Reporting NUJ DM 2011

Reporting NUJ Delegate Meeting: new improvements and old wounds

Lizzie Houghton — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:45:13 +0000

Southport 2011 was my second Delegate Meeting. My first was Southport 2009 (new window) when I attended as one of the student reporters. I returned this year as the student coordinator, looking after all of the students and editing their work before it was published on this site.

It’s amazing how much difference 18 months can make. It’s also amazing how much difference 18 months can fail to make.

There were some major improvements to the student coverage of Delegate Meeting (DM) this year, as well as some new obstacles and some old ones.

The Social Media Revolution

The major improvement this year undoubtedly came from the increased use – and understanding – of social media.

In 2009 the majority of the students were not active Twitter users, and Twitter apps were niche if non-existent. A marked contrast then that this year one of the first things we got the students to do was download Tweetdeck.

The majority of them were already seasoned Tweeters, but I don’t think anyone had truly anticipated the practical applications Twitter would have.

It did, as expected, help the students to deliver live updates of what was happening on the conference floor to an audience who could not be there themselves. But it also enabled them to check in with us editors without having to run backwards and forwards between the Conference Hall and the training room, affectionately named the “Bunker”.

This was particularly helpful when myself and Rosie Niven where forced to retreat to the foyer of the adjacent hotel in order to get a decent WiFi signal.

It also allowed them to communicate quickly between each other: making sure they weren’t stepping on each others’ toes, checking facts and names and requesting images.

The use of Twitter was an out-and-out success.

Technical Problems

The use of the internet however was a very different story.

Back in 2009 the only main consumers of the Conference Centre’s WiFi was the student reporters, and even then they had not been consuming much.

In 2011 every laptop, netbook, phone and MP3 player was vying for a share of the Centre’s limited supply and the facilities just could not cope.

It seems to be a sign of the times that a reporter is only as good as their WiFi signal. There were a lot of things the students would have liked to have done but they simply did not have to connection to do it. Even to update the website with just the basic posts we had to beg, borrow and steal an internet connection.

Word from the National Union of Students’ National Conference is that the WiFi in Newcastle also leaves a lot the be desired. If nothing else, at least we’ll be prepared for connection failures next time around.

Working Together

Credit to it, the internet worked fantastically to our advantage before DM. Unlike in 2009, this year’s students all arrived in Southport already Friends.

That is meant in the true social media sense of the word: on Facebook.

In 2009 we all befriended each other after DM. The 2011 bunch had begun getting to know each other long before they arrived, and it showed.

They didn’t lose half a day sounding each other out. Instead they went straight to it: reporters pairing up with photographers, interviewers with producers. Everybody knew who had the skills they didn’t and felt comfortable enough to ask for their assistance.

As a result more was achieved and the whole vibe amongst the students felt friendlier and more at ease.

They were impressed by the professionals but also felt welcomed by them. And, more importantly, felt they were being taken seriously as journalists in their own right.

Old Wounds

There was one notable exception to this. Notable to me anyway as it opened it an old wound from the last ADM.

On the first day of DM a motion was brought forward by the Equality Council reminding members that “the union has a zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment at the workplace and with union structures”.

The implication piqued the interest of the students, to the extent that one of them wanted to do some more research into the matter. She felt that if it was as serious as the speakers made it out to be then it should not be swept under the carpet. Responsibly, she spoke to her editors before beginning. We said go for it.

She went for it, and was met by staunch opposition from the very women who had previously been so outspoken on the topic.

She was told not to cover it: that if it got out it would present the NUJ in a bad light, that it was best left alone. I know, because I was given the same arguments.

There was no fiery speech (new window) this year to throw the gauntlet down. Instead it was a dispute that rumbled on in the corridors throughout DM and in inboxes afterwards.

It was a dispute that ended with the young student reporter admitting she felt too intimated to continue researching the article. Not by chauvinistic men, but by the women who should have been fighting her corner – by women who should have been championing her to expose the horror of sexual harassment.

Last ADM it was cameras on the funeral pyre of freedom of expression. This year it was hushed up sexual harassment. The NUJ’s code of conduct says members should “strive to eliminate distortion, news suppression and censorship”. In this case, they did the exact opposite.

Double Standards

I find this particularly striking, not just because it is not the sort of behaviour I expect from NUJ members, but because it is the sort of behaviour the NUJ campaigns against when students’ unions try to suppress student media.

My role as a Sabbatical Officer at my Students’ Union is a conflicted one, being at once the Vice President in charge of Communications (the Alistair Campbell-in-chief) and the newspaper editor. But I have never, and will never, say to a student reporter “do not write that story, it will put the Union in a bad light”. Were I ever to, I would expect the NUJ to back up my reporter.

I have never because I believe, almost above any other principle, in the right to freedom of expression. It is why I believe in the NUJ because, as I perceive it, it may disapprove of what you have to say, but it will always defend your right to say it.

It angers me to think a young member does not feel this applies to them.

Socialist Workers Party takes active role at NUJ Delegate Meeting

Oscar Webb — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:48:47 +0000

SWP member, Gary MacFarlane speaks at Saturday's fringe meeting (Photograph- Oscar Webb)

Despite the NUJ not officially supporting any political party, the Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) took an active role at the NUJ Delegate Meeting in Southport this year.

Although other campaign groups were present – Stop The War Coalition, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign – the SWP was the only political party with a visible presence, with members chairing fringe meetings and selling the Socialist Worker.

A fringe meeting on Saturday entitled ‘Reporting Revolutions’ was chaired by the SWP and heard the experiences of photographer Jess Hurd who had been in Egypt during the recent revolutionary activity there.

Libya intervention

The SWP has declared its opposition to the NATO military intervention in Libya. An article on the SWP website reads: “Nobody should believe that military intervention in Libya by Britain, France and the US will bring democracy and freedom… No to military intervention!”

Prominent SWP member David Crouch of the Financial Times was a panelist at a fringe meeting on Friday, chaired by the Stop The War Coalition, and demanded an end to the military intervention in Libya, saying that the British public was wrongly being “buttered up” by the media to support the intervention.

An emergency motion asking for the NUJ to declare opposition to the military intervention in Libya, affixed to a motion on the Egyptian revolution, was debated by delegates in the Floral Hall. Despite Bristol being the only branch speaking in opposition, the motion fell and the DM did not declare opposition to the NATO military intervention in Libya.

A diverse union

Donnacha Delong, incoming president of the union, responding to the statement that the SWP was the only political party active at the DM commented: “There are a lot of SWP members who are strong workplace reps” but pointed out that the union has members from an amalgam of political parties, he himself being an anarchist.

At Saturday’s fringe meeting David Crouch pointed out: “You can take sides in a political conflict and still be a brilliant journalist”. Other journalists present at the DM generally accepted that one could support a political party and still be a good journalist.

What Delegate Meeting meant to me

Jordan Muckley — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:30:54 +0000

After finding out I had the chance to be a part of the Student Delegation at this year’s Delegate Meeting, I was super-excited; however, all I knew was that this was the biggest date in the NUJ calender. I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know what would become of it and more innocently, I didn’t know what was going to happen. Yet to be asked to attend on behalf of the Birmingham and Coventry Branch and represent students, it wasn’t a case of being there to make up the numbers.

On approach to Southport, the topic of conversation in the car was not only what tune we should have on next, but what actually happens at DM. Come Sunday night, little did we know how much we wanted to do it all again. I don’t think any student realised the significance of DM until it actually started. To have guest speakers such as outgoing President Pete Murray and Irish Secretary Seamus Dooley take time out of their own busy schedules to come and address students was honourable.

When proceedings kicked off on Friday morning, the message was clear – the Union is behind the students. It was clear to every single delegate in the Floral Hall that the NUJ wouldn’t only support their students, it would fight tooth and nail for the justice we all deserve.

But for every little tweet sent, for ever article wrote, there was always that little jaw dropping moment that made us all realise just how tough being a journalist actually is. When Claudia Duque took to the rostrum, we knew of the severity of her story, but what we didn’t know was the ordeal that these brave woman went through for the bring the corruption that is rife throughout Columbia to life.

Having the opportunity to network with working journalists and photographers was incredible; it let to some potentially fantastic opportunities in the near future for us all.

For all the week’s hard work, there was the odd occasion when the bobbles were released and the head-banging began. When you think of a Gala Dinner, immediately plates with hardly any food on or a Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack tribute artist that is on his last round come to mind. Not with the NUJ though. Main course stacked high and a tribute to The Clash was not what anyone would have expected, but it was a fantastic and memorable evening.

Having the pleasure of listening to Jeremy Dear’s final address to the delegates, it didn’t just make me feel all weak at the knee, it made me feel proud to be a part of a Union that takes pride in it’s students. I won’t forget the experience I had at DM; met some great people and colleagues. Maybe one day, we will all return with green tags, and not yellow.

Jordan’s top tweets from NUJ DM

Jordan Muckley — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:38:40 +0000

Here is a selection of my favourite tweets from the students and delegates:

@samfromstroud: Thank you to all the delegates that made us all feel like a real part of things. A special thanks to @whealie and the team #nujdm #nujstu

@Peter__Murray: “Journalism is great”, says #nuj student speaking at #nujdm It’s about time employers took our work seriously and paid us

@NPRobinson1: #NUJDM the debate should not be clouded about an individual – one more speaker from each side.

@Whealie: Fire was toaster’s safety notice put inside the toaster to tidy away and forgotton about. Melted and burnt when toaster turned on

@diligentdan: #nujdm “if we’re not careful students and our own members will be exploited” motion 121

The highlights of student Daniel Richardson’s speech to DM

Megan Chapple — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:44:07 +0000

Student delegate Daniel Richardson spoke to NUJ members at the Union’s Delegate Meeting about the exploitation of student journalists in unpaid internships and calls for greater awareness of these issues.

You can listen to the full speech here (new window)

Listen to the speech that got Daniel elected for this role here (new window)

Read Daniel’s speech here

Listen!

Interview with NUJ President Peter Murray

Dominic Simpson — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:56:15 +0000

Interviews and script: Susa Dickerson. Camera and editing: Dominic Simpson.

In this video Welsh delegate Neil Taylor discusses why professional photographers are still important in the 21st century; and incumbment NUJ President Peter Murray discusses his feelings about leaving his post and what he plans to do next.

Photographers to flash mob for media freedom

Jordan Muckley — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:46:53 +0000

A London Photographers’ Branch delegate has announced a London City Hall flash mob as part of the I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist campaign.

Campaign picture of I'm A Photographer Not A Terrorist

Moving the London Photographers’ Branch motion on photographers’ rights and media freedom, Marc Vallée announced the I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist plan to flash mob London’s City Hall, in protest against the attacks on lens-based journalists.

The protest is scheduled to take place the day after World Press Freedom Day, which raises awareness of the importance of a free press and reminds governments around the world to respect the human right to freedom of expression.

Documentary Photographer, Marc Vallée, said: “One of the things the ‘I’m A Photographer, Not A Terrorist’ campaign wants to highlight is how much of public space is being privatised.

“The idea of the flash mob is to turn up at City Hall and to photograph this iconic building. The area along the Southbank outside City Hall has been privatised and there are restrictions as to what you can and can’t do and photography is one of them.

“We want to let Boris [Johnson] what we think of him”.

The I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist movement began with a lone protest from General Secretary Jeremy Dear against the Metropolitan police poster campaign which targeted photographers as suspicious and potential terrorists a couple of years ago.

After this, an official website was launched and social media outlets were founded, growing virally and collating over 28,000 supporters.

The success of the campaign and the legal cases raised by the NUJ has been acknowledged in Parliament and by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. It has created an even stronger camaraderie with journalists and has alerted them to be even more aware for potential infringements on press freedom by the government.

The I’m A Photographer, Not A Terrorist campaign strongly opposes the Government’s recent amendment of Section 44 to Section 47A, with the emergency procedure bringing back powers so police can stop and search. It claims that these powers could impact on photographers and journalists right to report and the right of a citizen to take a picture in a public place.

Marc Vallée added: “It will be interesting to see how the security behaves, all we are doing is exacting our right to take a picture in a public place which is a common law right and for it to be restricted in these ways is an affront to democracy.”

National Union of Journalists’ Delegate Meeting focuses on health and safety

Samantha Newsham — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:19:46 +0000

A Union-wide Health and Safety Committee was formalised on the second day of DM despite opposition from the Irish Executive Council (IEC), which argued that such issues should be dealt with at branch level.

Proposing the motion, Adam Christie of the NEC and Leeds branch drew attention to the longstanding but informal committee the NUJ has currently. “[We need to] put the committee on a firmer footing and work closely with other councils,” he said.

Opposition came from Lorna Prendiville on behalf of the IEC. “We don’t think we need yet another council,” she said. “Health and Safety should be dealt with at branch and chapel level.”

General Secretary Jeremy Dear spoke in favour, saying it was an opportunity to build expertise across the union and reinforce the council’s democracy.

Photographers’ checks

On the same order paper, a motion was passed calling for the NEC to survey photographers and check for key health problems. John Jones, from East Yorkshire, seconding the motion, informed DM that the weight of his camera bag alone was equivalent to six bags of sugar. Referring to the student photographers covering proceedings, he said that many will have back trouble by the end of their careers.

Other motions passed included one moved by the Disabled Members’ Council instructing the NEC to promote best working practices for reducing stress and mental health problems in the workplace. A motion from Cardiff and South East Wales regarding training providers was remitted on the grounds it was trying to cover too much.

Claudia Duque tells NUJ DM about reporting in Columbia

Rakhi Sinha — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:13:06 +0000

Claudia Duque, a Colombian investigative journalist, spoke to the NUJ delegates meeting on Saturday about the way journalists in her country are silenced and abused and called for support to end the atrocities.

In his introduction, Jeremy Dear said of Claudia Duque: “She is one of the most hunted journalists in a country where hunting journalists is a national sport.”

Claudia, a Colombian investigative journalist, has covered stories about child trafficking, illegal adoption and corruption at the highest levels.

As a result she has been the victim of intimidation, kidnapping and harassment at the hands of Colombia’s Security Service and has been forced to flee the country three times.

Inspirational

Claudia received a standing ovation as she walked up to the rostrum at the Delegate Meeting yesterday and modestly motioned for the audience to stop.

Then a rare thing happened, the conference hall fell silent.

For the duration of Claudia’s talk, in which she was keen not to focus on the threats to herself personally, the audience hung on her every word.

She spoke about the dangers facing journalism in Colombia and how some 23 journalists have been threatened with killings and imprisonment in the last three months alone.

She also called for the NUJ and journalists in general to help fight to stop the extreme humans rights abuses happening to journalists in Colombia.

Corruption and scandal

“My message is that being a journalist in Colombia is an adventure, you have corruption and scandals everyday but it’s also a big risk because nobody wants us to talk about what is really happening,” she said.

“My request for all of you is to get involved deeply in what is happening in Colombia because human rights are universal.”

The audience responded to her talk with another standing ovation as they spoke in hushed tones of the awe and inspiration they felt whilst listening to her speak.

Later Claudia confessed that she had been very nervous and didn’t feel like as if she had managed to express herself properly, especially since she was speaking in English off-the-cuff.

But the line of delegates queuing up to speak to her or simply shake her hand suggested otherwise.

Claudia does not like to speak about herself but understanding her background is essential to understanding how her passion for journalism has come to permeate her whole life.

Passion

She has been working as a journalist for 23 years and found her calling in life when she was just 15-years-old and began training a short time after.

It is this passion that has driven Claudia to return to Colombia after each of the three times she has been exiled.

“I love Colombia and I can’t even explain very well why. It’s a really nice country despite everything and I have never considered moving.

“The times I have been out of Colombia I have been able to breathe and rest a little bit but I have never thought of staying out permanently.

“It’s funny because every time I ask for a visa to visit a country they always think that I am trying to stay there illegally.”

This would explain the difficulty Claudia had in obtaining a visa to attend this Delegate Meeting.

“The UK denied me and wrote a letter saying that you are under risk in your country and you don’t have much money so we think you want to stay in the UK, but it’s a complete lie.

“I don’t understand why people are always thinking that because my real fight is to stay in my country and to report from there.”

The NUJ

Although her life in Colombia is severely restricted, Claudia attempts to live some kind of normality.

Last year Claudia was made an honorary member of the NUJ and she says that international support has helped her to relieve some of the pressure and threats that she faces.

“Having international support and solidarity and everybody talking about you has made the situation lessen.

“Last year I won four awards and honorary membership of the NUJ and it was the first time in my life since 2001 that I wasn’t forced to flee even for one month or one week.

“In many ways this is thanks to the international support.

“Last year I was out of the country for six months but not because I had to be or because I was fleeing and that for me is something.

“The honour is all mine to be part of the NUJ, it’s a big honour.”

Dan Richardson’s DM speech: journalism interns should be taken seriously

Dan Richardson — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:42:14 +0000

I’m one of twenty-five students from across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland gaining invaluable work experience here by reporting all you’ve been getting up to at the Delegate Meeting. The NUJ has paid all our expenses, fed and watered us and paid us a small allowance. So thank you to the branches that sponsored us.

We came here on Thursday and were given a crash course in the NUJ. We were taught how to set up our own chapel. There are actually a few student journalists among us from Lancaster University, where a strong student chapel was recently set up. Consequently there’s a good few of us who are now very keen to set up a chapel at our own respective universities in the near future.

I’m a huge believer in work experience. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I finished school. I did landscaping for a while and then worked in personal fitness training but it wasn’t until I did some work experience at my local newspaper, The Lancaster Guardian, and my local community radio station; Diversity FM, that I realised; Yes Journalism is something I can do, I want to do and I will do.

With most universities revealing that they will be charging the full £9,000 tuition fees, work experience has effectively tripled in value. The opportunity to do work experience in journalism, an industry which we all know can be very difficult to get employed in, is essentially now worth £27,000.

Making tea

But it’s important to recognise the distinction between Work Experience and Internships. Too many employers in journalism are far too willing to exploit eager graduates by giving them the ‘valuable experience’ of six months unpaid work making tea for newsroom staff.

That’s not to say all internships are bad. They can give an inexperienced graduate the chance to learn on the job. Good internships are something that we as students really value. Many of us here have done internships and would agree that they were priceless experiences… but they are not valueless.

It may be that as interns we are not as productive as the experienced journalists we work alongside. We understand that. But neither are we useless. We do work hard. We do work that is good enough to be published or broadcast. We should be paid.

Minimum wage

It’s about time that employers take internees seriously and recognise our work with at least the minimum wage. As students we want to support any proposals for proper remuneration, because it’s good for students, good for journalism and good for the NUJ.

So I want to take this opportunity to thank you all at the NUJ for taking work experience seriously and giving us this great opportunity to get involved with the Union. It genuinely has been an eye-opening experience so I urge you to continue inviting students to every Delegate Meeting.

We are the people who will eventually be sat in your seats, by extending your hand to students and encouraging our involvement you’re ensuring that we will continue to be a strong, pro-active and effective Union for generations to come.

Speaker elected from NUJ students

Listen to the speech here