Pictures: Steve Usher

Last Monday evening, NUJ members gathered in Kings Cross to mark stand up for Journalism day. This day seeks to raise awareness about the value of quality journalism.

The previous post described the Manchester rally outside the Society of Editors’ conference. This event was slightly different – we had five speakers including former MP Tony Benn, BBC Newsnight’s Paul Mason and NUJ President Jeremy Dear (seen above with Michelle Stanistreet.

Unfortunately, I missed the start of the event. But I got to hear Tony Benn, Jeremy Dear and another speaker. Then the event was opened to the floor. There were some interesting questions (Not including the rather inappropriate question about Pakistan!). One lady asked whether the panel thought the closed shop could be reintroduced, saying it would be a great recruitment tool. Someone else called for more campaigns against exploitation of work experience students.

Then the panel had a final say. Tony Benn lamented that the closed shop was unlikely to return (and shared an extraordinary anecdote about the former Tory minister Tom King). Paul Mason said, as a BBC journalist, who had to be impartial, he welcomed belonging to an organisation that could be take a stand on his behalf. Jeremy Dear concluded the debate by saying that the 5th November 2007 was only the start of this campaign.

The event continued the union’s birthday celebrations. Here’s NUJ President Michelle Stanistreet cutting the cake with Anita Halpin. Many thanks to Steve Usher for the pictures.

Pictures: Steve Usher

London magazine branch member, Chris Wheal (pictured above) has recorded a podcast about the rally. To listen to his podcast click here

More to come on the London rally soon…

Here’s what NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear is doing today – from his blog. And blogger John “Innit” has put a very thought provoking post on his blog to mark the day (It also ties in neatly with my last post about Roy Greenslade’s decision to leave the union).

If anyone else has had any interesting experiences or observations please leave a comment below.

The article is worth a look – as are the comments including one from his colleague Helene Mulholland, an online journalist who has been involved in the union’s Multimedia Commission.

Personally, I have never found the union’s policies to be anti new media (though I have not yet seen the Commission’s report), but I can understand that there may be a tension between’s policies on job preservation and its tentative moves of embracing new media.

At the NUJ conference early this year, participants highlighted how integrated workplaces put more demands on staff and how they should should be adequately resourced. That’s something I have found to be the case from my own working life.

Even with the publication of this report, I think there is much more to debate on new media and how we as a union respond to it. New media will continue to evolve and workplaces will evolve with it.

I must say, I didn’t expect anyone leaving the union over its new media policy!

This move would see a panel look at whether we should extend freedom of information to government documents that are covered by the 30 year rule. Currently, it is easier to get hold of recent documents than older ones, which are protected for 30 years after publication.

The panel will look at extending Freedom of Information to private firms. There are also plans to axe charges for freedom of information that were proposed earlier this year. While, it’s no means certain that any of these changes will be adopted, it seems to suggest that the restrictions proposed earlier this year will be abandoned.

For more information about the proposals see the Ministry of Justice’s website.

It’s just over a month to go until the Stand up for Journalism day on 5 November. There’s now a petition and a demo organised to coincide with the Society of Editor’s conference in Manchester. Members are also urged to organise workplace surveys and write to their MPs.

So how would you like to mark Stand up for Journalism day? What issues would you like to see highlighted? Please feel free to share your ideas here.

Sectoral training councils, the NCTJ (newspapers), the PCT (magazines) and the BJTC (broadcasting) currently accredit journalism courses seperately. The main elements of each accredited qualification is broadly similar, but there are some subtle differences depending on which councils accredit the course.

But all this could soon be about to change according to the report in Press Gazette. It reports that the NCTJ has approached the PTC about developing a single accreditation body. This has been supported by the PTC academics and industry forum and many PTC tutors. The BJTC has also been in discussions with the NCTJ.

In the past, accrediation has been seen as a “kite mark”, but there are a growing number of well respected journalism courses, such as the one at City University, who do not seek accreditation. Also, sectoral accreditation reflects a bygone era. There are plenty of journalists who move from one sector to the other. And with growing inregration of content on many titles, journalists are increasingly having to use skills that are not normally associated with their sector.

Many NUJ members have been pushing for an accreditation system that reflects the role of a modern journalist. In the Press Gazette article, Chris Wheal, chair of the NUJ’s professional training council, points out that the PTC and NCTJ are coming to this late – journalists are already out there working across sectoral boundaries. Motions to reform the accreditation system have been put forward at recent ADMs.

As someone who works in the magazine sector, and is currently taking NCTJ exams (five down – just one resit to go!) I welcome this news and will follow developments with interest.

Further reading: Dominic Ponsford’s blog

*This figure does not include blog aggrigators, so the actual number of readers could be even higher!