By Caroline Beavon
It’s a shameful admission that, in my 9 years of journalism, and several years of National Union of Journalists membership, I have not attended one branch meeting or really thought much about the union and what it does. I’ve been one of THOSE journalists, who pays her dues, piles up copies of The Journalist (to read later), takes the legal advice during redundancy (thankfully).. and that’s about it.
So what better way to start my career in active NUJ membership, by going along to the ADM???
Invited along to cover this event as (now) a student member, along with a team of more than 20 others, this really was a jump into the deep end. A daunting experience indeed. This isn’t just a room of seasoned, passionate journalists, but a room of seasoned, passionate journalists, debating and voting on NUJ policy.
Quite a baptism of fire.
So here I am, in a huge room, trying to make sense of motions, actions, amendments, seriatim and SOCs and sometimes wondering exactly WHAT is going on. I can see why I’d been so reluctant to get involved so far, yet also glad that I have now.
In fact, the student body present here this weekend has been incredibly well received, and has sparked something of a debate with our live coverage.
So, WHY haven’t I got involved so far?
I could claim, “I’m too busy”, but that would be a lie. I could claim that “I am not interested in the future of journalism” – but that would be a lie too.
You see, I am a radio journalist. Worse than that, an ex-radio journalist. From commercial radio. And there is a perception – within local commercial radio itself – that it is the lowly cousin to print journalism, the BBC or ITV. Would we even BE welcome at any kind of NUJ formal meeting? Does a radio journalist who covers POP MUSIC deserve to sit alongside the war correspondents?
I hoped I would be proved wrong by attending the NUJADM. I had hoped that there would be a faction from the local radio stations here (maybe there are) but in terms of the debates and speakers, the job issues affecting stations across the country seem to be edged out by the worrying job losses in the print, and broadcasters at the BBC and ITV.
The problem is, commercial radio is having a pretty bad times of things too. Newsrooms are being merged with ones from the other side of the country, bulletin lengths are being slashed and broadcast times cut back. Sit this along the loss of the local newspaper titles, and suddenly small towns are left in the dark. Then you consider the very concerning Digital Britain Report which would allow stations to up sticks and move to their nearest neighbour, merge teams and – inevitably – cut staff.
Until this weekend I believed that commercial radio would not be welcome here, that the old guard would not them them in, but judging by the reception given to the students here, I would recommend ANY commercial radio journalist to get down to their nearest branch meeting, and make their voices heard.
