National Union of Journalists

{{Short description | British and Irish journalists' trade union}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = National Union of Journalists

| location_country = United Kingdom, Ireland

| affiliation = IFJ, TUC, STUC, ICTU, TUCG, NSSN, FEU

| members = {{decrease}} 20,693 (2022) {{cite web |title=National Union of Journalists Form AR21 for year ended 30 September 2022 | url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1150952/197T_2022.pdf | website=GOV.UK |access-date=26 July 2023}}

| full_name = National Union of Journalists

| image = National Union of Journalists logo.svg

| founded = 1907

| dissolved =

| merged =

| headquarters = Headland House, 72 Acton Street,
London, WC1X 8DP

| key_people = Laura Davison, General Secretary
Seamus Dooley, Assistant General Secretary and Irish Secretary
Natasha Hirst, President
Gerry Curran and Fran McNulty, Vice Presidents

| website = {{URL | https://nuj.org.uk}}

| footnotes =

}}

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 {{cite book | author1=Tim Holmes|author2=Liz Nice | title=Magazine Journalism | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3JEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|access-date=26 November 2015 | date=10 November 2011 | publisher=SAGE Publications | ISBN=978-1-4462-9203-7 | page=53}} and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades Union Congress (TUC) affiliated, and a former member of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU).

Structure

File:NUJ HQ London.jpg , London]]

There is a range of National Councils beneath the NEC, covering different sections and areas of activity. There is an Industrial Council for each of the NUJ's "industrial" sectors:

The Photographers' Council, while not an industrial council, functions in the same way to campaign on issues relevant to the union's photographer, photojournalist and videographer members.

There are also National Executive Councils, covering all sectors, for Ireland and Scotland. The Irish Executive Council, which has a higher degree of autonomy, covers Northern Ireland as well as the Republic. {{cite web |url=https://nuj.org.uk/about-us.html | title=NUJ - About Us}} Since 2016, in response to Brexit, the Union's Continental European Council further expanded the NUJ's remit to include NUJ members working in Continental Europe, in particular for NUJ branches in Paris, Brussels and the Netherlands, to campaign on issues of common interest.

The union's structure is democratic, and its supreme decision-making body is its Delegate Meeting, a gathering of elected delegates from all branches across the UK, Ireland and Europe. Between Delegate Meetings, decisions lie with the NUJ's National Executive Council, a committee of 27 people, elected annually by members. The NEC is chaired by a President, elected, along with a Vice-President and Treasurer, at the Delegate Meeting.

The General Secretary (GS) is elected every five years by a national ballot of all members and is held to account and responsible to the National Executive Council (NEC). The current GS is Michelle Stanistreet. The General Secretary is responsible for the day-to-day running of the union and directing its staff. However, important decisions such as authorising industrial action must be taken by the NEC.

Leadership

=General Secretaries=

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 1907}} | event= William Watts}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 1918}} | event= Harry Richardson}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 1936}} | event= Clement Bundock Tim Gopsill and Greg Neale, Journalists: 100 Years of the NUJ}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 1952}} | event= Jim Bradley}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 1969}} | event= Ken Morgan}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 1977}} | event= Ken Ashton}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 1985}} | event= Harry Conroy}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 1990}} | event= Steve Turner}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 1992}} | event= John Foster}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 2001}} | event= Jeremy Dear}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 2011}} | event= Michelle Stanistreet}}

: {{Timeline-event | date= {{Start date | 2024}} | event= Laura Davison{{cite news |title=Laura Davison elected as NUJ leader |url=https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/laura-davidson-elected-nuj-leader |work=Morning Star |date=10 October 2024}}}}

=Presidents =

Presidents of the NUJ: {{cite web | title=List of former presidents | url=https://nuj.org.uk/about/union-democracy/gs-dgs-and-national-officers/national-officers/ | website=National Union of Journalists | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122192031/https://nuj.org.uk/about/union-democracy/gs-dgs-and-national-officers/national-officers/ | access-date=22 January 2021 | archive-date=2021-01-22}}

{{columns-list | colwidth=15em |

:1907: R. C. Spencer

:1909: G. H. Lethem

:1911: John Hunter Harley

:1913: W. T. A. Beare

:1914: F. E. Hamer

:1916: E. Williams

:1917: A. Martin

:1918: F. J. Mansfield

:1919: James Haslam

:1920: J. E. Brown

:1921: Thomas Jay

:1922: T. A. Davies

:1923: Walter Meakin

:1924: T. K. Sledge

:1925: Thomas Dickson

:1926: A. J. Rhodes

:1927: H. A. Raybould

:1928: F. W. Bill

:1929: H. D. Nichols

:1930: W. G. Mitchell

:1931: W. Betts

:1932: J. G. Gregson

:1933: James Hume Aitken

:1934: E. J. T. Didymus

:1935: R. S. Forsyth

:1936: F. G. Humphrey

:1937: F. P. Dickinson

:1938: E. S. Bardsley

:1939: James William Thomas Ley

:1940: Ernest E. Hunter

:1941: T. Foster

:1942: D. M. Elliot

:1943: A. Kenyon

:1944: R. J. Finnemore

:1945: A. J. Gibson

:1946: F. Treavett

:1947: J. E. Jay

:1948: L. R. Aldous

:1949: H. D. Moxley

:1950: Jim Bradley

:1951: J. Taylor

:1952: Henry Bate

:1953: P. W. Jarrett

:1954: E. A. Lofts

:1955: A. D. Ramsay

:1956: G. Reid

:1957: T. Bartholomew

:1958: G. R. Mead

:1959: R. G. Venmore-Rowland

:1960: M. J. Williamson

:1961: P. G. Reid

:1962: K. L. Ley

:1963: William Heald

:1964: G. Byrne

:1965: L. H. Kirwan

:1966: D. C. Tuckett

:1967: G. A. Hutt

:1968: Kenneth Holmes

:1969: Cyril Kilner

:1970: C. Bland

:1971: Douglas Rees

:1972: Harold Pearson

:1973: John Bailey

:1974: Ivan Peebles

:1975: Ken Ashton

:1975: Rosaline Kelly

:1977: John Devine

:1978: Denis Macshane

:1979: Jacob Ecclestone

:1980: Francis Beckett

:1981: Harry Conroy

:1982: Jonathan Hammond

:1983: Eddie Barrett

:1984: George Findlay

:1985: Ray McGuigan

:1986: Bob Keogh

:1987: Lionel Morrison

:1988: Barbara Gunnell and S. McGuire

:1989: Paul McGill

:1990: David Sinclair

:1991: Chris Frost

:1992: Jim Boumelha and R. Trevor

:1993: John Toner

:1994: Anita Halpin

:1995: Kyran Connolly

:1996: Jeremy Dear

:1998: Mark Turnbull

:1999: Christy Loftus

:2000: Dave Toomer

:2001: Rory MacLeod

:2002: John Barsby

:2003: George Macintyre

:2004: Jim Corrigal

:2005: Tim Lezard

:2006: Chris Morley

:2007: Michelle Stanistreet

:2008: James Doherty

:2009: Peter Murray

:2011: Donnacha DeLong

:2012: Barry McCall

:2014: Andy Smith and Adam Christie

:2016: Tim Dawson

:2018: Sian Jones

:2021: Pierre Vicary

:2023: Natasha Hirst

}}

Publications

The NUJ publishes a magazine called The Journalist. {{cite book | title= Journalist | publisher= WorldCat | oclc= 5301989}}

Controversies

In November 2024, several BBC journalists quit the NUJ and a dozen more journalists in the UK were in the process of handing in their NUJ membership cards. This came after they were urged by the NUJ to wear the colours of the Palestinian flag (red, green and black) or a keffiyeh to mark a 'Day of Action for Palestine'.{{Cite web |date=2024-11-28 |title=BBC staff quit union after being told to wear colors of Palestinian flag, keffiyeh |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-831079 |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en}} Charlotte Henry, who runs The Addition, a media and tech newsletter, announced that she was leaving the union because the industry had become a 'hostile environment for the Jews'.{{Cite web |last=Frazer |first=Jenni |date=2024-11-27 |title=BBC staff quit journalists' union after being told to dress in Palestinian colours |url=https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/bbc-staff-quit-journalists-union-after-being-told-to-dress-in-palestinian-colours/ |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=Jewish News |language=en-US}} The Board of Deputies of British Jews has condemned both the NUJ and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), its umbrella union organisation "for failing to support Jewish workers".{{Cite news |last=Frazer |first=Jenni |last2= |first2= |date=2024-11-27 |title=BBC staff quit journalists’ union after being told to dress in Palestinian colors |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjbgeaeqyx |access-date=2024-12-16 |work=Ynetnews |language=en}}

References

External links

[https://nuj.org.uk/ National Union of Journalists website]
[https://nujprcbranch.org.uk]
[https://mrc.epexio.com/records/NUJ Catalogue of the NUJ archives], held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

Category:Trade unions in the United Kingdom

Category:International Federation of Journalists

Category:1907 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Organisations based in the London Borough of Camden

Category:Organizations established in 1907

Category:United Kingdom journalism organisations

Category:Journalism in Ireland

Category:Journalists' trade unions

Category:Trade unions based in London

Category:Trade unions affiliated with the Trades Union Congress

Category:Trade unions affiliated with the Scottish Trades Union Congress