[...]NUJ on BNP: Putting words in journalists’ mouths | Dave Lee / jBlog[...]…

However, I would like to point out to Donnacha that Dave now has a choice of unions – the NUJ, the BAJ and the CIOJ, and I know that the CIOJ have been active on behalf of journalistic staff in the BBC, as they are in RTE in Ireland.

I have been a Member of both NUJ and CIOJ throughout my 43 years, and now in semi-retirement I am thinking of giving the BAJ a shot, just for good measure to introduce an element of closure at this stage of my life heh heh heh …

I would be joining the BAJ at this stage, not to further any ambition of my own as I’m too old now for all of that , but to support them as I see that they are providing the very best service as a union for the working journalist, of the three on offer ( IMHO ) .

The CIOJ went out with the Empire, the NUJ has more policies than any political party I know – and mostly the wrong ones at that

Of course under Article 40 of the Irish Constitution nobody in the epublic is required to join any union at all, so the closed shop is de jure though not de facto unconsitutional in Ireland ( Quirke v NUJ, High Court, Dublin, 1981, before Mr. Justice McWilliams ) .

Of course my fellow posters here should not belong to any journalist union – their writing is too good, perhaps P.E.N. International or the Society of Authors

And all our problems about deciding which union to join would be solved under P.M. Nick Griffin – we wouldn’t have any !

I suspect that under P.M. Griffin that we Irish would have to fight our War of Independence all over again, 1916 and all of that … just think of it, we’d have to learn to hate the English from scratch again

Give us Gordon Brown ten times over in preference to the Griffin Menu !!!

Merry Xmas All .

Cheers,
Michael .

Cheers,
Michael .

The BBC has an enviable reputation in the promotion of Freedom of Expression – and so has Ireland in our written Constitution, Bunreacht na h-Eireann, which protects free speech .

What if the BAJ or the CIOJ ot both refused to cover militant extremist Lefties on QT, one does not have to wonder what the reaction of the NUJ would be then !

I applaud Dave’s decision in favour of Freedom of Expression in a world that the NUJ supremos try to stand on its head .

As for Griffin on QT, he was in fact well behaved, did not impugn his right to Freedom of Expression accorded to him as a British citizen ( and a licence fee payer, I hope ! ) on the show ( for that us what it is, a political entertainment show , not a serious intellectual forum )and he also took mob criticism from a section of the audience quietly without any fuss.

It was great television, as it was meant to be , great entertainment, a good show –

exactly what the extremists who run the NUJ want to deny us

Are you really trying to argue that blogging should replace democratic structures that seek to represent all members? Really? We can argue the point here until the cows come home, but if you actually want to do something about it, join the union, get involved in your branch and stop complaining.

Also, as a BBC journalist, you can largely thank the NUJ (and the other unions there) for your decent pay grade, your high quality training regime, the organisation’s focus on health and safety and all the other things the unions have achieved for ALL staff members in the BBC over the years. Of course you can’t trust a union of which you’re not a member to represent you – a union is its members and their democratic decisions – it has no interest in representing you until you join.