Report from Eastbourne DM

A full delegation from Brighton & Mid-Sussex branch attended the NUJ's Delegate Meeting in Eastbourne last weekend. There will be a full report-back and time for questions and discussion at the next branch meeting on Monday, April 28 (time and venue to be confirmed soon).

Fate of the branch's motions:

Motion 62 (Recruitment), instructing the NEC to make it easier for people to join the union online by streamlining the application process.

The NEC amendment, which effectively removed the instruction, was passed and the substantive motion agreed. A defeat for the branch, but we succeeded in opening up a dialogue with those responsible for the NUJ website and we hope that the required improvements follow.

Motion 101 (Ethics), calling for the NUJ to take a clear position on media regulation, post-Leveson, balloting the membership on the question of an independent regulator, underpinned by statute, and to promote its own representation on any bodies that are formed.

This was ruled out of order on a technicality only a few hours before it was due to be debated. Conference Standing Orders Committee (SOC), which makes such recommendations, apologised for not advising the branch at an earlier stage, when it would have been simple for the motion to be amended and put in order. We were offered the opportunity to effectively speak to the motion in the form of a question about the union's Annual Report, which we took, and we also challenged the decision in front of conference, but the attempt to reinstate the motion failed.

The branch was involved in two other motions:

Composite W (Government Policies), bringing together motions from a whole number of branches, including ourselves, on low pay, calling on the TUC to call a one-day general strike and other coordinated action. This was won. An amendment from the NEC cutting weakening the general strike call was defeated.

We were also among a number of branches proposing a late-notice motion on Egypt that aimed to involve the union in the campaign against repression, including the repression of journalists. This fell off the agenda because of lack of time.

Other debates and decisions worth highlighting:

The problems at Newsquest Group surrounding job losses and the transfer of subs to remote production hubs, affecting our members at the Argus, were discussed. We'll have a report from the chapel at the next branch meeting.

A broader definition of who can join the union, extending it more clearly to those in digital media and 'community journalists' was agreed. This is something the branch has been quite keen on, and we voted for it.

Subscriptions were increased, by 11% for Grade 1, 5% for Grade 2 and 7% for Grade 3. Branch delegates voted in favour.

A move towards earnings-related subs, while attracting support in principle, was defeated because of problems with its proposed implementation. Branch delegates voted against.

A further motion from the NEC giving it the power to increase subs between DMs was defeated. Again, branch delegates voted against.

DM voted, narrowly, to abolish the elected position of Deputy General Secretary and replace it with a non-elected Assistant General Secretary. Branch delegates voted against.

There was lots and lots of other stuff. Please come to the meeting on April 28 to hear more.

Phil Mellows

NUJ freelance training courses coming up in May

These courses are open to both members and non-members.

16 May at Headland House in London
Getting Started as a Freelance - ideal for those just turning freelance or thinking about it. Covers finance/tax/NICs, how to find work (including shifts), getting paid, copyright and more.
http://www.nuj.org.uk/events/getting-started-as-a-freelance-may-2014/


23 May at Headland House in London
Pitch & Deal - this course is about the business side of pitching - selling your ideas, how to up your fees and negotiating rights (it doesn't cover generating ideas and matching them to suitable publications). There is some role play.
http://www.nuj.org.uk/events/pitch-and-deal-may-2014/

For more info, contact Louise Bolotin
http://plaintext.co.uk
http://louisebolotin.com

Health journalism conference in Coventry

From Alan Taman (NUJ PRCC & Birmingham Vice-Chair):

Second International Conference on Health Journalism

14-16 May, Coventry

I'm co-organising a major conference on health journalism in May, as well as helping to run the NUJ's campaign on health journalism reporting and PR (details: www.europeanhealthjournalism.com ).

One of my chief concerns is that any journalist who could be called on to cover health hears about these, and can attend and contribute if possible. This of course includes many who do not have specialist training in health; if anything, I think it's more important that they hear about what we are trying to achieve, and we hear what they have to say.

Could I therefore please ask you to pass on the details about the conference to your members, especially those with an interest in health and the health services?

The aim of the conference is to look at the issues facing the reporting of health and health PR internationally as well as in the UK, and begin to address ways of ensuring all reporters and PRs who have to cover health have enough resources and training (www.europeanhealthjournalism.com ; #forhealthj on Twitter). Please contact myself for further details on aptaman@aol.com.

Thank you.

Russell Brand, Girl Guides and The Sun

Branch officer and committee member Rachael Glazier has an article in the latest issue of The Journalist on the campaign to ban Page 3 of The Sun. It's on page 19:

http://issuu.com/nujupload/docs/journalist_marchapril2014

Photos from last night's meeting

Rob Evans - Photo by Melita Dennett

Natasha Steel and Rob Evans - Photo by Melita Dennett

Pre-meeting for 11 March 2014

There will be a pre-meeting, 7pm at the Red Roaster before the 8pm Rob Evans talk.

Agenda

1. Election of new members 
2. Reports 
3. Support for March 22 anti-racism demo - a coach has been booked and it's on Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/coach-from-brighton-to-stand-up-to-racism-demo-parliament-sq-22314-tickets-10826675879?ref=estw) 
4. Late notice motion for DM on Egypt (this is being raised at a number of branches, more info here: http://egyptsolidarityinitiative.org/)

This part of the proceedings is free to NUJ members.

Next meeting 11 March: Infiltration, intrusion and intimacy

Infiltration, intrusion and intimacy - how the police monitored activists - with 'Undercover' journalist Rob Evans

Red Roaster, 11 March 2014, at 8pm

'Undercover': how the police used infiltration and intimacy to gather information on non-violent activists

Investigative journalist Rob Evans, working with colleague Paul Lewis, laid bare an undercover operation so secretive that some of the UK’s most senior police officers had no idea it existed. The job of the clandestine unit was to monitor British 'subversives' – including environmental activists, anti-racist groups and animal-rights campaigners.

Due to the compelling work of these dogged journalists, and the publication of their book Undercover, we now know how the police stole the identities of dead people to create fake passports, driving licences and bank accounts. They then went deep undercover for years, inventing whole new lives so that they could live incognito among the people they were spying on.

They used sex, intimate relationships and drugs to build their credibility. They betrayed friends, deceived lovers and even fathered children.

The NUJ Brighton & Sussex branch is delighted to host Rob Evans to talk about his work and the issues raised in Undercover.

Rob will also reveal how journalists reporting on politically sensitive stories and attending protests and political meetings can find themselves on the police’s ‘domestic extremist’ database – and how to use the Data Protection Act to find out if that applies to you.

Read a review from the London Review of Books here.

Book now at Eventbrite. Due to expected high demand for this event, there will be free early bird registration for NUJ members until 4 March; thereafter £2. Non-members welcome at £2.

Some more background reading: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/03/undercover-officer-major-riot-john-jordan

Next Branch Meeting: 3 February at the Lord Nelson

Next Branch meeting:
Monday, 3 February, 7.30pm
Lord Nelson (back room), Trafalgar Street BN1

Agenda

• Welcome and apologies
• New members
• Reports
• Delegates meeting motions and amendments
• Future meetings
• AOB

Page 3, freedom of speech and a great big blob of inequality

Photo by Bridget Hodgson

With the title 'Jealous flat-chested bints' and the speaker one Caroline Lucas MP, it was hardly a surprise that the Brighton and Sussex NUJ talk on Thursday 23 January at the Red Roaster was packed. Tickets sold out in a few days and people hoping to nab a return on the night were turned away disappointed.

The debate on sexism in the media, centred around the No More Page 3 campaign, was hosted by radio producer and presenter Melita Dennett. Since the campaign began in the summer of 2012 it has elicited a strong response from a wide cross-section of the population – both women and men – who think images of topless women in family newspapers should be consigned to history. In the past few days both the parenting website Mumsnet and comedian and actor Russell Brand have given their considerable support to the campaign.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, explained that the campaign is not asking for an all out ban across all media, but is instead asking for a voluntary agreement from The Sun's editor David Dinsmore to stop picturing topless women on Page 3 where children as well as adults can easily see them. But it's not just involuntary exposure that is worrying the campaigners: amongst numerous reports cited by them on the No More Page 3 website is the government-commissioned Sexualisation of Young People Review by Dr Linda Papadopoulos, published in February 2010, which reported: "Exposure to the sexualised female ideal is linked with lower self-esteem, negative moods and depression in young women and girls." It also concluded there is "a clear link between consumption of sexualised images, a tendency to view women as objects and the acceptance of aggressive attitudes and behaviour as the norm."

To those who suggested that the campaign could be accused of crushing freedom of speech, Lucas responded: "Women have the freedom not to be denigrated or abused. it's not calling for a total ban – to me it seems pretty reasonable."

Other questions centred on whether enough is being done in schools to educate children in how to behave online – no, in Lucas's opinion. Given the government's current narrow focus on traditional curriculum, she explained, other extra-curriculum subjects are being left out. "It's incredibly frustrating that this is seen as a divergence from education, as to me it is an essential part of education," said Lucas. "Education is going to be at the bottom of this. No matter how sophisticated the porn filters...they will always find a way if they are determined enough."

When asked how she would respond to accusations that there are more important issues to be debated, Lucas replied: "We will look at those too. That [accusation] is a very lazy way of dealing with a subject when people don't want to debate it. There are bigger problems, so let's get on with this one and then move on."

Tweeting Rupert Murdoch, the founder of The Sun's owner News Corp, and other publishers was discussed as being a good way to effect change. "I do get the sense that the more annoyed he [Murdoch] gets on a personal level, that he might drop it," said Lucas. Targeting advertisers and embarrassing them with their complicity was another approach that was discussed as being profitable.

Lucas was confident that the end of Page 3 will be soon. Opponents may be vocal – and on Twitter, frequently vicious – but she maintained that they have a weak argument. "There is certainly a lot of righteous anger out there that doesn't stand up to a lot of challenge." Another reason for her confidence is the younger generation: "We're at a time when young people are more politicised, and their willingness to stand up and call out sexism is so much greater. There is a real kickback happening."

The Irish Sun stopped printing pictures of topless women in August 2013 and with a specific domestic abuse law looking likely within the next few years, perhaps women can start to feel hopeful that true equality is possible. Before that happens, the House of Commons could do with a look at its own affairs – only 22.6% of UK MPs are female, a lower percentage than in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq. As Dennett put it so succinctly: "A great big blob of inequality is staring us in the face." The campaigners for No More Page 3 are hopeful that they can start to shrink that blob.

Rachael Glazier

If you'd like to hear the debate then listen to Radio Reverb soon.

'Jealous flat-chested bints' - NUJ talk on media, sexism and freedom of expression with Caroline Lucas MP

Next meeting: Red Roaster, 23 January 2014 at 8pm

This meeting has now SOLD OUT! If you have a ticket but can no longer go, please release it so someone can take your place.

'Jealous flat-chested bints': media, sexism and freedom of expression - old problems, new challenges

'Jealous flat-chested bints' is how one Twitter troll chose to use their freedom of expression in the face of the highly successful No More Page Three campaign. Last year Brighton MP Caroline Lucas won national media attention when she was chastised for ‘inappropriate’ attire while wearing a campaign T-shirt in the House of Commons during a debate on media sexism.

The UK’s only Green MP is the NUJ Brighton & Sussex branch’s first speaker of 2014. She joins the branch on 23 January to discuss ways that journalists, broadcasters and public figures can challenge old fashioned sexism and discrimination in the media and the new forms of harassment experienced through social media.

Caroline is also a vocal campaigner against the ‘gagging law’, officially called the transparency of lobbying, non-party campaigning and trade union administration bill. This talk will also explore the implications of this dangerous, anti-democratic piece of legislation on freedom of expression for unions, campaigners and NGOs and ways to resist it.

There will be time for Q&A.

This event is being recorded for future broadcast on Radio Reverb.

Due to expected high demand for this event, there will be free early bird registration until 16 January for NUJ members and Sound Women members; thereafter £2. Non-members welcome at £2. Book now at Eventbrite.

Add your name to the growing list of backers for the Women’s Assembly Against Austerity.

The People’s Assembly is pleased to announce the Women’s Assembly conference date as announced in the Guardian, to take place on Saturday 22 February 2014 at Conway Hall, London.

Photo by Linda Nylind

Also coming up:

Red Roaster, 11 March 2014, at 8pm

'Undercover': how the police used infiltration and intimacy to gather information on non-violent activists - with investigative journalist Rob Evans

Investigative journalist Rob Evans, working with colleague Paul Lewis, laid bare an undercover operation so secretive that some of the UK’s most senior police officers had no idea it existed. The job of the clandestine unit was to monitor British 'subversives' – including environmental activists, anti-racist groups and animal-rights campaigners.

Due to the compelling work of these dogged journalists, and the publication of their book Undercover, we now know how the police stole the identities of dead people to create fake passports, driving licences and bank accounts. They then went deep undercover for years, inventing whole new lives so that they could live incognito among the people they were spying on.

They used sex, intimate relationships and drugs to build their credibility. They betrayed friends, deceived lovers and even fathered children.

The NUJ Brighton & Sussex branch is delighted to host Rob Evans to talk about his work and the issues raised in Undercover.

Rob will also reveal how journalists reporting on politically sensitive stories and attending protests and political meetings can find themselves on the police’s ‘domestic extremist’ database – and how to use the Data Protection Act to find out if that applies to you.

Read a review from the London Review of Books here.

Book now at Eventbrite. Due to expected high demand for this event, there will be free early bird registration for NUJ members until 4 March; thereafter £2. Non-members welcome at £2.

January union events

Here are a few Trades Council events that may be of interest to NUJ members:

Wednesday 8 January
Brighton Peoples Assembly Open Meeting on Fuel Poverty
7:30pm Community Base, Queens Road

Tuesday 14 January
Candlelit picket of workfare exploiters Grosvenor G Casino
meet at the Pier 7pm

Friday 17 January
No charges against the Sussex Five! Demonstration against disciplinary action!
1pm Library Square, Sussex Uni

Sunday 19 January
Brighton Benefits Campaign fund-raising roast
Cowley Club 1-3pm

Stand by for news of the next Branch meeting, with speaker!

Next Branch Meeting

Brighton & Mid-Sussex NUJ Branch Meeting
Monday, 6 January, 7pm
The Lord Nelson (back room), Trafalgar Street, BN1(down the hill from the station)

AGENDA: 

• Welcome 
• New members 
• Reports 
• Delegates Meeting preliminary agenda - branch motions and amendments 
• Election of DM delegates (please email nominations to Phil) 
• Planning Caroline Lucas meeting January 23 
• Other future meetings 
• Branch committee reorganisation 
• Any other business

Brighton and Hove first in the country to oppose the gagging law

From the 38 Degrees team:

Great News! Last Thursday Brighton and Hove became the first place in the country to formally oppose the gagging law.

Brighton and Hove councillors debated and passed a motion against the gagging law*.  38 Degrees members sent over 1600 emails to councillors asking them to back the campaign for freedom of speech - and it definitely had an effect! Councillors don’t often get involved in Westminster policies, so the fact that this motion was voted on - and passed - just shows how controversial the gagging law is.

And in the lead up to January’s massive public meeting on the gagging law, news like this is really important.

Mike Weatherley, the MP for Hove, has still not said he’s coming. And Simon Kirby, Brighton Kemptown MP, has put the date in his diary, but hasn’t 100% confirmed yet. The more the gagging law is on the local political agenda, the more pressure these MPs will be under to join in the debate.

Make sure you’ve saved the date for the public meeting in your diary! It’s on Thursday 9th January, and it looks like it’s going to be an amazing event.

If you haven’t done so already you can RSVP on facebook here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/Brighton-Public-Meeting

Or in the comments section of the blog here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/Come-to-a-meeting-in-Brighton

This could spark a movement in councils across the UK. Brighton and Hove was the first council to take a stand and publicly oppose the gagging law, but it could inspire other councils to do the same thing!

Thanks so much for all your hard work,

Megan, Becky, Rebecca & the 38 Degrees team

* This is the motion the councillors debated on. It passed with 34 votes in favour, 16 against, and 1 abstention:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/motion-to-oppose-gagging-law

Xmas Social

There will be an informal Xmas social, at The North Laine pub, Gloucester Place, Brighton, on Thursday 19th December from 6pm onwards. Free drinks for early birds. Food available. See you there?

Christmas is cancelled (maybe!)

Because of disappointing ticket sales, it is with regret that the Xmas Party at Emporium has been cancelled. We are hoping to reconvene in a smaller venue, later in the month, so watch this space.