Birmingham and Coventry National Union of Journalists

Reminder March Branch Meeting
Tuesday 12th March
Carrs Lane Church Centre
Carrs Lane
Birmingham,  B4 7SX
6:00 pm for 6:30 start

Topics in this posting:

    BBC Unions NUJ/Bectu/Unite to Ballot for Strike Action   
    NUJ Black Members Conference 2013
    A Day Without News? Campaign
    NUJ Freelance Summit
    Historic Change for NUJ Photographers

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BBC Unions NUJ/Bectu/Unite to Ballot for Strike Action
The NUJ is re-balloting for action, this time with Bectu and Unite, following its successful strike on Monday 18th February, which pulled a range of flagship programmes off the air.

The ballot over compulsory redundancies, workload, stress and bullying and harassment – all a result of the corporation's cost-cutting programme, Delivering Quality First (DQF). closes at midday 20 March and could lead to disruption of the Easter TV and radio schedule.
Read <http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=2825>more . . . .
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NUJ Black Members Conference 2013
6th April 2013, 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
Headland House, 308-312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1

Bullying and harassment in the media causes untold damage to victims and their colleagues. Add race discrimination, often combined with sexism and discrimination against disabled journalists, and you have a potent mix whereby lives are destroyed and careers lost. Bullying and harassment in the media causes untold damage to victims
and their colleagues. The media also has the power to demonise Black communities with sensationalist headlines or inaccurate reporting.

Conference will also be your opportunity to put forward motions on this topic and any others you think the NUJ Black Members Council should be considering,

If you wish to register for the conference, please email lenac@nuj.org.uk by 2nd April.
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Historic Change for NUJ Photographers
For the first time in its history, the NUJ will soon have a nationally elected Photographers’ Council solely to look after the interests of lens-based journalists. Like all the NUJ’s councils and committees, it will be made up of working journalists who give up their time to help shape the NUJ to best serve its members. NUJ members who serve on committees come from all age groups, and backgrounds, but with one common purpose: to make the union work better.

 Anyone can stand – but all too often, members only find out about these opportunities when it too late to put their name forward. If you are interested in using your skills and experience to help shape the future of other photographers within the NUJ, then this is an ideal chance – whether or not you are currently active within your branch. The new council will have four meetings a year, some of which are likely to be through video-conferencing, and the others most likely in the NUJ building at Kings Cross in London.

 If you’d like an honest and straightforward chat about standing for elected positions in the NUJ, and what to do next, then get in touch by emailing: <nick@nml.uk.com> But do it soon, as nominations are already open.
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NUJ Freelance Summit
As a new wave of rights-grabbing contracts sweeps the industry, Haymarket has insisted that casuals are paid through PAYE at the same time as cutting day rates. To discuss how to tackle these issues, the NUJ is organising a Freelance Summit on Saturday, March 16 between 10am and 1:00pm.

Speakers will include: NUJ General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet; Assistant Organiser Pamela Morton; NEC Member for Freelance Tim Dawson; and NUJ Copyright Committee Chair Mike Holderness..

The venue will be NUJ HQ at 308 Gray's Inn Road, WC1X 8DP and lunch will be provided. Places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Anyone wishing to attend should contact the Freelance Office freelanceoffice@nuj.org.uk
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A Day Without News? Campaign -  What We Want To Achieve

The purpose of the campaign, which already has wide support across the international news media community, is:

    to draw sharper attention to the growing numbers of journalists who have been killed and injured in armed conflict, in some cases as a result of direct targeting by the belligerents;

    to develop a public diplomacy, institutional and legal agenda to combat this more effectively; and

    to investigate and collect evidence in support of prosecutable cases in this area.

The ultimate goal is for A Day Without News? to generate grassroots support within the community that will further the work of the Committee to Protect Journalists , Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, and other invaluable organizations who are dedicated to this issue. A Day Without News? is working closely with these organizations to ensure that this campaign serves their missions - hopefully by building public support through publicity; increasing pressure for change through diplomacy; and facilitating the identification, investigation and prosecution of war crimes committed against journalists.

http://adaywithoutnews.com/


Early Day Motion 1110: A Day Without News? Campaign
That this House welcomes the launch of the A Day Without News? campaign which is supported by Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Rory Peck Trust; notes that it aims to draw sharper attention to the growing number of journalists who are being killed and injured while reporting on armed conflict in some cases as a result of direct targeting by the belligerents; further notes that A Day Without News? representatives will meet with governments who have shown interest and support for the campaign while pushing for political and diplomatic efforts on behalf of journalists working in conflict areas and partnering with educational institutions and those non-governmental organisations dedicated to the issue to identify, investigate and ultimately prosecute perpetrators where media personnel have been targeted and killed; and wishes the campaign well.

Sponsors: Hoey, Kate / Corbyn, Jeremy / Cryer, John / Durkan, Mark / Field, Frank / Mitchell, Austin

<http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/1110>House of Commons: 26/02/2013