to post ballot papers to members dead while reporting on a disturbance in Derry in April 2019. The
in early June if there is more than one candidate for the job. six-month bursary is intended to provide training and mentoring
Michelle Stanistreet has been the NUJ general secretary for the for people from underprivileged backgrounds. It was
past 10 years and has been unopposed in the last two elections. inspired by working-class Lyra’s determination to
The general secretary’s position is subject to election every become an investigative journalist despite personal
five years. disability and the need to care for her disabled
Announcements about the election are being sent to branches mother. The scheme is open to anyone over
and will be posted on the union’s website later in February; the 18 and the application deadline
closing date for applications is noon on May 3. If there is more is midnight on April 4;
than one candidate, the union’s ruling national executive council see www.tcij.org
will shortlist applicants.
Job advert, page 26 and also see www.nuj.org.uk
theJournalist | 05
news
Union calls for promotion and
cash for Irish public service media
“
THE IRISH government needs to boost funding for public commission that the advent of video-enabled, smart and
service media across all forms of media and models of mobile devices has been exploited by tech giants at the
ownership, the NUJ has urged in its submission to the Irish expense of public service broadcasting.
Future of the Media Commission. The submission said the shift in advertising had exposed the
It also needs to create ways to promote public service vulnerability, in particular of RTÉ, and The need to fund
journalism - including setting up a media brought into sharp focus the need for
foundation, the union said. isi s to Go od News immediate reform of the licence fee system. public service
From HealththeCr
broadcasting was
the NUJ
news industry by
The NUJ noted that the coronavirus A recovery plan
for
The fee evasion rate is currently 13 per cent.
pandemic had exacerbated damaging The union said the need to fund public
changes in media consumption and cuts in service broadcasting properly was becoming becoming all the more
the media industry that have occurred over
the past decade.
all the more acute because of the
proliferation of fake news and targeted
acute because of fake
The NUJ highlighted its news industry disinformation and misinformation on news and targeted
recovery plan – From Health Crisis to Good social media.
News – to the commission. This was drafted From Health Crisis to Good News disinformation
as the pandemic gripped the economy advocates providing public service content
k
last spring. The plan is intended to secure www.nuj.org.u
through a variety of media outlets. To that Not Just Business: NUJ
the recovery of an industry hit by falling sales end, the NUJ is campaigning for local submission to the Irish
and advertising revenues triggered by news outlets to be recognised as community commission
lockdowns and to bolster the media for a more robust future. assets. Cooperatives and joint initiatives are often models for
The union complained to the commission that multinational small community or interest-based publications and should be
tech companies were continually allowed to evade legal, moral eligible for funding.
and financial responsibility while they dominated public media The union said that while its primary focus was on content,
space and as the public service media shrank internationally. access to high-speed broadband needed to be improved.
One of the NUJ’s news recovery plan’s main proposals is a
tax on tech giants that would be ploughed into building up Journalism: Not Just Business https://www.nuj.org.
regional and some national media. The union told the uk/where/ireland/
Journalists’ death toll increases to 60 over the last 30 years but
also in 2020 make it clear
to all that there is no room
LAST year 60 journalists same levels as in 1990 when This year’s list features the harassment campaign to for complacency.
were killed compared with the organisation first started harrowing death of Russian silence her. As she burned, “Instead, they are an
49 in 2019, according to the collating the number of journalist Irina Slavina. she blamed the authorities urgent call to redouble our
International Federation of killings and deaths of The editor of Koza Press as bearing responsibility for efforts to mobilise for
Journalists (IFJ). journalists and media staff. set herself on fire in the city her action. greater protection of
IFJ records show that the The reports show peaks in of Nizhny Novgorod to Anthony Bellanger, IFJ journalists and commitment
current number of killings of the mid-1990s and protest against the general secretary, said: “The to the safe practice
media professionals is at the mid-2000s. intimidation and trends in our publications of journalism.”
Assange remains in jail during appeal
JULIAN ASSANGE, the Wikileaks founder, has Belmarsh prison, where he has been for nearly
been denied bail pending the appeal by the two years.
PA IMAGES / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
US government against the decision in The judge said that Assange “still has an
January not to extradite him to the US from incentive to abscond”, highlighting the several
the UK for espionage for publishing hundreds years he spent in hiding in the Ecuadorian
of thousands of US classified documents. embassy when he was facing different charges
Judge Vanessa Baraitser refused to in Sweden.
give Assange bail after she blocked his An attorney for the US government said that
deportation because of his risk of suicide. other countries, including Mexico, had offered
He remains in London’s high-security Assange asylum.
06 | theJournalist
news
BBC pays £1 million in legal inbrief...
fees to fight equality cases
DC THOMSON MAKES
£180M PRE-TAX LOSS
“
DC Thomson, the Dundee-based
publisher of the Press and Journal,
THE BBC has paid more than £1 million to The NUJ supported Samira in a successful the Sunday Post and the Courier,
external barristers and solicitors to work on high-profile equal pay tribunal, which made a pre-tax loss of £180 million
tribunal claims brought by staff in equal pay determined that her work presenting BBC’s in the year ending March 2020 after
and race discrimination cases. Newswatch programme was equal to that of the early lockdown reduced the
The figure was disclosed in a letter to Jeremy Vine on Points of View, despite It’s a shocking value of investments. The company
also wrote down by £79.5 million the
the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Committee, which was sent after
him being paid six times more. The
union also supported Carie, who
sum to have spent value of its papers and magazines
the committee pressed Tim resigned from her position as on defending the and its Wild & Wolf retail business.
Davie, the corporation’s director China editor in January 2018
general, for the information. because she was paid less than indefensible. The NUJ
Originally, the BBC had said it
was not able to give a total cost for
men in similar roles. She was
given a full apology and back pay.
has often urged the GB NEWS LOOKS FOR
DIGITAL ‘DISRUPTORS’
external legal fees for equal pay or Sarah Montague (pictured), a BBC to stop wasting Andrew Neil’s GB News has
advertised 140 jobs, calling for
race-related claims brought by its staff.
The BBC was unable to put a figure on the
former presenter of Radio 4’s Today
programme and now of the World at One, said
money on lawyers ‘disruptors and innovators’ to
PA IMAGES / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
costs of using in-house lawyers on such cases in January she had won a £400,000 settlement ‘reshape television and digital
but acknowledged that more than 2,000 and an apology over unequal treatment. news’. It has been speculated the
Michelle Stanistreet
hours were spent on them. The figures do not Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, new channel will be right-wing and
NUJ general secretary
cover costs of ongoing tribunal claims. said: “It’s a shocking sum to have spent on similar to Fox in the US. Neil, who
The BBC has faced a large number of equal defending the indefensible. There have been chairs GB News, said it would target
pay claims following action from former China many occasions when the NUJ has urged the ‘the vast number of British people
editor Carrie Gracie, presenter Samira Ahmed BBC to stop wasting money on lawyers and who feel underserved and unheard
and others. sort things out sensibly with individuals.” by their media’.
HENDERSON LEAVES
BBC future unclear with fee, say auditors THE MIRROR STABLE
Paul Henderson is leaving his role
THE BBC faces an uncertain The spending watchdog licences for viewers aged BBC’s charter renewal in as editor of the Sunday Mirror and
future because it relies said the corporation had over 75 years. December 2027. Sunday People. He has edited the
heavily on the licence fee as postponed making difficult The NAO’s findings come Richard Sharp, the titles as deputy to editor-in-chief
its audience share decisions about future amid criticism from senior corporation’s incoming chair, Alison Phillips. Henderson decided
plummets, the National income streams and was Conservatives of the BBC said last month the fee ‘may to leave his job last year as part of
Audit Office (NAO) has using some of its reserves to and its reliance on the be worth reassessing’ as July’s business overhaul but his
concluded. cover the cost of free licence fee ahead of the part of a review. departure was not announced until
December.
Walmsley talks pictures
Bridget Rowe dies
NUJ photographer John tinyurl.com/y3f8pcx5. from coronavirus
Walmsley is giving a talk John is a lifelong freelance Bridget Rowe, former Sunday Mirror and Sunday People
about his work and career documentary photographer editor, died in January after contracting Covid-19 in hospital.
to the Royal Photographic and union member. She was admitted to hospital following brain seizures
Society. His pictures can be seen at
and died just over two weeks later. Rowe began on
The event, Engagement, the National Portrait Gallery,
magazines including 19, Look Now and Woman’s
which is free and open to Tate Britain Library, the
everyone, is on Thursday April National Art Library at the World before becoming assistant editor of The
29 at 6.15pm. Book at https:// V&A, the V&A Museum of Sun, editor of the News of the World’s magazine
Childhood and the Sunday, editor of Woman’s Own and TV Times
JOHN WALMSLEY
Bibliothèque Nationale editor. In 1991, she became editor of the
de France. His work will also Sunday Mirror and, in 1994, moved to
soon be shown at the Library The People. In 1997, she became managing
of the University of California, director of both papers.
San Diego, the Archive of the
MIRRORPIX
University of Edinburgh and
Dunquin, Co Kerry, 1967 the Liverpool Museum.
theJournalist | 07
local news
News Network, administered by Cardiff
University.
“I want to support, celebrate, expand
and connect these local networks in a
more powerful way and possibly set up
a pan-Wales entity that grassroots
journalism can feed into,” he said.
Morgan Jones told the meeting that
he believed the problem was not one of
demand for local news but of supply.
“What we have seen is a big reduction
in the number of journalists as we fail
to replace the old advertising sales
model with something that works as
Reviving the Welsh media
well online,” he said.
“Number one is to move away from
journalism being a business and a
way to make money. It’s a public
service, as essential as a bin collection
What do the NUJ’s general secretary, a leading actor,
or running water. It’s something that a
community needs.”
a journalist and academic, and many union members Elliot, who has worked as a journalist
in Wales for 30 years, echoed the point
have in common? David Nicholson finds out about demand for local news and offered
some salutary figures from ITV Wales.
“Fifty per cent more people were
S
olutions to the failing and outlines the problems and Clockwise from top left: watching Wales at Six this September
media industry in challenges but, most importantly, it Michelle; Louise Elliot; Michael than they were in 2019 and online our
Wales were discussed offers practical solutions,” she said. Sheen; Dr Ifan Morgan Jones; coverage is reaching 31 million video
by the union’s Welsh “This debate is part of the engagement and Lee Waters. views on Facebook and 20 million
executive council and to build support for meaningful page views on the ITV Wales website,”
NUJ Training Wales at an online intervention and change in Wales.” she said.
meeting they organised late last year. Sheen works closely with NUJ Welsh Elliot used the analogy of traditional
The country is unique in the UK executive council member Dr Rae media being like a black taxi with
because it doesn’t have a national daily Howells on local news provision digital media akin to Uber: “Both are
newspaper. Most bought titles are in Wales. Recording of the doing the same thing, but delivering in
English newspapers with no specific “When I was growing up in Port NUJ Town Hall different ways.”
Welsh news coverage. Talbot in the 1970s, there were five meeting Waters pointed to the central
NUJ general secretary Michelle local newspapers with over 20 http://bit.ly/ dilemma between Sheen’s point
Stanistreet was joined by: actor and reporters,” Sheen said. NUJtownHallMeeting about monetising hyperlocal news
political activist Michael Sheen; Dr Ifan He recalled how as a boy, if he had sites and Jones’s about journalism as
Morgan Jones, a lecturer at Bangor scored a goal, he would race to get the Summary of the a public service.
University, who is the editor of online weekly paper as it always included the Welsh Media “It’s certainly true that people are
news service Nation.Cymru; names of all scorers in the local leagues. Recovery Plan interested in local news, but they are
broadcaster and ITV Cymru Wales “Now there is one newspaper, which http://bit.ly/Summary not interested in paying for it,” he said.
programme and digital editor Louise has one part-time journalist based 10 OfWalesRecoveryPlan “I think that’s really what this
Elliot; and Welsh Government miles away in Swansea,” he noted. discussion needs to be about – it’s about
deputy minister for He said that a key point was NUJ briefing on the finding a way towards a business model.”
economy and transport Lee not when newspapers closed impact of Covid-19 Waters said he was looking at ideas
Waters, a former down but when local news on the Welsh media for a Senedd wire service to provide
broadcaster. was reported by journalists http://bit.ly/NUJSelect some scrutiny and coverage of the
Stanistreet introduced who were not embedded in CommitteeBriefing Welsh parliament.
the Welsh version of the that community. He also told the meeting of the
union’s news recovery plan, Sheen praised several Welsh From health crisis possible end of statutory public notices
From Health Crisis to Good hyperlocal news sites such as to good news: NUJ in Wales and how the money spent
STILLS PRESS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
News, and set out how the the Caerphilly Observer, news recovery plan could be used to support journalism in
Covid-19 pandemic was Wrexham.Com, http://bit.ly/ a different way: “We know that’s
hitting an already Nation.Cymru NUJnewsRecoveryPlan coming in 2023 so we have a couple of
devastated and Cwmbran years to think about what replaces it.”
journalism scene Life as well as Independent The union is considering all the ideas
in Wales. the UK-wide Community News discussed and will draw them together
“Our recovery Independent Network in a revised media recovery plan
plan identifies Community http://bit.ly/aboutICNN for Wales.
08 | theJournalist
viewpoint
Ipso failed on coverage
of my Anisha’s death
Accident video use was a gross intrusion, says Mandy Garner.
A
t 2am on February 20 I thought the process would be fairly grief’ of the Ipso editors’ code. I found
last year, two police straightforward. Instead, I was subjected one, again involving the Mail and again
officers knocked on to months of exchanges with the Mail, involving video. This time, however,
our door. They had who tried to justify their actions. Every the Mail did not attempt to justify it.
come to inform us that exchange reduced me to tears. I told Ipso several times that the
our 20-year-old daughter Anisha had Apparently, the Mail’s motive was to whole process had been very
been killed in a hit-and-run incident. bring forward witnesses. This was distressing. When I first mentioned this,
By midday the next day, the despite the fact that there were many they asked if I wanted to drop the case.
Mailonline had published CCTV footage witnesses and, of course, CCTV footage. At the end, they asked if I might like
of the incident purchased from a local The police were involved and an to train them on how to improve the
store under the headline ‘EXCLUSIVE: independent police investigation is process. The only thing that would
Shocking moment young woman is going on – but that headline is clearly improve it is if they actually stood up
killed by speeding hit-and-run driver not about bringing witnesses forward. for press standards. Instead, their
escaping police – as she is flung 20 feet Why publish so quickly? If witnesses ruling means the Mail – and perhaps
into the air and lands in front of were required, surely that is something others – will do the same thing again.
horrified onlookers at London bus stop’. we, Anisha’s family, would have Indeed, the Mail cited a previous ruling
The video played automatically if supported. Why not ask us? to back up their case.
you clicked on the story. Two of my The main thrust of the Mail’s I doubt many other people would
brothers saw that story. One of them defence, however, was to throw the put in a complaint to Ipso under
rang the Mail to complain. The video blame onto someone else. They said clause 4. It’s not what you want to do
was removed two days after it was they had given the police time to warn when you are grieving and Ipso told me
posted, presumably after it had us the video was going up. In fact, the few people had done this. But it’s
received all the clicks required. police had told them not to put it up because I am a journalist that I think it
Although my brother had not given and, when the Mail said they were matters. We can and must do better.
“
his full name when he called, the Mail going to anyway, the police had asked I have asked the Mail Online how
managed to trace him because he had at least to be given time to let us know. many clicks they got on the story with
put a note on some flowers next to The Mail gave the police one hour. the video compared to how many they
where Anisha died. They rang him back I maintain that we were not warned. I got without it in there. They won’t say,
and asked if he wanted to say would have remembered. The Mail says but it must make some form of
something about Anisha. The video
footage was clearly not enough. They
we were. This is despite the fact that,
warning or no warning, they would have Ipso added that the commercial sense because it doesn’t
make any other kind of sense.
wanted an interview too. posted it anyway. They also claimed to video was ‘grainy’ The police told me they had been on
Despite our overwhelming shock and have edited the video ‘sensitively’ so it the scene of accidents where people
grief, I decided to file a complaint to stopped just before the actual impact. so you would not who were filming the last moments of
Ipso because I felt this was clearly a
breach of any kind of press standards.
Although none of this had anything
to do with my complaint about
know who it was. My a victim on their phones complained
when told to show a bit of respect.
To me, it was fairly evident that the Mail clickbait, it was enough for Ipso to brothers all knew Surely, clickbait press reports only
was exploiting my daughter’s death for
clickbait and that this was a clear case
dismiss the claim. Ipso added that the
video was ‘grainy’ so you would not who it was, as would encourage this?
”
of intrusion into private grief. know who it was. My brothers all knew my children Mandy Garner is managing editor
My children could have seen that who it was. My children would know of workingmums.co.uk and was
video. Images stick in the mind much who it was. I checked how many cases previously features editor at the
more than words. It was wrong and I had been successful in the last five Times Higher Education and a senior
didn’t want it to happen to anyone else. years under ‘clause 4 – intrusion into broadcast journalist at the BBC
theJournalist | 09
Glasgow
Spotlight on...
What is life like for journalists The NUJ strongly condemned the attacks.
Cruickshank moved to Glasgow from New York in 2001
in Scotland’s biggest city? and started The Digger after becoming frustrated by crime
coverage in nationals.
“I picked a difficult road to go down,” he says. “I wish there
W
aterproof jackets, bespoke bridalwear, golf, were more independent journalists out there fighting to
guns and gangland shootings – aside from uncover what people don’t want uncovered.
Alex Salmond and indyref2, these are just “Look at how many crime reporters there are in Scotland
some of the subjects you could be covering if – almost none. The police and the council don’t want
you moved to Glasgow. Widely regarded as independent crime reporters because they’re stepping on
the centre of the Scottish media, the city has a longstanding their patch. Crime in Glasgow is far worse than people know.
history of strong newspapers and great opportunities for I’m still writing about the same gangs 16-17 years on. If all the
journalists. papers, broadcasters and BBC channels turned their attention
One of the largest publishers is the Newsquest-owned to it, these gangs would be gone in six months.”
Herald & Times Group, owner of The Herald (founded in Another Glasgow journalist specialising in crime stories
1783), the Sunday Herald and the Glasgow Times. It launched is Norman Silvester, who has worked on newspapers for
The National, which supports Scottish independence, in 2014, 40 years. He carried out a recent investigation into the
and its magazine division includes The Scottish Farmer and Glasgow brothers behind Scotland’s biggest crime gang, and
TGO (The Great Outdoors). an exposé on human trafficking. He was named Journalist
The city is home to the Daily Record, the Sunday Mail and of the Year and Reporter of the Year in the 2020 Scottish
Scottish Business Insider (published by Reach). The Sunday Press Awards for his investigation into the death of remand
Post (DC Thomson) has an office there, as does The Scotsman prisoner Allan Marshall.
and Scotland on Sunday (JPI Media) – along with Scottish Silvester started on the Sunday Post in 1979 and left the
editions of UK nationals including the Scottish Sun, the Sunday Mail after 25 years last March to ‘pursue’ freelance
Scottish Daily Express, Daily Star of Scotland, Scottish Daily journalism.
Mail and The Times Scotland. “Glasgow is quite a good city to do crime reporting,”
Glasgow has also given rise to a number of independent he says. “Maybe it’s the Glasgow stereotype – like being a
titles, including crime weekly The Digger, which sees itself as crime reporter in Chicago. A lot of the Glasgow operators
‘a thorn in the side of the establishment’. have a national and international connection, so
The Digger sold 100 copies when it was launched in 2004 it’s interesting.”
and is now the most popular crime magazine in Glasgow. He says there is a huge market for crime stories, alongside
Publisher James Cruickshank says there are opportunities the fascination for fiction such as The Sopranos and Line of
for journalists who want to break big stories, but they can Duty. “People love real-life crime even more,” he says.
come at a price. At The Herald, health correspondent Helen McArdle
Cruickshank had a petrol bomb thrown at his car says work has never been busier: “It’s a huge privilege to
outside his home last October and said around 30 shops be in a role like this in the middle of a once in a generation
had been targeted by suspected gangland figures and pandemic event. It’s been fascinating.”
told to stop selling the magazine or remove it from display. McArdle started as a trainee reporter on the Sunday Herald
10 | theJournalistopportunities
Finding work PR agencies and others
wanting images to
independent/hyperlocal
media scene, which includes
who can multitask, are
multiskilled and can think a
accompany press releases. The Ferret, Source, Bella little bit differently.”
Crime stories “Papers are looking for “There’s a lot of opportunity Caledonia, Glasgow West End
Journalist Norman Silvester quality rather than quantity.” for creativity and lots of Today and the Clydesider. Ian Entry Level
says there is a market for stories to be told,” she says. Marland, editor and publisher The Herald’s Helen McArdle
real-life crime stories, Photography of Glasgow West End Today, says: “Opportunities at
including about historical Photographer Elaine Independents says: “Opportunities still newspapers and broadcasters
figures and unsolved murders: Livingstone has worked for Glasgow has a growing remain for journalists are there if you’re talented.”
What
in 2008 and says the main change has been the focus on they say: writers from this city have fantastic stories to tell.”
multimedia skills, clicks and page view targets. So what is Glasgow like as a place to live?
“Driving traffic onto websites is a huge priority now,” Helen McArdle, As well as having an international airport and rail links to
she says. “Understanding what works online is much health London, Edinburgh and the Highlands, the city is brimming
more important.” correspondent, with culture – arts, music, theatre, galleries, a vibrant
One of her biggest stories was the revelation that NHS The Herald restaurant scene and independent shops.
Tayside had transferred £2.7m of charity money into its “The cost of living is “There’s an area of Glasgow to suit every taste,” says McArdle.
general spending budget to fund a back-office computer pretty good (property is Finnieston has undergone major transformation over the past
system after running out of money. The chief executive and a bit cheaper than in 10 years and Dennistoun in the East End was ranked the eighth
chairman resigned and McArdle won an award at the British Edinburgh), so you can ‘coolest neighbourhood in the world’ in 2020 by Time Out.
Journalism Awards 2018. get more bang for your The community spirit inspired photographer Elaine
Glasgow is also home to the Peebles Media Group, which buck even on a Livingstone to do the Glasgow Lives In Lockdown project
produces B2B and consumer titles including the Scottish journalist’s salary” for digital news site Glasgow Live. Livingstone, who grew up
Grocer, Tie the Knot Scotland, Homes & Interiors Scotland in the city’s East End, used a laser to measure a two-metre
and Project Plant, which covers demolition, cranes and site Elaine distance between herself and the sitters to highlight the
dumpers. There is also The List and golf magazine Bunkered. Livingstone, impact restrictions have had on vulnerable people.
In terms of broadcasting, BBC Scotland and Scottish ITV photographer Founder of hyperlocal Greater Govanhill Rhiannon Davies
network STV are based at Pacific Quay, along with “Glasgow has everything grew up in Derbyshire and moved to the city in 2016 to do a
BBC Radio Scotland; The Hub at Pacific Quay attracts a creative you need but is not master’s degree in media, communication and international
community. Commercial radio stations include Clyde 1 and overwhelming. It’s journalism at the University of Glasgow.
Clyde 2 (Bauer Media Group) and Real Radio Scotland. friendly, confident and “I saw a gap between the way that Govanhill was often
Marelle Wilson, assistant producer at STV News at Six, grew deservedly proud, but covered in the media and the reality of living here,” she says.
up in Glasgow and says it is a great place to work. “It’s a very down to earth and has a “Govanhill is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of
welcoming city and a real melting pot – people who live here good sense of humour” Scotland, with at least 88 languages being spoken on these
have a very strong Glaswegian identity.” streets. The first issue has articles written by people from
Wilson has covered stories including the 2014 Rhiannon Davies, 12 different nationalities.”
Commonwealth Games, the fire at the Glasgow School of Art, founder, Greater Despite the closures, cuts and redundancies, the feeling
the Clutha helicopter crash and the Queen Street bin lorry crash. Govanhill among Glasgow’s journalists is largely one of optimism.
“With the delayed COP26 climate conference coming to “There are opportunities McArdle says that demand for news has never been greater
Glasgow in 2021, the eyes of the world will be on the city, so to try something and the prospect of indyref2 would be another huge driver.
there will be plenty to cover,” she says. “The 2020 Booker different and for new “I’d definitely recommend Glasgow,” she says. “The world of
Prize winner Shuggie Bain, about life in 1980s Glasgow, models of journalism Scottish journalism is quite a small one but, in my opinion, a
written by Glasgow-born author Douglas Stuart, proves that to flourish” friendly one and one with a very good sense of humour.”
theJournalist | 11Climate chang
The media could do more to help protect survey found that 58 per cent of 3,598 respondents believed
the environment, says Alex Morss
the paper should actively campaign about climate change.
At The Sun, a full site search failed to find the terms ‘eco’,
‘environment’ or ‘planet’, but there was a section on ‘climate
A
lthough attention is focused on the change and the environment’. I found two recent climate stories.
coronavirus pandemic, we should not forget The Daily Mirror gave little prominence to the environment
the other crisis we are fighting – climate and on my visit, and the Daily Express had gone 20 days without
ecological breakdown. any environment news in a ‘Nature’ section which, in the past,
Is the media doing enough regarding its has been populated by pets, with no obvious sign of
roles and responsibilities in leading and challenging power sustainability stories.
via journalism, educating the public and influencing Express Newspapers is owned by Reach, which is Britain’s
behaviour? And is it looking in the mirror at what it does? largest newspaper, magazine and digital publisher, whose
To find out, I canvassed journalists, media organisations 150-plus titles and 80-plus websites are read by 45 million
and academics for their opinions. I also carried out a random people in the UK each month. The company had launched a
search of a wide range of UK national and regional newspaper #Do1Thing campaign in 2019 to engage readers and staff in
and magazine publishers’ digital output to identify their saving the planet, but staff said this had gone somewhat limp
internal and external efforts and policies on the environment amid Covid and redundancies.
and also their investments. The BBC, ITV, Channel 4, UKTV, Sky and Netflix
Both scientists and journalists are saying that, more than programmes follow Bafta’s wearealbert.org guidance on
ever, they need the resources that have been stripped away auditing their sustainability in training and production.
for years to create a diverse, well-funded media with sufficient I reviewed a sample of staff handbooks and found one book
numbers of trained staff to address environmental issues. publisher’s 90-plus page guidance failed to mention any
My search highlighted mixed results on media-stated goals environmental policy; this was also the case in a 20-page
regarding environmental policies and corporate policy for a trade magazine and for a 50-page handbook for a
58%
environmental responsibility. Editorial output similarly financial publisher. A 40-page handbook for a religious
varied in terms of its quality and quantity and the amount of publisher included one line committing the company ‘to be
resources channeled into environmental coverage. good stewards of our environment’. There was nothing in a
Many titles had no dedicated section for environmental travel magazine staff handbook either. A 32-page code of
reporting; some included it in science while others, including conduct for one big broadcaster stated only that ‘each of us
the BBC, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and some titles in of Guardian must perform our jobs in a safe and environmentally
the Mail group, had dedicated teams and sections, and set readers say the responsible manner’. Some companies were not prepared to
detailed environmental goals. The FT had climate as a banner open their policies up to public scrutiny.
section but not the environment. The Times’ web banner did paper should A Reach journalist commened: “There has not been any
not give prominence to science or the environment.
The Guardian’s 130 million readers were told how much
campaign about training on science and environment, no specialist editors.
The websites are all about hits. Having dedicated
carbon they burned reading every digital article. A reader climate change environment reporters would be a good commitment.”
Global news for the planet critical mass, we could
grow it, which is exactly
Among them are
Reuters, Bloomberg,
little evidence on how
people respond to news
COVERING Climate Now Hertsgaard, an pressure on governments what’s happened over Agence France Presse, stories as citizens, voters
(CCN) was founded in the environmental and corporations. the past 18 months.” The Guardian, the and consumers, he says,
US in 2019. Its executive journalist, says it was “A critical mass of CCN has 460 partners, Daily Mirror, CBS News, However, he adds
director Mark Hertsgaard feared that, without journalists knew our including news agencies, NBC News, PBS that people around
said the driving force was changes within the profession was failing on broadcasters, national NewsHour, Vice, Al the world want more
that what “we knew media, “there simply this story and they newspapers and Jazeera, Times climate coverage,
of the climate crisis and wouldn’t be sufficient wanted to do better. magazines, with a of India, El Pais and especially local stories
its solutions had to public awareness and “We thought if we combined audience of Asahi Shimbun, and on how problems
improve, fast.’ therefore political could highlight this roughly 2 billion people. There seems to be can be tackled.
12 | theJournalistenvironmental reporting
ngers?
“
Newsquest, which publishes more than 200 regional titles communication at the University of Gloucestershire, says: “I
and whose websites are visited by 30 million people a month, study the bugs no one loves – spiders, flying ants, wasps – and
gives full details of its environmental policy. every year it is the same merry-go-round of nonsense in the
This variation in commitment seems to reflect wider popular media. Spiders are invading our homes, wasps are
society. The Guardian reported on a 2019 study of almost There’s been ruining summer, even harmless jellyfish are forming hostile
3,000 publicly listed companies that found fewer than one in armadas.
five (18 per cent) had disclosed plans that were in line with no training on “It is an uphill struggle against the surefire clickbait story of
the targets in the Paris climate agreement.
However, some are leading the charge. Wolfgang Blau, a
science and dangerous wildlife. When people are bombarded with simple
messages confirming their pre-existing biases, those aspects
research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of
Journalism at the University of Oxford, is working with
environment, of nature that aren’t cute and cuddly end up being
demonised and despised. It may be actively harmful.”
experts globally to create training programmes to support no specialist He adds that the media’s coverage of trophy hunting, led
journalists to cover climate competently. by celebrities and campaigners, could prove harmful to the
He said: “While covering climate change requires basic editors. The conservation of species and habitats over millions of acres.
scientific knowledge, climate change is far more than a
science story or a topic only for the politics or the business websites are all He argues that trophy hunting can preserve natural habitats
but environmentalists such as Sir David Attenborough
desk. The climate crisis is changing tourism, culture,
about hits contend that it destroys them.
”
architecture, medicine, transportation, agriculture, food and There may be some hope for the funding of environmental
even sports. and climate change reporting. A House of Lords
“Today’s climate journalism has similarities with the communications and digital committee report, Breaking
technology journalism of the early 2000s, when a few digital News? The Future of UK Journalism, has called for urgent
experts in each newsroom tried to cover the transformative action and a new digital markets unit to be set up to help
effects of the internet on all areas of society. The accelerating fund the UK media and this is expected to be launched in
climate emergency requires a similar upskilling of April 2021. With luck, any extra resources may find their way
newsrooms now.” to environmental coverage.
There is evidence that knowledge gaps in the media are
affecting conservation too. Endangered bats have been
persecuted in some countries due to “reaction born out of
misplaced fear” and misinformation because of the origin
of Covid-19, says Lisa Worledge, head of conservation
at the Bat Conservation Trust.
Following several culls of the Mauritian fruit
bat in 2019, research fellow Ewan Macdonald
at the University of Oxford checked
700 claims in 90 news articles and
found only five per cent relied
solely on verifiable facts . He said
that most contained
false information.
He is researching how the
less cuddly species get a
much harder time in the
media: “Many people have a
preference for large, charismatic
and often rare species such as tigers,
lions and elephants. However, it is
equally important to protect the myriad
small, obscure species that garner less
attention but are fundamental to ecosystem
functioning.”
Adam Hart, author and professor of science
theJournalist | 13There’s no place
for abuse at work
Bullying and harassment, whether overt or members saying that it has affected their mental and
physical health.”
subtle, damages health and careers. Ruth One member says her boss encouraged a ‘climate of fear’.
Addicott finds out what can be done
“The boss would humiliate colleagues in meetings, badmouth
them in their absence – then be lovely to their face,” she says.
“He pitted staff against each other. So there was no trust. He
T
he photographers’ pit can be a brutal place at talked loudly and casually about firing staff, even naming and
the best of times but, for one photojournalist shaming. I was constantly spoken over in meetings; projects I’d
covering a demo in Westminster, things took worked on for weeks were taken away without explanation.”
a darker turn. She ended up working 19 hours a day and, when she
Amid the chaos, a male photographer complained, was given an informal warning.
standing behind her suddenly started pushing himself “My confidence was wrecked,” she says. “No one spoke up –
against her more aggressively. so, when I did, I was made out to be ‘difficult’.”
“I turned around and asked him to stop and he just HR suggested she quit and said the culture would not
laughed,” she says. “The next moment he pushed his camera change, but she wanted the job.
lens between my legs – it was so violent, I was terrified. I told “I was breaking down almost every day on my commute,”
him to stop or I’d report him to security. He leaned into my she says. “I was feeling incredible sadness or nothing at all, and
ear and said, ‘Welcome to the world of photojournalism’.” began to imagine ending my life. It’s hard for people who’ve
It was not her first experience of harassment, but it did not been there to understand the mental damage that sort of
make her question her safety. “There are way fewer female culture can inflict.”
photographers than male in London and I think there’s a
reason for that,” she says.
Natasha Hirst, chair of the NUJ equality council, says
bullying and harassment are more widespread than people
realise and often go unchallenged because people fear losing
Tips on how to deal Stand firm
“Don’t doubt yourself,” says
work. In an NUJ survey last year, 78 per cent of members
agreed that “abuse and harassment have become normalised
with bullying one member. “I kept thinking
it was all in my head and
and seen as part of the job” and 64 per cent had not reported Get another a record, cases are hard to maybe I was blowing it out of
abuse to their employer. perspective stand up. Keep all emails. proportion. But bullying isn’t
In 2018, the TUC revealed bullying was the second biggest Talk to a trusted colleague just physical abuse – it’s
workplace issue after stress. Although women, black and or union rep as soon as Make a complaint emotional, manipulative,
Asian employees and people with a disability are more at risk, possible. One of the biggest Talk to your rep about how undermining patterns
it can affect anyone. mistakes people make is you should proceed. If the of behaviour. I doubt the
While online attacks are a massive problem, bullying can ignoring it and thinking complaint is serious, use the people I worked for would
occur in many forms, including constant criticism, having they are to blame. Talk formal process such as the ever see themselves as
promotion blocked and responsibilities removed, being given to friends and family grievance procedure, or bullies – but the behaviours
trivial tasks, setting a person up to fail by overloading them for support. bullying and harassment/ were textbook and they
with work and setting impossible deadlines. dignity at work procedure. propped up that culture.”
An NUJ freelance survey in 2019 showed nearly 27 per cent Keep a record Be objective and try to
of members had been subjected to bullying/harassment or ill Keep a detailed record of stay calm. “Time and again, Be realistic
treatment. One member reported being sacked for being times, dates and witnesses I’ve been told by members A settlement may be
pregnant. Demands for copyright, non-payment and rates as well as your feelings that they are astonished at preferable to a protracted
being cut are common and people are being made to feel it is and response to situations. the change in attitude from legal battle.
their own fault. If there is a phone call, their boss when there is a “I managed to secure a
Pamela Morton, national organiser, freelance and Wales, summarise the conversation union rep in the room,” says partial victory but nothing
says freelances are vulnerable because they are more isolated and, where possible, get Brighton branch secretary like what it should have
and do not have employment protection. witness statements. Without Brian Williams. been,” says one member.
“It can have a devastating impact,” says Pamela. “We’ve had
14 | theJournalistYou can also read
