CIoJ welcomes Judges' ruling on Dale Farm disclosure orders


18 May 2012 The Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIoJ) today welcomed the High Court ruling that disclosure orders can never be granted as a formality. Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Eady

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» Job cuts

NUJ strike at BBC “misguided, misdirected and mistaken”

Posted on August 15, 2011 by CIoJ in CIoJ Press releases, Events, Public Service Broadcasting | Leave a comment
News Release
August 12, 2011

“Misguided, misdirected and mistaken”  - a former BBC Radio 4 Announcer and News Editor has hit out at NUJ strikes which have crippled some parts of the Corporation’s output in recent weeks.

Paul Leighton, Broadcasting Division chairman of the Chartered Institute of Journalists said “The NUJ has completely lost the plot in its otherwise laudable campaign against compulsory redundancies at the BBC. It needs to stop fighting lost battles when it could be doing so much better looking after the real needs of journalists in trouble.  Their current action simply antagonises listeners and viewers.

Leighton said “In common with the NUJ, we are utterly opposed to the corporation’s determination to axe so many jobs in radio – particularly at the World Service. We have told the chairman of the BBC Trust, the Culture Secretary and the chairman of the Commons Media Select Committee, that it is a massive mistake. But, we are also realists, and from bitter experience know that strikes have rarely altered the Corporation’s views once it is dead-set on a policy.”

Leighton said opponents of the BBC’s plans should be seeking to improve staff’s pension prospects and working conditions and ensuring that employees forced to go would get decent financial packages on leaving.

He added: “Those of us who worked for the corporation for a long time know it’s hard to knock it off-course however good your counter argument might be.  That is not a counsel of despair, it is simply an appreciation of the realities.  ‘Gesture trade-unionism’ simply does not work.”

The Institute said it would continue to fight redundancies throughout the BBC, and hoped that recent strike action would not undermine listeners’ and viewers’ loyalty to the corporation.

Ends

 

Notes to editors:

Formed in 1884, the Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIoJ) is the world’s oldest established professional body for journalists, and a representative voice of media and communications professionals throughout the UK and the Commonwealth.

Contact: Paul Leighton FCIJ

BBC FUNDING U-TURN IS ‘TOO LITTLE TOO LATE’, SAYS INSTITUTE

Posted on June 24, 2011 by CIoJ in CIoJ Press releases | 1 Comment

NEWS RELEASE

DATE: 24 June 2011

 

THE Government’s recent about-turn on BBC World Service funding is “Too little, too late,” according to the Chartered Institute of Journalists.

The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, this week announced an additional grant of £7m over the next three years, which it’s thought could save the BBC Arabic Service and throw a lifeline to the threatened Hindi network.

Chairman of the CIoJ’s Broadcasting Division, Paul Leighton, welcomed the news, but said it does not end the fight to save hundreds of jobs which are due to be axed in the BBC World Service.

Mr Leighton – an ex-BBC news editor – says that many jobs have already gone with the closure of a number of language services – and there are still more to come.

“It was an intolerable burden to add the costs of the World Service to the BBC budget at a time when money was already tight,” he said.

“It seems the Foreign Secretary has, to some degree at least, accepted that. But this money is no substitute for the grant in aid withdrawn from the World Service by this Government.”

Earlier this month (June) BBC News tabled proposals for widespread cuts to its 8,000 news staff in the UK and abroad, as part of a plan to make annual savings of £89m. The plans also included merging the previously separately-funded BBC World Service with the main news division. It is feared that as many as 1,000 journalists’ jobs may be axed.

The Institute plans to continue to fight further closures and job losses.

ENDS

THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISTS (CIoJ) says Northcliffe’s move is a serious attack on standards within the profession

Posted on November 10, 2010 by CIoJ in CIoJ Press releases | Leave a comment

NEWS RELEASE

RELEASE DATE: 10 November 2010

Northcliffe is planning a reduction in the number of copy-subs at its production centres. Reporters will be asked to write directly onto pages, being given a pre-set length for the story. This is already the case at two other large media companies, Johnston Press and Archant.

The proposals will lead to a reorganisation of the six production ‘hubs’ which were set up only last year. The production centres, known as ‘hubs’, thought to be most at risk are South West hub at Plymouth, the West Midlands hub at Stoke, and the East Midlands hub in Nottingham.

The CIoJ said: “This is a personal tragedy for every journalist who loses his or her job, but it is much more far-reaching than that. The union views the removal of this vital tier of checks, carried out by sub-editors, to be a serious detriment to the standards of our local newspapers.

“Reporters, who are already working hard to produce copy for print, on-line and video platforms, are now being expected to sub-edit their own copy as well. Headline writing is a skill in itself, yet reporters are being asked to perform this task too, often with little or no training.

“Clearly this can only lead to more errors creeping into stories, lowering the standards which readers have rightly come to expect from their local Press.

“We are aware of the need to make economies in these difficult times, but it is likely that the loss of a whole raft of experienced journalists like this will prove to be a false economy.

“Advertisers and readers alike may well lose confidence in newspapers as a result of this lowering of standards, and this will cost them dear in terms of much-needed revenue.

“Managers also need to factor-in the cost of expensive legal fees due to more mistakes getting into print, which may end up in court.”

“So many senior journalists are either being made redundant or walking out after seeing what is happening to their papers, that we are now seeing a serious drain in talent and experience in our profession. This leeching of expertise can only weaken the newspapers they leave behind. It will have serious consequences for the companies themselves, who will soon find it impossible to recruit staff of the calibre they require.”

TLRC cuts: “specious nonsense”

Posted on March 9, 2009 by CIoJ in CIoJ Press releases, News | Leave a comment

NEWS RELEASE

RELEASE DATE: 6 MARCH 2009

Plans by the Local Radio Company to produce local news for ten stations, from a central “hub” have been condemned by the Chartered Institute of Journalists as “shoddy and damaging cost-cutting”.

TLRC has begun a consultation exercise about the proposals – which would effect its ten southern stations as far afield as Hastings and Dorchester to Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and could see the loss of up to 12 jobs.

Chairman of the Institute’s Broadcasting Division Paul Leighton – formerly a Head of News at Aylesbury – described as “specious nonsense”, the Company’s claim that the move would “make the local news sound more closely integrated with the rest of the station’s output”.

He said “The growing use of “news-hubs” by independent radio stations as a form of cost-cutting undermines locally accountable editorial responsibility and can only damage genuinely local news coverage. What’s more it clearly runs counter to the intentions of Parliament when it first agreed to the establishment of independent local radio”.

The Institute – which has members throughout the independent sector and the BBC – is calling on OFCOM to investigate whether stations served by news-hubs are meeting the Format obligations to which they signed up, or are fulfilling their responsibility to provide a decent service of local news.

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Notes to Editors:

Formed in 1884, the Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIoJ) is the world’s oldest established professional body for journalists, and a representative voice of media and communications professionals throughout the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth.