Jon Slattery

Strike off at Thomson Reuters after NUJ pay deal

3 hours 48 min ago

NUJ members at Thomson Reuters in London have called off the planned 48 hours of industrial action which was due to start tomorrow following an improved pay offer.

In a joint statement the union and management said: "We are pleased to announce that London members of the NUJ today voted to accept an enhanced pay deal and call off industrial action scheduled for tomorrow and Friday.

"The agreed 3% increase includes a minimum pay raise of 2.5% and an additional .5% available for merit raises. The deal was reached after a number of days of constructive negotiations between the NUJ and Thomson Reuters to resolve this dispute."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary said: “We are pleased management have backtracked on the derisory pay offer. The improved offer shows just how valuable it is to have the backing of the NUJ. This deal sets the tone for future negotiations between the chapel and management and I hope the pay deal sends a strong message to other companies in the media industry."

Helen Long, NUJ chapel rep at Thomson Reuters, added: “It seemed inconsistent to us that, while claiming to be the best-funded news organisation in the world, and the one with the best business model, Thomson Reuters was only prepared to offer one of the lowest pay rises in the industry.”

Guido: 'Journalists are reluctant to speak out'

9 hours 46 min ago

Blogger Guido Fawkes, aka Paul Staines, told the Leveson Inquiry today that journalists are reluctant to speak out because they are worried about their careers.

He said: "People still in the business are reluctant to admit what's going on."

Staines also said that journalists "were very thin skinned" and "will put the knife into each other by me." He agreed, after being asked by Lord Justice Leveson, that there was an "unwritten rule" that journalists did not write about other newspapers.

He told the inquiry: "I'm a citizen of a free republic [Ireland] and since 1922 don't have to do what a British judge tells me to do."

On privacy, Staines said: "I don't think people in public life paid for by the tax-payer should have the same expectancy of privacy as a private citizen."

He also defended the Telegraph's use of subterfuge over the Vince Cable story because "he was saying one thing in private and one in public."

Staines told the inquiry he would not join a press regulatory body because he would have to "self-censor" and didn't "want an editorial product that's politically correct".

In an attack on the Lobby system, Staines said it was a cartel and journalists should not accept anonymous briefings. He called for Lobby briefings to be televised.

He claimed Lobby journalists knew about the expenses scandal but it only became public because of freedom of information campaigning journalist Heather Brooke.

Staines said he favoured an unregulated free press and the enforcement of existing criminal laws over issues such as phone hacking. He said if the Leveson Inquiry did not act as a catalyst to prosecute journalists who had invaded privacy on "an industrial scale" it would have failed.

Staines claimed his website attracted 50,000 to 100,000 users a day.

Dacre's press card plan. What would Orwell say?

12 hours 48 min ago

"This Paul Dacre press card. It's a bit Big Brotherish don't you think?"

Patrick Barclay in Twitter storm over Heysel tweet

13 hours 2 min ago

Sports journalist Patrick Barclay has run into a Twitterstorm after hitting back at a Liverpool fan, who criticised him for having worked for a Murdoch paper, with a tweet about the Heysel stadium disaster.

Despite the Twitter backlash, which saw Heysel trending, Barclay tweeted: "The usual twisters are active, I hear - "he's mocking the dead" - but those who can read plain English know I wasn't mocking. The opposite."

He later tweeted: "Sorry that some people found my reply yesterday inappropriate - certainly meant to cause no offence."

Paul Dacre's press card plan comes under fire

22 hours 17 min ago

Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre's proposal for a new press body that would issue press cards to journalists - and withdraw them from those found guilty of malpractice - was roundly criticised at the launch of a new book on the phone hacking scandal.

Speakers at a Media Society debate, marking the publication of a new book 'The Phone Hacking Scandal: Journalism on Trial', said the press card scheme was tantamount to licensing journalists.

Professor Steven Barnett, of Westminster University, claimed it was wrong to put the blame on journalists for poor press standards. "The culture and ideology is imposed from above. Look at the Mail and the Express. The journalists are told 'go and get me this story and fit it into this template'."

Kevin Marsh, the former editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, said Dacre's proposal was extraordinary and sounded like the way journalists were treated in China and Zimbabwe. He quipped: "What would I have to do to get Melanie Phillips struck off?"

Professor Ivor Gaber, of City University, said he was horrified at the idea that a new press body would be able "to licence journalists and withdraw their licences."

Former Sunday Mirror editor Paul Connew suggested the press card plan was "impractical in the age of the blogosphere."

Marsh, one of the contributors to 'The Phone Hacking Scandal', described the tabloid press as "an incredibly powerful, unaccountable machine for turning vindictiveness into cash." He also claimed Mail Online had become one of the most successful websites in the world "purely by using paparazzi pictures."

• 'The Phone Hacking Scandal: Journalism on Trial': Edited by Richard Lance Keeble and John Mair, published Arima Publishing.

Tributes to 'newspaper legend' Alan Goode

7 February 2012 - 1:04pm

Warm tributes in the Bristol Evening Post and the Plymouth Herald today to former Bristol United Press chief executive and editor Alan Goode who died in hospital yesterday aged 72.

Goode started in his role as chief executive at Bristol United Press in 1994, after rising through the ranks of regional journalism to become editor of the Plymouth Evening Herald.

He oversaw BUP – then the parent company of the Evening Post and Western Daily Press – as it expanded and registered record profits in the late 1990s.

Goode his first job in journalism was a trainee reporter at the Oldbury Weekly News in 1960.He had two spells at the Wolverhampton Express and Star – one as chief reporter – and a spell at the Birmingham Post and Mail before he became editor of the Evening Herald.

Former Evening Post editor Mike Lowe, who was appointed by Goode in the mid-1990s, said: "Alan was a true newspaper legend who was fortunate enough to live through the golden age of the regional industry.

"He was a brilliant newspaperman and an inspirational leader who was hugely respected by his peers. He had a great sense of fun and mischief and was incredibly loyal to his staff."

Phil Welch, editor at Mid Somerset News & Media, said: "Alan was a wonderful man, a mentor to me and a friend to many."

Alan Cooper, who was his deputy at the Herald said Goode was renowned for his "fantastic sense of humour and larger-than-life character".

He added: "I joined the Herald in the same year as Alan where I worked as his deputy editor. It was a partnership made in heaven and we became lifelong friends.

"He was such a lovely man and my admiration for him has never been diminished. "He was one of the true greats in the profession and an absolute pleasure to work with – we had a fantastic partnership.

"His fantastic sense of humour will be remembered forever. He was a wonderful journalist, a wonderful editor and a wonderful man."

• In retirement, Goode returned to his journalistic roots as a community correspondent. (Pic: Plymouth Herald)
  

Indy backing for Paul Dacre's new press card plan

7 February 2012 - 8:40am

The Independent in a leader today backs the idea, put forward at the Leveson Inquiry by Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, that a new press body should control the issuing of press cards for journalists.

Dacre told the inquiry yesterday that the new press cards would be a kitemark for responsible journalists and those found guilty of malpractice could have their press cards withdrawn and be "struck off" in the the way the General Medical Council disciplines doctors.

The Independent leader says: "Mr Dacre was right that the idea that journalists should be licensed by the state is repellent to the fundamentals of press freedom. But there is merit in his suggestion for a body replacing, or sitting alongside, the existing Press Complaints Commission, which would be charged with the wider upholding of media standards.

"One of its functions might be the issuing of a press card which could be suspended or withdrawn from individuals who gravely breach those standards. And while some people will argue that a kitemark for professional journalism might threaten freedom of expression in an age when much news and comment originates with bloggers and social networks, there is no danger to that freedom in giving the public what might be called a quality reassurance. Some information sources are more reliable than others.

"Bodies such as the Jockey Club, the Law Society and the General Medical Council supervise their own spheres of professional activity. There is no reason why a collective of media organisations should not together do the same for journalism. The proposal has the potential to improve the standing of the industry, and act in the interests of our wider democracy."

• The NUJ is likely to fiercely resist any move which would take the issuing of press cards out of its hands. The union fought hard to be classed as a "gatekeeper" under the present press card issuing system, which was brought in after the Met Police decided it no longer wanted to be responsible for issuing press cards in London.
• Simon Carr in the Independent today has a pop at Robert Jay QC, the lead counsel at the Leveson Inquiry. Carr writes: "There is something in Mr Jay's manner that would start a fight in a pub. Not just the beard, or the passive combativeness. No, he insinuates mean motives into his questions, and sometimes when he finishes his question he leaves his mouth open. It hangs there, disbelievingly. Try that in the Garrick Club and you'd leave without your teeth."

First there was the custard shortage...now the Whitstable Times reveals the great bog roll theft

7 February 2012 - 12:00am

From the paper that brought you the classic 'Whitstable Mum in Custard Shortage'... now the Whitstable Times is reporting on the great bog roll theft mystery.

The Times reports: "VOLUNTEERS at a community centre are getting bogged down with the theft of toilet rolls from their building. As many as 15 rolls are being taken from Whitstable Umbrella Centre each week."

According to the Times, "Staff lifted the lid on the losses in the hope of sniffing out the culprits and persuading them to stop. Otherwise, they warn, they will have to lock their loos."

Centre manager Rob Isted tells the Times: "If it's about 20p a roll and we're losing 12 to 15 rolls a week, that's about £150 a year."

A glum looking Isted is pictured at the scene of the crime pointing at an empty bog roll holder.

The Times' custard shortage tale became a sensation in the local newspaper industry and even inspired a book - 'Whitstable Mum in Custard Shortage . . . And Other World Exclusives from Britain's Finest Local Newspapers'

But my man in Kent says the Whitstable Times is facing fierce competition from stablemate the Folkestone Herald which last year revealed the scandal of the 'public loo lightbulb left on for a decade' and the 'three days out of date pasty'.

It's all happening down in Kent.

Dacre: 'Use the press card to control journalists'

6 February 2012 - 2:58pm

Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre told the Leveson Inquiry today that the press card should be used to prove that journalists are responsible - and taken away from those guilty of malpractice.

Dacre said that at the moment the press card "didn't mean much" and was issued by 17 different organisations.

He suggested the press card could be controlled by one body and be a "kitemark" for journalists and proof they were responsible and bona fide.

Dacre proposed that the press cards would only be issued by newspapers and magazines that had signed up to the new press body and its code and that sporting and Government organisations should only give access to journalists with press cards issued under the new system.

He also said that journalists could have their cards withdrawn if they were guilty of malpractice - in the same way the GMC strikes off doctors. "It will be the newspaper industry registering and disciplining journalists, not the state," Dacre said.

Asked by Lord Justice Leveson if the proposed press card system could cover digital, Dacre answered: "In principle yes."

Dacre ended his appearance by telling Lord Justice Leveson that the inquiry was giving the public a "very bleak and one-sided view of the press."

• The NUJ is one of the leading "gatekeepers" that can issue press cards. It is unlikely to want to surrender its role to the newspaper and magazine industry as it is a major benefit of joining the union.
  

Parky to speak at Journalists' Charity Brum lunch

6 February 2012 - 10:34am

Sir Michael Parkinson, who is celebrating his 60th year in journalism, is to be the guest speaker at a fund-raising event in Birmingham for the Journalists’ Charity.

Sir Michael has agreed to be this year’s celebrity guest at the charity’s annual lunch at The Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston, on Friday 22nd June.

The charity, formerly known as the Newspaper Press Fund, has been holding the lunch in Birmingham since 1993, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for journalists in need. Previous speakers have included Sir Richard Branson, Sir Trevor MacDonald, Chris Tarrant, Jasper Carrott, Kate Adie and Greg Dyke.

Sir Michael started his working life aged 16 on local newspapers in Yorkshire before joining the Manchester Guardian and later the Daily Express. His early broadcasting career began as a current affairs producer at Granada Television.

Sir Michael said: “I am very much looking forward to speaking at the Journalists’ Charity lunch on 22nd June as I am celebrating 60 years in journalism.”

Laurie Upshon, the charity’s regional chairman, added: “We have always managed to attract top quality speakers to our Birmingham lunch – and they don’t come any more popular than Sir Michael. We’re very grateful that he has agreed to be with us. It’s a great coup and I am confident that it will be sold out very quickly.”

Tickets for the lunch cost £45, which includes a three-course meal, and a 10% discount is available for tables of ten booked before the end of April at £400. After April, all tickets cost £45.

• For more details, contact: Laurie Upshon: (laurie@upshon.com); Steve Dann: (steve@fleetstreetconsulting.co.uk); Val Deeley: (val.deeley@live.co.uk).

Briefing Media announces £10m deal to acquire Farmers Guardian and Pulse magazine from UBM

6 February 2012 - 8:53am

Briefing Media, the company founded by Neil Thackray and Rory Brown which is behind the media industry website TheMediaBriefing, announced today it has entered into an agreement to buy the Farmers Guardian and Pulse magazine from UBM for £10 million.

Farmers Guardian is the weekly newspaper and website covering the farming and agriculture sector, primarily based in Preston, and Pulse is the weekly magazine and website for general practitioners and primary healthcare professionals, based in London.

The investment was funded by the management team with support from private equity group GCP Capital Partners.

Rory Brown said: "This is a big day for us, and something we have been working towards for a long time. We see great opportunity in specialist business media markets but recognise that our world is evolving & we need to adapt with it. We look forward to working with the teams on the agriculture and primary healthcare titles as part of our expanded group."

Neil Thackray added "When we founded Briefing Media we had a vision for creating a vibrant new business to business media company. This acquisition gives us both the scale and market opportunity to accelerate that ambition. We are delighted to be acquiring assets with such excellent pedigrees and reputations in important business markets and to be working with GCP Capital Partners. This will be the first but not the last acquisition we plan to make."

Briefing Media says with the company's increased scale it can accelerate plans to development of complementary website to TheMediaBriefing.

Academy of Acting and Directing...but not spelling

5 February 2012 - 6:35pm

Is this a typo I see before me?

Unfortunate misspelling of science in this ad in the Islington Tribune.

Times' cycling safety campaign backed by 11,000

4 February 2012 - 8:05am

The Times reports that the 11,000th person has signed up to support the paper's Cities Fit For Cycling campaign following its launch on Thursday.

The campaign promotes safer cycling in cities and was partly inspired by the plight of Times news reporter Mary Bowers who is still not conscious after an accident involving a lorry while she was cycling to work last November.

The Times has launched a public campaign and 8-point manifesto calling for cities to be made fit for cyclists:

1. Trucks entering a city centre should be required by law to fit sensors, audible truck-turning alarms, extra mirrors and safety bars to stop cyclists being thrown under the wheels.
2. The 500 most dangerous road junctions must be identified, redesigned or fitted with priority traffic lights for cyclists and Trixi mirrors that allow lorry drivers to see cyclists on their near-side.
3. A national audit of cycling to find out how many people cycle in Britain and how cyclists are killed or injured should be held to underpin effective cycle safety.
4. Two per cent of the Highways Agency budget should be earmarked for next generation cycle routes, providing £100 million a year towards world-class cycling infrastructure. Each year cities should be graded on the quality of cycling provision.
5. The training of cyclists and drivers must improve and cycle safety should become a core part of the driving test.
6. 20mph should become the default speed limit in residential areas where there are no cycle lanes.
7. Businesses should be invited to sponsor cycleways and cycling super-highways, mirroring the Barclays-backed bicycle hire scheme in London.
8. Every city, even those without an elected mayor, should appoint a cycling commissioner to push home reforms. Jon Snow has backed the manifesto and says cycling has made him a better journalist.
   

Quotes of the Week: From News Corp to the Hoff

3 February 2012 - 12:01am

News Corporation statement on the arrest of four senior Sun journalists: "News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated. It commissioned the Management and Standards Committee (MSC) to undertake a review of all News International titles, regardless of cost, and to proactively co-operate with law enforcement and other authorities if potentially relevant information arose at those titles. As a result of that review, which is ongoing, the MSC provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to today's arrests." Neville Thurlbeck on his blog: "It's sad News International had to describe the arrests of Sun men Chris Pharo, Graham Dudman, Fergus Shanahan and the legendary crime editor Mike Sullivan as, ‘draining the swamp’. Notwithstanding the allegations, this is a deeply offensive comment on nearly 100 years of journalistic excellence and dedication to News International."

Rupert Murdoch on Twitter disputes an FT report that plans for a Sun on Sunday have been put on hold because of the arrests of some of the paper's journalists: "F.T. Financial Times or Fawlty Towers? Sun on Sunday story today 100 per cent wrong."

Janet Street Porter in the Independent on Sunday: "Local television current affairs should be culled. Leave it to newspapers and online coverage. As for local radio – just because bands of people complain, it doesn't mean these stations have a meaningful audience."

NUJ organiser Chris Morley: “Stephen Hester has shown the way that most decent people in this country expect directors to act in companies that are failing to deliver growth. We need those at the top of companies such as Trinity Mirror, Newsquest and Johnston Press to show a real example and instead of thinking about their own wallets, to think instead about protecting their workforce and the overall business."

Sir Christopher Meyer defending the Press Complaints Commission at Leveson: “It’s as if you would say to the police, you’re a useless organisation because there is still crime. Or to the bishops that there is still sin. These are ridiculous arguments."

Financial Times report on Trinity Mirror chief exec Sly Bailey's pay: "Shareholders believe Ms Bailey’s pay is above her peers and that she must rebase her remuneration to recognise Trinity Mirror was now a much smaller business than when she joined nine years ago."

Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail: "I don’t suppose we’ll ever know the full truth about Gary Speed’s tragic death. That’s a pity for everyone involved. It’s not in the interests of justice or an open society. And I would suggest that, if the media and coroners’ courts get into the habit of not thoroughly examining the reasons behind the deaths of public figures, that will be a tragedy of another sort."

David Hasselhoff in the Observer: "I have fun with Twitter. When I see something in the press I think, 'Now I can respond to that garbage.' But the press isn't really that bad. My kids say: 'Dad, forget about it, it's bird paper. It doesn't mean anything.' And they're right. The time to worry is when there's no paparazzi."

Thomson Reuters' journalists plan 48-hour strike

2 February 2012 - 3:54pm

Journalists at Thomson Reuters are to stage a 48-hour strike – the first in more than 25 years – after being awarded a below the rate of inflation pay rise of 1.75 per cent.

The strike action, supported by 83 per cent of the NUJ members, will start at one minute past midnight on Thursday, February 9th and end at midnight on Friday, Feb 10th.

This action coincides with the release of Thomson Reuters earnings.

NUJ chapel officers, Mike Roddy and Helen Long said: “We tried very hard to reach a settlement with management but the company's refusal to improve its below-inflation offer of 1.75 per cent, which follows years of effective pay cuts, has compelled Thomson Reuters journalists to vote overwhelmingly for strike action for the first time in more than 25 years.

"Thomson Reuters must shoulder the responsibility for this dispute. The company ignored repeated warnings that members had reached a tipping point, after years of below inflation pay rises, combined with rising costs, that are pricing many members out of their jobs.

"Those with families who cannot afford to live in London are especially feeling the pain as they are forced to commute into the capital on the most expensive train lines in Europe. We hope management will now listen to its journalists and return to the table with a sensible offer to avert a costly strike.”

Barry Fitzpatrick, NUJ deputy general secretary, added: “This strike is about fairness. The management is proposing a below-inflation pay deal, while holding back money for a merit scheme. This is just not on. While our members struggle to make ends meet on their wages, the management should be putting all the money into an across the board pay increase.”

NUJ charities boost from Irish MoS 'grave robbing'

2 February 2012 - 2:20pm

A marketing stunt by the Irish Mail on Sunday which led readers into believing it was a special edition of the defunct Sunday Tribune has led to its publisher, Associated Newspapers, agreeing to pay €15,000 to charities nominated by the NUJ.

Associated also faces a legal bill following a court case taken by National Consumer Agency, the Irish consumer watchdog, after it published a wraparound (top) last February bearing the title Sunday Tribune when the struggling paper was in receivership.

Noirin Hegarty, the editor of the Sunday Tribune at the time, accused the Irish Mail on Sunday of being "shameless" and "grave robbing".

Judge Conal Gibbon, in a reserved judgment at Dublin district court, found that the Irish Mail on Sunday had deceived or misled customers. However, he found the company not guilty of having intended to deceive or mislead under the Consumer Protection Act 2007. He said it was “clear how a person could believe it was the Sunday Tribune”.

The National Consumer Agency alleged that the Mail on Sunday had breached the Consumer Protection Act with the four-page wraparound covering its issue of February 6th last year. It alleged that that the paper had broken the Act by deliberately deceiving or misleading the consumer and by promoting its own product in a way that would deceive or mislead the consumer.

The Mail on Sunday argued it was a legitimate marketing tactic.

The company was prosecuted by the National Consumer Agency following a series of complaints from members of the public, including Séamus Dooley, Irish Secretary of the NUJ. Five consumers gave evidence of buying the special editions thinking they were the Tribune.
Judge Gibbons accepted a plea by counsel for Associated Newspapers that the Probation Act should be applied. The court ruled that the Mail on Sunday should pay €15,000 to charities chosen by the NUJ and applied the Probation of Offenders Act. This means that a conviction will not now be recorded. Associated Newspapers has also been ordered to meet the prosecution’s costs and the expenses of witnesses – totalling €25,000 – within four weeks.

Séamus Dooley, who passed on the cheques from Associated Newspaper to the NUJ, said he was tricked into buying the Mail on Sunday twice, after buying it and the fake Sunday Tribune, which turned out to be a copy of the Mail. He described the Irish Mail on Sunday’s edition as “crass” and said it was as if the paper was “dancing on the graves of my members facing redundancies”.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “This ruling is of little consolation to the Sunday Tribune workers but it is nevertheless welcome. The Mail showed total disregard for the Sunday Tribune workers and acted in an insensitive manner.”
Two NUJ charities, NUJ Extra and the George Viner Memorial Fund, have each received €7,500, following the judge’s ruling.

Times' cycling safety campaign highlights plight of paper's reporter still not conscious after accident

2 February 2012 - 8:51am

The Times' impressive front page campaign to make cities safe for cyclists highlights the case of one of its own news reporters - Mary Bowers - who was injured in a cycling accident on the way to work last November and is still not conscious.

Kaya Burgess, a friend and colleague of Bowers, writes in The Times today: "The reality with any major issue is that it only truly touches you when it comes close to home. However regularly you may cycle on Britain’s city streets and however aware you are of the risks of doing so, it is not until you have seen one of your closest friends and colleagues stretchered off the tarmac from beneath the wheels of a lorry only yards from the office that the vulnerability of cyclists hits home.

"Mary Bowers is a news reporter at The Times. She joined the paper as a graduate trainee in September 2009, though her beaming smile and effusive personality were common sights around the office from previous roles as a researcher on the comment and foreign desks.

"With a passion for social affairs investigations and witty features, she has a writing style that is as distinctive as her sharp, quirky dress sense. She also has a remarkable singing voice, and it is an honour to have been one of those lucky enough to perform with her on several occasions in the folk clubs of London.

"Yet it is only by a hair’s breadth that we are still able to talk about Mary in the present tense. Her survival to this point, now almost three months since her accident in London at 9.30am on Friday, November 4, is down to the passers-by who stopped and called the emergency services.

"It is down to the paramedics who arrived on the scene within three minutes, to the fire crews who cut Mary and her mangled bike from beneath the wheels of the lorry, and to the doctors and nurses in the intensive care unit of one of the city’s busiest hospitals. But Mary cannot thank them herself. Not yet. Not for a long time. Possibly never. Because, though she is stable, Mary is still not conscious and remains in a trauma unit. Her broken legs, arm and pelvis are slowly healing, but other damage sustained during complications in her treatment, almost inevitable after so traumatic an injury, will be far harder to overcome, though she is making slow progress.

"There are also people Mary would not want to thank. There are the authorities who have neglected to ensure that junctions like those on The Highway in Wapping — or countless others where cyclists have been maimed and killed in Britain — are made safe for cars, lorries and cyclists to co-exist safely.

"Mary, a news reporter, would be first to ask why it is not mandatory for lorries driving on city streets to be fitted with sensors and mirrors to pick up cyclists in their blind spots. Or why training for cyclists and drivers on how to share the road responsibly is so poor. Or why some junctions are so dangerous that jumping a red light can actually be a safer option than lining up alongside HGVs at the lights like a racetrack starting grid. Or why London trails so far behind cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen in terms of the infrastructure and legislation to protect vulnerable cyclists and to help the drivers who are trying to avoid them."

• Readers are urged to pledge their support for The Times' make cities safe for cyclists campaign; show their support on Twitter with #cyclesafe; and write to their MPs.
• The campaign is outside The Times' paywall.
  

It's not just the NUJ unhappy at Sly Bailey's pay

1 February 2012 - 10:25pm

The Financial Times reports that Trinity Mirror is facing renewed pressure to rein in the pay of its chief executive Sly Bailey (pictured) from some of the biggest shareholders in the media group.
It says the shareholders will set out their mounting unhappiness over the pay of one of the UK’s highest-profile media executives when Trinity Mirror’s incoming chairman David Grigson holds a series of meetings with key investors.
The FT says: "Shareholders believe Ms Bailey’s pay is above her peers and that she must rebase her remuneration to recognise Trinity Mirror was now a much smaller business than when she joined nine years ago."
One top 10 shareholder said the size of Ms Bailey’s pay was “just not tenable," reports the FT. “It is out of kilter with the group’s performance and current size. It is premature to say we are demanding her head but we are looking at it all very keenly,” the shareholder said.

A second top ten shareholder said: “Sly hasn’t got a great many supporters now – not when she has lost so much and is so well paid.” A third added they planned to raise the issue of pay when meeting Mr Grigson, a former finance director at Reuters.

• Yesterday, the NUJ criticised Bailey's pay after it was announced 75 jobs are to go at the Mirror and People. (See post below)

NUJ anger at axing of 75 jobs at Mirror and People

1 February 2012 - 5:29pm

The NUJ has condemned the axing of 75 jobs at Trinity Mirror’s national newspaper titles – the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the People.

In a shock announcement this afternoon staff across all three titles were summoned to a meeting to be told of the cuts, which will see the centralisation of subbing and production across all titles and the pooling of features and news.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “These cuts represent a depressingly familiar tale at Trinity Mirror. Rather than invest in quality products – and continue to build on recent growth in circulation on the Sunday titles – the strategy is to cut jobs and compromise quality journalism. Where is the strategy for growth and the future? Journalists are paying with their jobs for the corporate mismanagement and incompetence of Sly Bailey and her senior executives – yet still they continue to award themselves lavish pay.”

The NUJ says the cuts comes after the total directors’ pay and pensions bill for Trinity Mirror last year was £3.9million - £1.3million of which was cash bonuses. Of that, Sly Bailey's package of pay and pensions was a staggering £1.7m, including a cash bonus of £660k.

It also points out the share price for Trinity Mirror today is 48p whereas 12 months ago it was 90p.

The NUJ says it will be organising meetings of members to discuss the union’s response.

FT story on Sunday Sun was Fawlty, says Murdoch

1 February 2012 - 7:56am

Rupert Murdoch was not impressed by the Financial Times' story that the launch of a Sunday version of the Sun has been put on hold following the arrests of some of the paper's journalists - and tweeted his displeasure, comparing The Pink 'Un to a well known comedy.

Speculation is that a Sun on Sunday is planned for a launch at the end of April.