26 February 2005

Snappers' competition

Take a look at: http://www.wacc.org.uk

Then click on 'network' and go down the page to click on the competition. Or just click on the headline to this item.

World Association for Christian Communication works for human dignity, justice and peace. It sees genuine communication as the basis of understanding and co-operation between peoples of different faiths and cultures.

It is inviting photographers to send in entries - first prize $500 (about £275).

24 February 2005

Future of Beeb

NUJ has teamed up with Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom to stage a conference on strategies to defend the Beeb and public service broadcasting.

It's at Headland House on Saturday March 5 from 10am to 4.30pm . Speakers include NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear, Dorothy Byrne, head of news and current affairs at C4 and Nick Jones, author and former Beeb political correspondent. Registration is a tenner, including lunch. You can turn up and pay on the day.

23 February 2005

CPBF newsletters

Have three copies of Free Press available. It is the Jan-Feb edition of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom's newsletter. Features include Using the Freedom of Information act anda report on the December meeting of Journalism and Public Trust - a NUJ/Mediawise-organised event aiming to improve public trust in journalism.

February minutes

Present: Jemima Kiss, Linda Harrison, Adrian Colley, Natalie Holmes, Adam Juniper, Rowan Dore, John Hughes, Virginia Bridgewater, Naomi Marks, Karen Hoy

1 Apologies: Steve Whitehead, Barbara Wiseman

2 No new member applications

3 Minutes of January meeting - it was pointed that the newsletter that was sent out with the January minutes was confusing in that it said the cost of the nujbrighton website was 50.75p a month. Some read that as the price it would cost members to use monthly. Adrian Colley said the figure was the monthly cost of the site, which is free to all to use, and apologised for not removing any ambiguities in the offending item.

4 Correspondence
i) Thank you letter from Manchester branch for our donation to the freelance activisits conference in November.

ii) Copy of Searchlight circulated

iii) Recruitment week - March 21-24. Do we want to organise an event? Meeting decided to encourage members to bring along non-members to the meeting/pub quiz. It suggested contacting the City College and Brighton University with a view to encouraging students to come along. It was agreed that the branch would offer a drink to such potential recruits, not as inducement, but as hospitality.

iv) BBC charter renewal meeting with Michael Grade, March 22 - details of how to attend this event were circulated.

5 Officers' reports
Adrian Colley said we had £1,411.23 in the bank.

6 Chapel reports
Argus MoC Karen Hoy said journalists had met pre-press staff, who are members of Amicus, who are in talks with Newsquest management at the Brighton Argus. She said journalists' pay claim had been delayed.

7 Any other business
There was no other business to transact

Next meeting is on Tuesday 15 March at 7.30pm.

17 February 2005

Intelligent quick-witted journalists required!

Great meeting this week at our new meeting venue - the Lord Nelson on Trafalgar Street.

I'll 'fess up: we lost the pub quiz. The winners scored 108, biggest losers 54 and we got 88. So it wasn't too embarrasing but we badly need more team members, despite the relatively good turnout. Yes - it is a union meeting but cunningly disguised as a night down the pub so do come along if you haven't already.

Minutes will be up soon - eh Adrian?! - for the nitty gritty...

12 February 2005

We want you as a new recruit

The NUJ is beefing up its recruitment drive with a week of activities next month.

It wants chapels and branches to consider staging a special event during the week.

There are still thousands of journos out there who aren't members and the NUJ says that often the main reason people haven't joined is that they haven't been asked.

The week of March 21-24 has been earmarked for the recruitment drive. Activities could include emails to all members in a workplace asking them to recruit a pal as a member; leafleting of other departments at your company, a quiz night, tenpin bowling, or whatever.

Head office also reckons a members audit of your workplace could be a good idea - with non-members to be wooed by sweet-talking reps!

This comes after five years of growth in membership. Brighton and Mid Sussex branch, re-formed in 1998, has more than doubled in size since our first meeting. Membership fluctuates monthly but we now have about 220 members across East and West Sussex.

The NUJ can send you recruitment leaflets, posters, membership forms and other promo material.

If you have any ideas on what the branch could do, get in touch, we're all ears! This will be on the agenda for February's meeting.

10 February 2005

February meeting - CORRECTION

This month's meeting is on Tuesday, February 15 at the Nelson Arms in Brighton. It is NOT on Wednesday. In the mailout I sent I wrongly wrote Wednesday, February 15. Apologies for that - a stupid mistake on my part.

So it's Tuesday at 7.30pm, to be followed by the pub quiz.