We've moved
Regular visitors, if there are any, will probably have noticed that we haven't been using this blog much recently. That's because we've moved to:
http://www.nujnewmedia.org.uk, come and visit our new home.
Labels: new media, nuj
Put People First - online and off
The NUJ is a partner in a new NGO mega-coalition called
Put People First, which is coming together to lobby next week's G20 London Summit on the financial crisis. We want to see action to improve the accountability of world financial systems, and real efforts towards a green new deal, rebuilding the economy in a way that has the interests of all the world's people, and its climate, at heart.
NUJ members will be marching in Central London this Saturday - have a look at
www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk for more info about the route, and the rally in Hyde Park after the march. Come and join us!
This demo also looks interesting from a new media angle too. The partners and the coalition seems to be jumping
all over Twitter at the moment, as well as other social media tools. Posts using the hashtag #g20rally
are being collated on the official site, and partner organisations are tweeting away - with a plan to generate retweets from followers. ActionAid have a guy in a cape
@themegamouth prowling Central London all week with a megaphone, shouting out whatever he gets sent.
Most ambitious though is a plan to get live reportage from the crowd throughout the march and rally. If you're coming along (or even just watching it online), you can chip in with your own tweets, to help build a big picture of the event and people's concerns.
Find the instructions from PPF here to help you get involved too.
Labels: G20, London summit, nuj, Put People First, twitter
Back to school with the NUJ - new media social event
Come and meet members of the NUJ working in New Media, talk about work issues, bring your colleagues (members of the union or not) and have a few drinks and some nibbles.
We'll also have someone from the
NUJ's training department along to talk about the courses, both professional and trade union, the union will be running.
Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Time: 7:00pm - 11:00pm
Location:
Union Tavern, 52 Lloyd Baker Street, LondonIf you're on Facebook, RSVP at:
http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=73416705787Labels: national union of journalists, new media, nuj, social events, union tavern
London New Media Social Event
All new media workers in London are invited to a social event next Thursday (24 July) in the Yorkshire Grey pub (upstairs), 46 Langham Street (anyone who was at the previous socials, this is not the same pub as before, it just has the same name).
Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=46+Langham+Street%2C+London%2C+United+KingdomCome along, bring a friend or two, and have a few drinks and some nibbles (paid for by the NUJ). This is not limited to NUJ members, non-members are welcome to come along and have a chat with colleagues and the union.
Pop in any time between 7 and 11 - and don't feel you have to stay all night, it's up to you.
If you're on Facebook, check it out here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=18359453348&ref=nfLabels: national union of journalists, new media, nuj, social events
NUJ DGS London hustings video
The four candidates for the post of NUJ Deputy General Secretary took part in a London hustings event on Thursday 29 May. You can watch a series of videos of the event on the London Central Branch website -
http://nujlondoncentral.wordpress.com/ - as all four candidates give their views on issues facing journalism and their suitability for the job.
Labels: Chris Youett, Deputy General Secretary, DGS, John Toner, Michelle Stanistreet, national union of journalists, nuj, Philip Hunt, trade union
ADM 2008 – New Media news
This year's ADM came wrapped up a year of controversy for the union. The debate over Israel raged for a few months after ADM 2006, but for the new media sector, it was the Drogheda debate that's most important. The debate (if you can call what was often an ugly spat a debate) centred around
a deal at the Drogheda Independent in Ireland, which, amongst many other very positive issues, was the first time a newspaper chapel had agreed, in principle, to the possibility that print journalists might, at some point, take pictures.
But, let's come back to Drogheda later, because the biggest news for the new media sector came early in day one of ADM, right at the beginning of the second order paper on Finance and Recruitment. The New Media Industrial Council had proposed a motion to make recruitment in new media a priority with major investment in promotional materials and, most importantly, a mapping exercise to help branches find and identify potential members in the sector. The National Executive Council (NEC) submitted an amendment to broaden the motion and make recruitment a priority for all sectors of the union and, after a little bit of discussion to make sure the mapping exercise of the new media stayed in, it was passed overwhelmingly. So expect to see some results from that fairly soon.
But, back to Drogheda. Due to some overlong speeches, the planned running order of the conference got a bit messed up, but that ended up being for the best for the debate. The Drogheda debate, which had its own order paper, ended up coming before the general Wages, Payments and Conditions motions. As the latter included a motion on the Multimedia Commission Report, that could have become a debate on Drogheda. As it happened, though, there was a robust debate on the two main Drogheda motions themselves, leaving the WPC motions to mop up.
The first Drogheda motion was the more extreme one – calling for the resignation of the NEC's Emergency Committee (which would have led to chaos as the President, Vice-President and General Treasurer were all on the committee) and for the adoption a principle that all Chapel agreements be approved by a higher body. So much for Chapel power, eh? That motion was roundly defeated and so, thankfully, was the following motion, against which I spoke. That motion called for the return of a variation on the old point in the union's Working Practices about writers not normally taking photographs – a proposal I called regressive and out of touch with the reality faced by many of our members.
With those out of the way, the scene was set for Composite H, as it was called, which endorsed "
Shaping the Future", the Multimedia Commission's report and planned the way forward – protecting quality journalism online through negotiation on pay, conditions, health and safety and training. All these are, of course, hugely important for our sector and, if you haven't read the document, you should do so, it's easily accessible on the NUJ website (under Activists). The Commission, which features three members of NMIC, Gary Herman, Jemima Kiss and yours truly, is to continue its work on an ongoing basis with elections at the next ADM.
On top of this endorsement was the adoption of a new principle, which added a positive statement to the rejection of the regressive motions about Drogheda. ADM agreed that the NEC should "ensure demarcation rules do not prevent members from seizing the opportunities available to them." In other words, the union's highest body has recognised that multimedia journalism is increasingly the norm in our industry and that we can't let old ideas of who does what stand in the way of our members engaging completely in a multimedia world. For our sector, where, of course, multimedia working is the norm and always has been, this is great news and it will hopefully aid in the recruitment the union has made its priority for the year.
There were a couple more bits and pieces of relevance to our sector, one long-running issue, in particular, took a step forward – that of online branches. For a few years now, European branches or the Continental European Council have brought a motion calling for the rules to allow for branches that exist online only to help branches with geographically disparate members. Each time, it's been knocked back after a long (and sometimes humorous debate), despite regular support from NMIC. This year, though, the movers rejected a call for the issue to be remitted for consideration by the Structure Review and there was a debate. This year, though, the vote was won and the NEC is now obligated to bring a motion calling for a change in the rules to next year's ADM.
Finally, there's the question of the online future of The Journalist magazine. The NEC had put forward a couple of specific issues about the Journalist, such as restricting the number of print editions, but ADM voted instead for a review of the magazine and its relationship to the Campaigns and Communications office and rejected a number of the specific recommendations. So, that's one to watch over the next few months.
Labels: ADM, Drogheda, multimedia, new media, NMIC, nuj
NUJ publishes multimedia report
The long-awaited report of the NUJ's Commission on Multimedia Working, established to investigate the implications of media convergence, has found widespread concern about the impact of new media working on journalistic standards. Three members of the Commission are also members of the union's New Media Industrial Council.
The report, called Shaping the Future, follows months of consultation with journalists working across the industry. It finds that the significant sums that have been spent on new technology haven't been matched by investment in journalism.
The document welcomes the possibilities offered by the internet and media convergence, highlighting their potential to engage new audiences in lively and high quality journalism. However, it also finds that many journalists are worried about the impact they will have on their professional standards.
The report includes numerous examples provided by journalists dealing with these technologies everyday. Trends include demands to produce more content for more outlets without the provision of any extra journalistic resources, which is often felt to have a detrimental effect on quality.
Read the report on the NUJ's redesigned website. Labels: internet, journalism, journalists, multimedia, national union of journalists, nuj, stand up for journalism
NUJ secures key concessions in AOL redundancy negotiations
Members at AOL have been involved in a redundancy process that is seeing the company cut more than half the editorial staff; reducing the number of journalists, designers and photo editors from 38 to just 17.
This is the third restructure of the editorial department in less than 12 months - and now the cuts are accompanied by the outsourcing of much editorial work to India.
Fortunately the NUJ was recognised here a couple of years ago following a tenacious campaign, and the union has able to marshal a strong defence of members' interests during the consultation process -- significantly mitigating the damage.
The union has negotiated a very strong severance package for those members who will be leaving, but our greatest achievement has been securing voluntary redundancies where possible, not just for journalists but across the whole organisation.
We have also successfully gained additional concessions for older colleagues, an extension of redundancy terms for the next year, greater flexibility on retraining allowances and a fairer scoring system for those who will be staying and competing for the remaining jobs.
The union has achieved significant gains which simply would not have been made if the workers had only been represented by the "Employee Forum".
Union reps are still joining members in their meetings with HR as the new organisation is implemented -- but the process has largely been running smoothly and both parties are working together in an attempt to minimise compulsory redundancies.
The whole process has greatly strengthened the chapel at AOL and convinced members of the value of collective representation.
Stacey King, FoC, AOL UK
Labels: AOL, national union of journalists, nuj
My article in The Journalist and the subsequent controversy
A little article I wrote for the NUJ's magazine, The Journalist, railing at how the philosophy of Web 2.0 is being used to attack professional journalism -
reposted on my blog - elicited a response in
the Telegraph's blogs.
The magazine contained more articles, drawn from a report I'm involved in preparing on the impact the way some media outlets are using new technology is having on journalism and journalists. Some of the details are here in
the Press Gazette blog.
There's been a a little bit of controversy kicked up by this, with some frankly rather odd reactions. Jeff Jarvis
tried to be funny and then followed-up with
a more considered response.
The Torygraph followed up slagging me off with a
go at the rest of the articles and then Roy Greenslade
made a grand announcement.
So there we go - a nice big debate about the issues, which is a good thing. So what do you think?
Update:
here's another one .
More updates:
Some Silicon Valley oiks get their facts wrong (I'm neither particularly old, a hack nor a Limey - there's a clue in my name)
Shane Richmond strikes againGreenslade needs the weekend,
his City University colleague jumps in and, finally so far,
we've someone missing the point (seeing as the whole point of the Multimedia Commission is to "equip our members to embrace it").
And the Podcast:
The Guardian interviewed me about this story - and then people discussed what I said, though I'm not sure they really got the point.
Even more, this time some more considered pieces looking at the issues involved:
Journalism and the articulate commonsWhat is Wrong with the Tech Journalism
and then there's this one:
Hands up those who think Web 2.0 is rubbish!.
Latest:
Now It’s Your Turn Journalist.
And it goes on:
Let's have a real debate about Web 2.0Still going: more of the NUJ debate
The NUJ and me: a considered responseIs the Web as weak as its weakest link?Stand up for kremlinology and groupthinkNight Of The Blunt Nibs
Facing the reality of new mediaAnother audio appearance from me, this time on late night
BBC 5 Live and the subsequent podcast.
And over on our sister site, nujnewmedia.org.uk -
Much Ado About Not Very MuchEven more updates:
More Jeff Jarvis:
In olde LondonLeaving the unionMore Neil McIntosh:
Five things the NUJ could do to engage with the webNUJ and new media: the trouble is, they just don’t know what’s going onMore Shane Richmond:
Still going: more of the NUJ debatePaul Bradshaw:
The NUJ fuss - now I’m spittingJoanna Geary:
Bedtime reading for the NUJ...Reportr.net:
Does the NUJ understand the internet?And apparently
the Internet's own personal blogLatest:
A considered and interesting look at the issue from
the University of Bedford's New Media Research Group, contrasting with
this from the PBS in the US.
Labels: jeff jarvis, journalism, journalists, nuj, roy greenslade, web 2.0
Standing up for journalism in the blogosphere
The NUJ inspired Stand Up for Journalism day on November 5 has been generating interest in the blogosphere.
And everyone is taking a different line.
Grimmer Up North concentrates on the BBC.
Labour of Love goes with the Peterloo massacre.
Dave's Part plays it straight.
Brussells Reporter takes the Euro-angle.
PR in a jar says she's taking part.
City of the Dead looks at Liverpool's media.
Stephen Newton wants his press releases re-jigged.
How-do pokes the bonfire.
And
the Guardian does it the old fashioned way.
If you see anything else, please add them to the list by commenting (thanks to Miles Barter for compiling this list so far).
Labels: guy fawkes, national union of journalists, November 5, nuj, stand up for journalism
LinkedIn and Facebook
There's now an NUJ group on LinkedIn,
click here to join.
And NUJ's Facebook group is the biggest union group on Facebook and the union has just had it first Facebook only recruitment, Sushanta Das Gupta, editor of
http://www.e-bangladesh.org/. If you're on Facebook, go
here to join the NUJ group.
Labels: facebook, linkedin, national union of journalists, nuj, socialnetworking
Don't forget - London, 26 July evening - drinks on the NUJ
Less than two weeks to go - if you haven't told your friends already, tell 'em now:
NUJ New Media Social Recruitment EventThe NUJ's London Central Branch is putting on a recruitment social event, so, if you work in new media or do you have friends or colleagues who work in new media and like having a drink in good company in comfortable surroundings - please come along.
This event is planned to start at 7:30 pm on Jul 26, 2007 upstairs at the
Yorkshire Grey pub, Holborn, London.
If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2393405298, if not, just turn up.
Labels: national union of journalists, new media, newmedia, NMIC, nuj, socialevents, socialnetworking
Fairer subs for new media
As of Monday 9 July, the union's members working in new media will see a fairer subscription rate, with many paying lower subs. The change follows a decision made at this year's Annual Delegate Meeting.
The ADM motion called for subs for all new media journalists, except for those working alongside other journalists in the more established parts of the media, to be lowered to Grade 1.
Low pay continues to be a problem in many parts of the new media sector and job uncertainty is endemic, factors that made recruitment very difficult with subs for the sector at the highest level. The New Media Industrial Council hopes the new subs rates will lead to a boom in recruitment in the sector at a time when the union most needs it.
The full text of the new rule will be in the new Rule Book, but the breakdown means that all those, except people employed in workplaces defined under Grades 2 and 3, will pay subs at the lowest grade. The others will pay subs as appropriate to their workplace.
As part of the new media recruitment drive following the change in subs, London Central Branch has organised a recruitment event in the city on Thursday July 26 from 7:30. Details below.
Labels: national union of journalists, new media, newmedia, nuj
Non 'Yahoo!' Mailing lists
For members interested in starting a mailing list or discussion group that does not involve Yahoo!, the union's New Media Industrial Council has come up with the following list of lists.
It's worth noting that many NUJ freelances use GreenNet at a cost of £25 to set up and £60 annually (plus VAT), while NMIC itself uses two lists - the open list operated by NUJ Bristol at a similar cost (join at
http://lists.bristolnuj.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/nujnewmedia ) and the closed one operated by NUJ Manchester (contact gherman at KeywordsAssociates.com for more info).
Free Groups/community:Google:
http://groups.google.co.uk/intl/en/googlegroups/tour/Topica:
http://lists.topica.com/MSN:
http://groups.msn.com/Cool List:
http://www.coollist.com/Paid Groups/community:NPOgroups
http://npogroups.org/lists/GreenNet (they do Catherds for NUJ freelances):
http://www.gn.apc.org/services/services.html#listsFree announcement lists:Mailer4U.com:
http://mailer4u.comListPower:
http://listpower.comFanBlast! (100 subscribers max):
http://www.fanmass.com/Server.com:
http://server.com/communityapps/maillistapp/Your Mailing List:
http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com/Notify List:
http://www.notifylist.com/Bravenet:
http://www.bravenet.com/Free hosted lists:Free Lists (tech related):
http://www.freelists.org/index.htmlGroup Apps (from Server.com):
http://grapps.server.com/groupapps.htmlFree list software:Majordomo:
http://www.greatcircle.com/majordomo/Mailman:
http://www.gnu.org/software/mailmanEcartis:
http://www.ecartis.org/Any additions to this list much appreciated - please send to me:
Tony Gosling
tony at tlio.org.uk
who will circulate them.
Labels: boycott, mailing lists, nuj, yahoo
A date for your diaries
Take note: 26 July 2007, 7pm at the
Yorkshire Grey pub, Holborn, London.
London Central Branch is putting on a recruitment social event, so, if you work in new media or do you have friends or colleagues who work in new media and like having a drink in good company in comfortable surroundings - please come along.
The event will provide NUJ members an opportunity to meet colleagues from other companies and parts of the sector. It's also designed to be a recruitment event, so if you know anyone who could be an NUJ member but has so far been resistant (or possibly not even asked), bring them along for a couple of
free drinks (while stocks last).
You've got some time, so think about it a bit. Does your company work with a web design agency? Are there freelancers writing for the website who no-one ever sees? Or even amongst your employees - designers, page coders, video/audio content producers - all are eligible for NUJ membership. So invite 'em all along and let's boost the sector.
Labels: designers, journalists, newmedia, nuj, socialevents, website
NUJ Social Networking
Have you got a MySpace page? Or are you more of a Facebook person? Or is all of that far too childish for you and you're LinkedIn instead? Whichever you are, the NUJ is there and waiting for you.
On MySpace:
http://groups.myspace.com/nujournalistsOn FaceBook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2310419644On LinkedIn there aren't groups, but you can just link me -
http://www.linkedin.com/in/donnachadelong .
Let's make full use of social networking to build the union - if you've got more suggestions, please add comments.
Labels: facebook, linkedin, myspace, nuj, tradeunion
Multi-media Commission take-off
Last Saturday (5 May), the NUJ launched its Commission on Multi-Media Working with a one-day event at the Headland House HQ in London. There was testimony from people in all sectors of the union, national and regional newspapers, the BBC, the Irish Times website (the first newspaper to go online in the UK and Ireland way back in '94), yours truly for the NEC and NMIC Chair Jemima Kiss addressing the positive sides of new media.
The event presented a snap-shot of the situation the Commission is tasked with drawing together in a major report, due in four months. NMIC is well represented on the Commission, with Jemima, Gary Herman and me along with Helen Mulholland from the Guardian and Paula Dear from the BBC adding more online experience.
Read more:
http://www.nuj.org.uk/inner.php?docid=1740Labels: journalism, journalists, multimedia, newspapers, NMIC, nuj, online, web
New Media news from ADM
The National Union of Journalists Centenary Annual Delegate Meeting has already received quite a lot of international attention for one issue, but for those of us in the New Media sector, there was amidst the three days of serious business, a number of key issues addressed.
Most important of all was the final resolution of the long-running issue of the rate of subs for journalists in New Media. Since the sector was established, members have been paying subs at the highest rate. Well, not for much longer! It'll take a couple of months to sort out the details, but come the end of the summer months, our members working on the websites of existing media companies will pay no more than their colleagues, while those working in so-called green field sites will pay at Grade 1 - around half the top grade! So, anyone who said they wouldn't join because it was too expensive, take note - you were right and we'll soon have it sorted.
More importantly for the union as a whole was the establishment of a major multi-media working commission to report in a few months time on the entire range of issues the media is facing as new media takes a serious hold. From local newspaper journalists being handed a video camera to the threat to jobs in the major media centres as individual journalists are expected to do the work of three or four people at the same time, numerous motions were put forwards and passed criticising the these trends and calling for constructive engagement with the union to all journalists to do their jobs properly in this new environment.
The commission will look at all the issues and give guidance to members on best practice and previous successes of the union. And the New Media Industrial Council (NMIC) is strong in the commission, with ADM electing both our chair - Jemima Kiss - and veteran council member Gary Herman and the National Executive Council making it a hat trick by electing yours truly. We're joined by colleagues from both the Guardian and BBC websites. The Commission will be launched at the Educate, Agitate, Integrate conference to be held on 5 May 2007 in London.
The conference flyer is available here. Expect more on this soon.
A major fringe meeting on digital convergence organised at conference by NMIC doubtless influenced the votes of delegates. See
the ADM blog for more details on this over-subscribed event (people were sitting on the floor and gathered around the door in the corridors outside). Pulling in expertise from across the union, as well as Dr Andy Williams’, who wrote a
great report into Trinity Mirror’s online strategy, the meeting really made clear the current landscape and detailed the challenges the union and our members face.
Be sure to check out the videos.
This year's China and internet censorship motion was far less combative and confusing. There was general agreement with stepping up the work on internet censorship, both within the NUJ and IFJ, and NMIC was even congratulated on the Yahoo! action of last summer. However, conference stopped short of calling for a boycott of Yahoo! mailing lists, accepting the argument that,
with international talks involving Yahoo! on-going, now was not the right time. However, later on, conference agreed that the NEC should investigate ways of facilitating NUJ-hosted email lists.
And finally, a serious topic descended into a rather funny battle of the Luddites versus the Nerds! The subject was virtual branches – the question of removing the rule that says branches must meet in person and allow branches to meet in cyberspace only. On one side those who point out that there's a potential branch in Spain, for example, but the distance between members makes a physical meeting so impractical it's as good as impossible. On the other side are those that argue that physical meetings are a core part of union activity and that efforts should be focussed on improving them rather than creating alternatives.
The serious debate was soon overtaken by one side calling the other luddites and them being called nerds in response! And the funniest contribution was the one member who argued that it was too soon to use things like email – maybe when the bugs are ironed out we should think about it. Ah, bless. The vote went against in the end, though I like to think that was more to do with the perceived issue of defending traditional branch structures and not the bugginess of the technology.
Many, many more motions, on a wide variety of topics covering a whole swathe of issues – showing our union to be democratic and connected to the world in way that still excites its members. Despite all the criticism about one particular motion, that shouldn't be allowed to overshadow so many other things the ADM discussed, debated and agreed.
Labels: censorship, china, convergence, integration, newmedia, nuj
The commission will look at all the issues and give guidance to members on best practice and previous successes of the union. And the New Media Industrial Council (NMIC) is strong in the commission, with ADM electing both our chair - Jemima Kiss - and veteran council member Gary Herman and the National Executive Council making it a hat trick by electing yours truly. We're joined by colleagues from both the Guardian and BBC websites. The Commission will be launched at the Educate, Agitate, Integrate conference to be held on 5 May 2007 in London. The conference flyer is available here. Expect more on this soon. 
