Why join the NUJ? That’s what I asked, months ago, in response to my alienation at the union which should have helped me in an hour of need.
The NUJ is stuffy, out-dated and, for journalists like me (i.e. non-print, non-ancient), largely irrelevant.
That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. Many disagree – good – but many don’t. Problem is, while the disagreers are frowned upon as being poor team players, I doubt any of us don’t want the NUJ to be a roaring success.
A crucial part of resurrecting the NUJ lies with communication. On the social networks, they’re doing OK. Good not great. Every now and then they’ll pop up in my Facebook inbox and ask me to send a message of support, or to sign a petition and so on – the usual union-y type things.
But that’s where it ends. I don’t know how they got on (badly, usually, but the Union has to publicise this as well).
More importantly, I don’t feel, in any way, part of a community of journalists. Or at least, I didn’t when I was a member – I cancelled my subs when I left university.
That’s why the upcoming vote for the new editor of the NUJ’s magazine, ‘The Journalist’, is so very important. A good magazine can go a long way to solving all the problems I spoke of above. With a strong website, it’ll grab in people like me – the future of journalism and the NUJ – and re-ignite debate among the journo masses.
If you want this to happen, you should vote for Michael Cross.
I’ve known Michael for a few years now. I met him through the brilliant networking site Journobiz (a site which, incidentally, feels more like a union to me than the NUJ ever has). As a very successful freelance journalist, his advice has always been extremely valuable in steering me along the right path. Not to mention his encouragement which is always genuine and sincere.
But that’s not why you should vote for him. After all, he’s not going to spend his time giving everyone advice. But what he will do is put tons of creative energy into the Journalist, drawing on years of knowledge that has made him wise and experienced – but not old-fashioned or in denial about journalism’s future. He’s a man that loves the print press, but isn’t in love with it. He knows that good journalism is good journalism – and, above all else, he knows what makes journalists tick. He knows what we need to know. And he knows how to tell us.
If you’re a member of the NUJ, I urge you to vote for Michael Cross.
The stuffiness of the NUJ isn’t news, Dave.
The union was already out-dated twenty five years ago. It became clear to me then when I drew the organisers’ attention to the new Internet databases that were beginning to appear — ripping off stuff we’d written for magazines on a first publication only basis. It turned out that our publishers were selling our pieces on wholesale to the databases without reference to us.
Was the NUJ livid? Was it even mildly interested? Neither of these things. Like you, I resigned.
–
Chris
Chris Bidmead
Freelance IT Journalist
Columnist: PC Plus
Michael Cross’s fame and reputation extends over here to Ireland. I hope he gets the position .
The future of the union – and I have always looked upon the NUJ as a union rather than as the professional association which was and still is, the CIOJ , despite the fact that the Insitute has been much snaller in numbers almost since the Union split away from it in 1905, is in Unity . The Institute has always had the ‘ quality’ , never mind the width !
Wages and Conditions, enforced by the closed shop, that is what the union has always been about, what it was about until the extremists took over and made it into a public relations outlet for the likes of the Socialist Workers Party and assorted fellow travellers. This has cheapened the union beyond all for a long time now, for about thirty years .
And that is why it is so very important to have a person like Michael Cross as Editor of The Journalist at a time when the BAJ is doing the real work on the ground on behalf of pay & conditions – and, importantly undertaking successful legal cases on behalf of journalists who are robbed daily by employers .
Here in Ireland the situation is so bad that freelancers won’t even trust the newspapers to pay them at all after phoning in stories – that in some cases later appear under a nom-de-plume of somebody non-existent !
Ideally what most journalists want is a united association brought about by the merger of the Union, the Institute and the BAJ , because that is what would serve us and the profession best.
In unity is strength, I believe that Michael Cross thinks similarly , and that more importantly he would encourage such positive constructive thinking as Editor of the Journalist .
Exploratory talks towards unity should commence immediately in the New Year for all our sakes, but above all for the professionalism of journalism to be restored so that journalists might again occupy our former status in society.
Let us therefore look forward ro a new Golden Age of journalism in these islands where our literary forebears were giants in the earth .
It is madness, it was always insane, to have the union and the institute fighting like cats and dogs . I look forward to sane people like Michael Cross putting an end to all of that as he works towards the enhancement of journalism.
And in this Recession, I believe that none of the three unions have any choice if they want to continue to exist , to be able to represent journalists and the professiion properly . Neither of them has any funds worth talking about left,neither of them has the strength anymore to go it alone, there is now no choice but to unite for all our sakes in the maintenance of standards, pay, conditions and the status and furure of journalism .
Let our unions hang together or they’ll hang separately !
Sorry, I left no ‘ C.V.’ – I worked as a provincial journalist and photographer for ” The Munster Express “, Waterford City, Ireland. I left the NUJ years ago when there was a local objection to me working as a photo-journalist ( after I was fourteen years in the job ! ) . Along the way I refused another job offered to me by “The Irish Times” , Dublin – as that job belonged to a journalist I knew !!! None of my ‘ local critics’ had the integrity to do that – they’re all NUJ !!! I joined the Institute. I am now left all unions, as I run my own photographic studio in the medieval City of Kilkenny, delighted to steer new entrants into whatever bits and pieces of press work that crop up , and , if I’m around, to help them for free with tips on the job . Mine is an open door for all, young and old, because I am passionate about the profession . And I see now with the benefit of hindsight, not wielding a cudgel for any of the three unions, that for the sake of the profession they will simply have to get together – otherwise they will fail a whole new generation just as they have failed the generation over the last quarter of a century . Politics is anathema to me – as it should be to the NUJ in particular, it has done nothing but split the profession and destroyed the union.
(And to reassure Chris and your good self, Dave, this oul fella ( 62 ) studied as a mature student and gained my bachelors in computer science from Trinity College Dublin, so I’m well able for your PC PLUS articles, Chris, and to appreciate your point
Cheers,
Michael.
Latest inline news from The Kilkenny Reporter Online |:
Irish Photographer Michael McGrath slandered as Drunk !
Irish Photographer Still Slandered as Drunk !
KIlkenny City Photographer Michael McGrath is still slandered daily today as a drunk by envious competitor photographers in Kilkenny , Ireland – though he has not touched alcohol for ten years !!!
And in fact Michael says that he was never drunk in his life , but suffered from a nervous condition that was treated successfully by doctors back in the year 2000 .
The condition , that can result in involuntary shouting in public, was a great embarrassment to him all his life up to then .
But local competitors , especially in wedding photography , still put about the story that he is drunk , because they cannot possibly compete with the Pro Photographer’s sheer talent on a level playing pitch .
And in fact Michael points out that it is physically impossible for him to drink alcohol anyway as he suffers all his life from gastric ulcers as well .
” I can stand the physical suffering ” , Michael McGrath told The Kilkenny Reporter , ” but it’s hard to live with the lies and slanders – especially when I do not drink at all and have not touched an alcoholic drink since the turn of the century . ”
We wonder how the liars and slanderers of Kilkenny live with themselves , and , yes , you guessed it , the slanderers are the worst photographers around , we would certainly not want people like that at our weddings !
This is your online newspaper , what do you think ?
- Ratagain .
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