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.

Christmas Party!

It's nearly December and that means just one thing: the NUJ Christmas Party!

This year it will take place at 8pm on Monday 9th December at the exciting new venue Emporium on London Road, Brighton.

There will be entertainment, in the form of the Trades Union Movement's favourite rabble-rousing band Pog, free food, subsidised beer and, of course, the chance to meet other journos and their friends.

Everyone welcome - bring your friends! Tickets are £5 each and available from Eventbrite. 

See you there.

Revised motions for DM

Brighton & Mid-Sussex NUJ
Motions for 2014 Delegates Meeting

New membership category

This DM notes that:

• The proliferation of digital media has drawn many 'non-journalists' into journalistic work
• Many people performing journalistic work are not strictly eligible for NUJ membership, not only making them vulnerable to exploitation through, for instance, unpaid work, but also putting them outside the ethical framework the NUJ can provide through the Code of Conduct

This DM instructs the NEC to explore the potential and practicalities of a new membership category that will enable the recruitment of people who do journalistic work but do not see the relevance of the NUJ to themselves or may not be eligible to join.

Membership applications

This DM notes the complicated and confusing structure of the online application process to join the NUJ that may inhibit recruitment.

This DM instructs the NEC to sort it out please.

Press regulation

This DM notes

• The ongoing debate on press regulation and the fundamental disagreements between industry representatives, politicians, and special interest groups 
• The need for journalists - not editors or owners - to express a clear and representative view on regulation 
• The changing situation since the union's submissions to the Leveson Enquiry

This DM instructs the NEC to:

1. Review the union's position and organise a union-wide ballot to vote for or against a system of independent press regulation underpinned by statute, thereby establishing a unified policy expressed by the whole membership.
2. Ensure the NUJ enjoys full representation on any bodies that result from this debate

Press freedom

This DM notes the erosion of free speech exemplified in the treatment of The Guardian newspaper over the Edward Snowden affair, and that journalists are increasingly being regarded as the equivalent of terrorists and legitimate targets of state security measures.

This DM instructs the NEC to highlight this issue and redouble its support for journalistic integrity and press freedom.

War on austerity

This DM welcomes a motion carried by the TUC at its conference last September calling for mass joint strikes and peaceful civil disobedience across the country to “wage war on the politics of austerity”.

This DM notes:

• 13 million living in poverty, up by a million since the British government coalition came to power.
• 1.8 million families on housing waiting lists.
• half a million people now reliant on food banks.
• one million workers languishing on zero hour contracts.
• 2.5 million unemployed and 6.8 million more looking for more work.

This DM congratulates the TUC Congress for supporting unions taking co-ordinating action, including strikes, as the most effective way to break the cycle of pay restraint and cuts in jobs and services.

This DM agrees that an anti-austerity campaign should include mass industrial action, including a general strike, to oppose the cuts and the wrecking of the welfare state as well as a nationwide march against poverty in 2014.

This DM believes the money spent on waging war should be spent on food banks, putting people back to work, improving education and providing dignity for our elderly, not debt and despair.

This DM instructs the NEC to:

1. Campaign among the membership to support co-ordinated strikes with other unions against austerity cuts, pay and job losses in the media.
2. Campaign within the TUC for unions to name the day for co-ordinated strikes as soon as possible.

Agenda for next meeting and Motions for DM

Tuesday, 19 November, 7.30pm sharp
Red Roaster Cafe, St James Street, Brighton
Non-members welcome from 8.15pm

The next meeting will also consider motions for the NUJ Delegates Meeting.

Full agenda

1. Election of new members
2. Reports
3. Motions for DM (see below)
4. Any other branch business
5. Speaker: Dave Boyle
6. Questions and discussion

Will members please ensure they are at the Red Roaster by 7.30pm prompt.

Brighton & Mid-Sussex NUJ

Motions received for 2014 Delegates Meeting

Comments please to philmellows@btinternet.com

New membership category
This DM notes that:

• The proliferation of digital media has drawn many 'non-journalists' into journalistic work
• Many people performing journalistic work are not strictly eligible for NUJ membership, not only making them vulnerable to exploitation through, for instance, unpaid work, but also putting them outside the ethical framework the NUJ can provide through the Code of Conduct

This DM instructs the NEC to explore the potential and practicalities of a new membership category that will enable the recruitment of people who do journalistic work but do not see the relevance of the NUJ to themselves or may not be eligible to join.

Membership applications
This DM notes the complicated and confusing structure of the online application process to join the NUJ that may inhibit recruitment.

This DM instructs the NEC to sort it out please.

Press regulation
This DM notes

• The ongoing debate on press regulation and the fundamental disagreements between industry representatives, politicians, and special interest groups 
• The need for journalists - not editors or owners - to express a clear and representative view on regulation 
• The changing situation since the union's submissions to the Leveson Enquiry

This DM instructs the NEC to review the union's position and organise a union-wide ballot to vote for or against a system of independent press regulation underpinned by statute, thereby establishing a unified policy expressed by the whole membership.

War on austerity
This DM welcomes a motion carried by the TUC at its conference last September calling for mass joint strikes and peaceful civil disobedience across the country to “wage war on the politics of austerity”.

This DM notes:

• 13 million living in poverty, up by a million since the British government coalition came to power.
• 1.8 million families on housing waiting lists.
• half a million people now reliant on food banks.
• one million workers languishing on zero hour contracts.
• 2.5 million unemployed and 6.8 million more looking for more work.

This DM congratulates the TUC Congress for supporting unions taking co-ordinating action, including strikes, as the most effective way to break the cycle of pay restraint and cuts in jobs and services.

This DM agrees that an anti-austerity campaign should include mass industrial action, including a general strike, to oppose the cuts and the wrecking of the welfare state as well as a nationwide march against poverty in 2014.

This DM believes instead of proposing spending millions on war on Syria the money should be spent on waging war on food banks, putting people back to work, improving education and providing dignity for our elderly, not debt and despair.

This DM instructs the NEC to:

1. Campaign among the membership to support co-ordinated strikes with other unions against austerity cuts, pay and job losses in the media.
2. Campaign within the TUC for unions to name the day for co-ordinated strikes as soon as possible.

The Branch is also seeking nominations for the following posts

• NEC
• Ethics Council
• Photographers Council
• Industrial Councils - Broadcasting, Freelance, Magazine & Book, New Media, Newspapers & Agencies, PR & Information.

Next meeting: 19 November - Dave Boyle on 'Making the news'

Making the news: How local press can survive and thrive 
Speaker: Dave Boyle

Tuesday, 19 November, 7.30pm sharp
Red Roaster Cafe, St James Street, Brighton
Non-members welcome from 8.15pm

Following the success of our meeting featuring investigative journalist Nick Davies, which attracted an audience of 80 people from inside and outside the NUJ, the next in our series of open talks will debate the future of local news.

Some 25% of UK local authorities have no independent local paper, and that figure is set to increase. Pessimists say we’re seeing the end of the local press in a meaningful sense, yet at the same time assert that the sector is essential. Why is something so important on life support, and how can the patient be revived?

Among the many magic bullets suggested, one much neglected is the idea of making news owned and operated as a service, not a product, by the people who will care most if it’s not there.

Dave Boyle is a writer and co-operative business consultant, and former chief executive of campaign group Supporters Direct. His pamphlet Good News looked at the opportunities for community-owned media.

In 2013, he collaborated with the Carnegie Trust and Co-operatives UK on ‘Make Your Local News Work’, a highly popular nationwide series of events to explore co-operative and community ownership, and is now working with six pilot projects that resulted from the scheme.

His talk on the challenges, opportunities and future for local press - and the impact on journalists - is a must for anyone involved or interested in media.

This meeting will also consider motions for the NUJ Delegates Meeting.

Full agenda

• Election of new members
• Reports
• Motions (please submit motions to the branch secretary by November 11) 
• Any other branch business
• Speaker: Dave Boyle
• Questions and discussion

This event is free, but to make sure of your seat and help us plan, please register your attendance with Eventbrite.

NUJ Branch banner at the NHS rally

The Branch banner was in evidence again at the No to NHS Privatisation at Brighton Hospitals rally called by the GMB and Defend the NHS Sussex on Saturday 2 November. The NUJ's was the only non health union banner on the march of about 500-600 people. The photo above shows Branch Chair Adam Powley and the one below (taken by Nick Hider) shows Branch Secretary Phil Mellows.

Next meeting: 'Inside Stories' with Nick Davies, 21 October 2013

Nick Davies

The next Branch meeting will be at the Red Roaster, bottom of St James's Street, Brighton on 21 October 2013 at 8pm. Nick Davies of the Guardian will be giving a talk entitled 'Inside Stories' and it will largely take the form of a question and answer session - about the phone-hacking saga, Wikileaks, Flat Earth News, the NSA leaks, reporting technique, anything at all… If you have any questions, send them in.

As this will be a very popular meeting, we encourage members and friends to book tickets on Eventbrite. Tickets will be £3 (£5 after the 15th), which includes a drink - a choice of cask beers from the North Laine Brewery, a glass of wine, a bottle of lager or a soft drink - to help cover the cost of the venue.



Nick Davies is a freelance journalist, working regularly as special correspondent for the Guardian. In the last few years, he was centrally involved in the publication of secret US logs and cables obtained by Wikileaks and in exposing the phone-hacking scandal in Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper empire.

He is now working on a book about Murdoch and the hacking affair, due to be published in the UK, US, Canada, China and Western Europe when related criminal trials are finished, probably during 2014. More info on his website.

NUT strike, NHS rally and other forthcoming events

Thursday 17 October
NUT/NASUWT Strike
March and Rally meet 10:30am Pavilion Gardens

The rolling regional strike action by the NUT and NASUWT teaching unions hits the South East this Thursday 17 October. Please show you support by attending the strike day march and rally which will form up in The Pavilion Gardens at 10:30am. If you are a parent please also send a message of support to union reps at your child’s school – It makes a real difference.

Thursday 24 October

Zero Hours & Workfare - Our Employment Rights Under Attack

Public meeting co-sponsored by Brighton Benefits Campaign and Brighton & Hove Trades Union Council.

7.30 at Friends Meeting House
Speakers include:
Caroline Lucas MP
Pip Tindall Brighton Benefits Campaign
Glenn Kelly UNISON
Kevin Dale PCS

Saturday 2 November
No to NHS Privatisation at Brighton Hospitals
Called By GMB and Defend the NHS Sussex
10:30am outside the Royal Sussex County Hospital

Other events coming up:

Tuesday 5 November
Brighton Fights Back Against Austerity
A Brighton Peoples Assembly event
Meet at midday at the Clock Tower

Thursday 10 November
Small Revolutions
Night of music in support of the Brighton Peoples Assembly
Lord Nelson 6pm

Saturday 30 November
Demonstration of Solidarity with Russian LGBTQ People
“To Russia with Love”
Speakers include Russian LGBTQ activists and Peter Tatchell
https://www.facebook.com/russiawithlovebrighton

Hardworking demonstrators

Report from Manchester by Natasha Steel

Approaching the conference centre

The award for irony of the day must go to the Conservative Party. As a trade union march of 50,000 people whistled and booed their way past the heavily policed and fortified Manchester Central Conference Centre on Sunday, the Tory banners proclaimed their allegiance with “hardworking people”.

Strangely, a care worker from Chester I met who works fourteen hour shifts “wiping arses” and was on the demonstration was unswayed by the signage and showed no inclination for joining the party. 

“Half of the month I sleep over,” she said. “I don’t like it, having to get into a bed that someone else sleeps in, but you have to do it if you want to pay the mortgage. If there’s overtime I always say yes.

“It’s the only way we can make ends meet. 

“But you don’t actually get much sleep, there’s always someone up and you have to be up with them. I’ve done this for 25 years, what I really want to do is be an NHS nurse, but there’s no way I can afford to retrain and pay the mortgage. I just can’t take the risk.”

She recounted how her boss in the privately run company had told her that pay was low because ‘anyone can do care work.’

“Can you?” she’d asked. “Can you wipe shitty arses when it’s all up their back and on the walls? Can you do that?”

Unsurprisingly, he retracted.

She also described how work was made harder because the hoists that got boxes ticked on the inspectors’ rounds weren’t actually used because there wasn’t the time. “We just have to lift them in the old way,” she said.

 
Similar stories of overwork, low pay and worsening conditions could probably be told by many of the hardworking demonstrators on the march – over three times as many as were attending the party conference. However, according to the BBC’s chief political correspondent, Norman Smith, the Tories weren’t actually very interested in hearing from them after all.

“I was stopped from filming 'Live' for @BBCNews Channel from conf centre overlooking #nhs299 demo” he tweeted. 

Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, care workers, bakery workers, teachers, firefighters, journalists – the range of professions was vast, but the experiences were common. Not only do most people already work exceptionally hard, but pay is poor and housing expensive. Where regulation is weak, they are hit again. 

I think it’s safe to say – without irony - that on Sunday the hardworking people of Britain were on the streets of Manchester, not in the Conservative Party Conference.

Natasha Steel

Are we all journalists now? Report by Natasha Steel

The issue of standards and content has never been more important for journalists and the unions that represent them, members were told by guest speaker Aidan White at the Branch meeting on 24 September. White, who is director of the Ethical Journalism Network and a former general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, argued that there is a difference between the ‘free expression’ of members of the public sharing their opinions online and journalism.

“Journalism is ‘constrained expression’,” he said, explaining that it was constrained by “a framework of values” – accuracy, telling the truth, humanity, fairness and accountability – none of which applied online. However, he believes this is an opportunity for journalists and the union to share their values with teachers and parents as they and their children engage in the changing media landscape.

 
He told the members and guests gathered upstairs at The Mesmerist pub in Brighton that the traditional framework of print journalism was broken now that the audience had been brought into the process of newsgathering and dissemination of the news through social networks. 

“The industry has lost the capacity to make money,” he said, questioning whether it would ever return.
He pointed out that the journalism schools are bulging, but the only growth area for jobs for entrants is in the corporate sector and “precarious” freelance work. He said that in order to defend, enhance and promote “the craft of journalism”, the NUJ should work hard to recruit from these areas too.

He said that the Branch had a responsibility to deliver training and teaching of the craft – something that the national body has recently cut back on. 

Natasha Steel

The next NUJ meeting will take place on 21 October – venue and speaker to be announced.

Next meeting: Are we all journalists now?

Brighton & Mid-Sussex NUJ Branch Meeting
Tuesday, September 24, 7pm
The Mesmerist (upstairs meeting room), Prince Albert Street, Brighton (next to Town Hall)*
Non-NUJ welcome

Aidan White

Are we all journalists now?
Speaker: Aidan White, director of the Ethical Journalism Network

The growth of digital technology and proliferation of ‘citizen journalism’ has raised important questions for journalists and the trade unions that represent them.

Guest speaker Aidan White will argue that we need to rethink who qualifies as a journalist and kick off a debate about how the NUJ can recruit more widely, defend the interests of people working in the media and play a role in setting and maintaining ethical standards.

Aidan White is a former general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists and is currently director of the Ethical Journalism Network. ((http://www.ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/)) Previously, he was an activist in the NUJ.

PROVISIONAL AGENDA

• Welcome to new members
• Speaker: Aidan White
• Branch officers’ reports inc correspondence
• Chapel reports
• Trades Council report
• September 29 TUC demonstration against austerity
• Other activities
• Future meetings, Chriismas party and preparations for 2014 Delegates Meeting
• AOB

*Apologies, but there is no wheelchair access to this room. If anyone has any ideas for licensed venues in central Brighton with full disabled access, please let us know about them!

Motions for DM and Save our NHS

Motions for DM
The 2014 Delegate Meeting will take place in Eastbourne 11-14 April 2014. The deadline for submitting motions is 11 November. If you have a motion please get it to Phil Mellows on philmellows@btinternet.com before then please.

More info on http://www.nuj.org.uk/about/union-democracy/nuj-delegate-meeting/

Save our NHS
There will be a public meeting on Wednesday 18 September at 7.30 in the Friends Meeting House, Ship Street, Brighton. Speakers include Caroline Lucas MP and health economist Dr Lucy Reynolds. More info https://www.facebook.com/events/1417085491837254/

Brighton People's Assembly Undercover University

This Saturday, 7 September, join in Brighton People's Assembly Undercover University, in Steine Gardens 12 - 6pm. It's an afternoon of talks, practical workshops and discussion to help us make sense of the economic crisis, the impact it’s having on us and to explore the alternatives.

Workshops & Talks
12pm – Welfare Reform: Hurting but not working
1pm – Film-making workshop: How to create and promote your own low-budget film
2.30pm – A million climate jobs: The shift to a low-carbon economy
3pm – Let’s talk about Tax: Tackling poverty through a fairer tax system
4.30pm – The plot against the NHS: The privatisation of our health care services
5.30pm – A life of debt: The marketisation of education

Plus live music from The Bandana Collective and POG.

More info at http://freeuniversitybrighton.org/events/the-peoples-assembly-undercover/

Also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/157940194401182/

Demonstration against the cuts
A reminder too that the NUJ is backing a march and rally taking place in Manchester on Sunday 29 September to coincide with the Conservative Party conference. We shall be taking our banner and volunteers are needed to carry it.

Supported by the TUC and the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, tens of thousands of people are expected to travel from around the country to show their feelings about cuts to jobs, services and benefits and in support of the NHS.

A special train is being laid on from London, while Brighton Trades Council has organised a coach from Brighton - £10 waged £2 unwaged. For a place on the coach, book here http://brightonnhscoach-es2.eventbrite.co.uk/?rank=1#.

The march will assemble at Liverpool Road, near the Museum of Science and Industry, at 11.00 and at 12.30 the march will set off via Deansgate and John Dalton Street for the rally in Whitworth Park, opposite the Manchester Royal Infirmary, at around 14.00.
http://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/march-and-rally-sunday-29-september-2013/

Demonstration against the cuts and Mass sleep out

Demonstration against the cuts
The NUJ is backing a march and rally taking place in Manchester on Sunday 29 September to coincide with the Conservative Party conference. Supported by the TUC and the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, tens of thousands of people are expected to travel from around the country to show their feelings about cuts to jobs, services and benefits and in support of the NHS.

A special train is being laid on from London, while Brighton Trades Council has organised a coach from Brighton - £10 waged £2 unwaged. For a place on the coach, email BrightonTradesCouncil@gmail.com.

 The march will assemble at Liverpool Road, near the Museum of Science and Industry, at 11.00 and at 12.30 the march will set off via Deansgate and John Dalton Street for the rally in Whitworth Park, opposite the Manchester Royal Infirmary, at around 14.00.
http://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/march-and-rally-sunday-29-september-2013/

Mass sleep out in Brighton and Worthing
Campaigners in Brighton are joining a nationwide protest against the ‘Bedroom Tax’ and other benefit cuts by sleeping out overnight. The protest in Worthing takes place from 7pm on Friday 23 August, at Liverpool Terrace. The Brighton event is from 2pm on Saturday 24 August in Steine Gardens and is supported by Brighton Benefits Campaign. Information about both events can be found on Facebook.