STANDING UP FOR JOURNALISTS

03-11-2007

People who do the mucky job of reporting on other people's lives often rank lower in surveys of trustworthiness than politicians and estate agents. Miles Barter asks you to ditch your preconceptions and stand up for journalists.

Monday November 5th is Stand Up for Journalism day - and staff at the Coventry Telegraph have already won its first victory. Telegraph journalists were due to stage a lunchtime walk out to protest at staff cuts - the number of reporters on the paper has fallen from 27 to 15 in the past six years.

But between the National Union of Journalists' strike ballot and action taking place the Trinity Mirror-owned paper came up with new proposals.

Three new reporters are to be taken on, two others replaced, and a causal employed one day a week. Coventry will now mark Stand Up For Journalism day with a protest, attended by some city councillors, in the square outside the Belgrade Theatre at 8.30am.

In Birmingham the NUJ has booked a room at Bennett's Bar on Bennett's Hill to hold a drop in event over lunch and early afternoon. Journalists, fellow trades unionists, and anyone wants to discuss the state on the West Midlands media is welcome to drop in for a sandwich or a drink.

BBC journalists will be protesting at cuts to the corporation's news services in Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, between 1pm and 3pm.

Similar events are happening in 20 European countries. There will be a two-minute work stoppage by media workers in Serbia, a demonstration outside the National Assembly in Paris, and a petition to the government in Romania.

Stand Up for Journalism day was called to coincide with the Society of Editors conference at the swanky Radisson Hotel, on the site of the old Free Trade Hall in Manchester. The NUJ is organising a lobby of the event.

Union president Michelle Stanistreet, who works for the Sunday Express, said: "The media is owned by a smaller and smaller group of extremely wealthy corporations.

"They make big profits but they want more. So journalists face a constant round of job cuts and dwindling editorial budgets. This means that more and more news is just recycled press releases.

"We want our editors to join with us and stand up to the culture of cuts. If they believe that journalism is important for democracy and for local communities they must take a stand.

"They are meeting on a site that was developed to commemorate the Peterloo massacre. We hope they will take courage from history and seize the moment."

In Manchester journalists and their supporters will gather outside the offices of the Manchester Evening News on Hardman Street, off Deansgate at 12.30pm on November 5. They will march to the Radisson Hotel to lobby the editors' conference. There will be a rally in defence of journalism at 1.30pm in the Friends Meeting House on Mount Street.

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