Now, I'm not averse to a good old scrap, be it in print or behind closed doors, so I was particularly amused to see a little tete-a-tete developing between one London editor and a blogger this week.
The esteemed - only by himself admittedly - Inside Croydon recently had a bit of a rant against a campaign run by the Croydon Advertiser, a Northcliffe weeklie.
Inside Croydon claims the paper - in their 'it-was-us-what-won-it' edition - was in collusion with the councillor concerned over the results of a consultation.
Clearly, if Inside Croydon has any actual experience in a newsroom, he'll already know that no newspaper will run a campaign unless a. they can win it, or b. it is a hugely popular lost cause that not even the campaigners expect to win anyway.
So, we all take the Croydon Advertiser gloating with a pinch of salt, as every paper deserves to big itself up every now and again.
But not Mr Inside Croydon, he attacks the paper pretty harshly, with rapier-like wit such as:
"Yet the Croydon Sadvertiser, with its deadline of last Wednesday – a full seven days before the announcement is due – contained extensive details from what it claimed to be a leaked council report, alongside a lovingly staged picture of “Two Permits” Thomas and the paper’s editor receiving a massive ... 250 signatures [coughs with embarrassment].
"The Sadvertiser was very late to this particular story, despite being contacted by local residents’ groups nearly two months ago. In the end, the CRAPP (that’s not too rude; it means Croydon Residents Against Parking Plans) online campaign, and its dedicated band of supporters who leafleted and petitioned in their neighbourhoods, managed to raised [sic] nearly 10 times the number of signatures that the local newspaper did."
Again, as anyone who has ever been involved with regional/local/national newspapers knows, the last thing, the very, very last thing that anyone should do at this point is respond...
Well, I thought everyone knew that anyway.
Cue a rather tetchy response from Croydon Advertiser editor Glenn Ebrey in his online blog.
Glenn, in a total loss of any kind of editorial judgement, hits back with just as non-rapier-like wit, with such gems as:
"Firstly, he continually describes us as the Croydon S-Advertiser, which must have taken a whole 30 seconds to think up. No chance of a job on the subs desk with lame puns like that.
"Then, he goes on to criticise us for daring to start a campaign (a successful campaign, I might add) against Croydon Council’s parking proposals. If we hadn’t bothered with a campaign, we probably would have been criticised for that too. Isn’t campaigning what all good local newspapers should be doing?
"Next, we are slammed for having the cheek to report documents we obtained before their official publication. Isn’t that just good journalism Mr Insider?"
Well, not really Glenn, as anyone who knows anything about journalism will also know that in all probability, there was no Mission Impossible-esque espionage involved in getting the report. Or was there? If so, please email me with the details and I'll happily praise your reporter/s for their efforts!
Anyway, as shit as that response is, it's nothing to what Mr Ebrey does next.
Yes, in true local rag style, he challenges the Inside Croydon blogger to spend a day in his newsroom while boasting of the paper's circulation.
Again, anyone in papers knows this is total bollocks, so stop trying to kid yourself that the Croydon Advertiser is different from any other newspaper in the country Glenn and is enjoying a new-found period of growth and prosperity, it isn't.
However, he wrote: "The mystery blogger also suggests we have an “increasingly small circulation”. Last time I checked, our papers were distributed to more than 100,000 people a week. That sounds like a pretty captive audience to me.
"I have no idea who Mr Insider is because, despite being so forthright in his views, he very bravely decides to remain anonymous.
"But, if you are reading this, I’d like to put forward a challenge to you Mr Insider. Come and spend a day in our office, see how hard our reporters work, the dedication and hours they put into producing the paper each week, and see if it changes your view."
I mean Christ, if you're going to go out on a limb and respond, you might as well do it in a really innovative way; a car park fight perhaps?
But no, the old day in the newsroom challenge it was.
And Inside Croydon's response?
"If you don’t mind, for now we’ll pass your offer for us to give up a day of our expertise to give your staff some training and show them how to do their jobs. And we will continue to judge them, and you, on results."
That was, at least, actually quite funny.
However not unexpected, as the last time I had any contact with Mr Inside Croydon, I was emailed with strict instructions not to publish any of his comments in this blog, I presume due to a sudden burst of shyness.
Oh, the irony...
But in this case, I can't help but doff my cap to Inside Croydon, and wield a sword of disappointment in the direction of Glenn Ebrey for committing the ultimate newspaper crime of rising to the bait and losing.
Disappointing all round really.
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Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Friday, 4 February 2011
The Glum Times - an enjoyable two-page read
Oh dear, glum times in the newsroom as the age-old gripe returns; paginations.
In the heady days of easily-achieved 30% profit margins, expenses that served as your food shopping and two reporters (plus photographer) for every job, the possibility of cutting pages was folly, where would there be space for all of the advertisers knocking down our door to hand us their used £50 notes?
Alas, as we all know, those days are long gone.
Instead, we've all seen the cost-cutting initiatives rolled out in force across newspaper groups, all featuring a snappy, employee-friendly name like 'Aim Higher', 'Pursuing Excellence', when they should just be honest and call them 'Pursuing Lost Old Profits' - or PLOP for short.
So it was as we were glumly informed that due to a slow January (when is January not slow?) for advertising, our papers were going to be reduced to about one page of news each.
The raising of eyebrows around the conference table was almost audible among those who have been here before because we know how this goes.
Cut paginations, fewer stories, fewer staff.
The amount of resigned indignation was incredible and I suspect most people in the office are going to spend their Friday afternoon updating their CVs.
So why do management continue to chase that which is long past?
While none of us are so fucking stupid as to pretend things are easy out there, nor are we so naive as to think we are actually losing money.
We're not, and we know it.
Oh no, the problem for those enjoying a whopping pay increase is that the margins are falling, so for example, instead of making a £4,000,000 profit this year, we're heading for a mere £3,000,000 profit.
Obviously, the multinational companies that now own your local and regional newspapers couldn't give a flying fuck that this is still a hugely profitable business, they merely want to earn as much as they can, as much as last year, as much as ten years ago, so fuck us all over in a bid to return to that level.
It's absolute lunacy and must end. And I'm comfortable predicting that it will come to an end, in one way or another, this year.
How long before Newsquest, or Northcliffe, simply grows tired of not making the profits they used to and sells everything?
Surely it won't be long.
And far from fearing that day, I relish it coming, because once the evil empires loosen their grip on everything anyone reads and looks at online, the groups will splinter, some taken on by independent owners, even worker groups.
Then, and only then, will we see a newspaper run properly once more, by people who care about what goes in, what doesn't go in, and cares about the quality of the package over and above a huge profit margin.
Perhaps then we will see a newspaper that is happy with a 10% profit - 10% of a lot is still a lot - and will invest in quality product and people.
But am I just dreaming? You tell me...
Meanwhile, I'm off to update my CV and work out how I can maintain a story count in a newspaper the size of a Starbucks napkin.
You can, should you be minded, follow me on Twitter - @haplesshack - or email me at thehaplesshack@gmail.com
In the heady days of easily-achieved 30% profit margins, expenses that served as your food shopping and two reporters (plus photographer) for every job, the possibility of cutting pages was folly, where would there be space for all of the advertisers knocking down our door to hand us their used £50 notes?
Alas, as we all know, those days are long gone.
Instead, we've all seen the cost-cutting initiatives rolled out in force across newspaper groups, all featuring a snappy, employee-friendly name like 'Aim Higher', 'Pursuing Excellence', when they should just be honest and call them 'Pursuing Lost Old Profits' - or PLOP for short.
So it was as we were glumly informed that due to a slow January (when is January not slow?) for advertising, our papers were going to be reduced to about one page of news each.
The raising of eyebrows around the conference table was almost audible among those who have been here before because we know how this goes.
Cut paginations, fewer stories, fewer staff.
The amount of resigned indignation was incredible and I suspect most people in the office are going to spend their Friday afternoon updating their CVs.
So why do management continue to chase that which is long past?
While none of us are so fucking stupid as to pretend things are easy out there, nor are we so naive as to think we are actually losing money.
We're not, and we know it.
Oh no, the problem for those enjoying a whopping pay increase is that the margins are falling, so for example, instead of making a £4,000,000 profit this year, we're heading for a mere £3,000,000 profit.
Obviously, the multinational companies that now own your local and regional newspapers couldn't give a flying fuck that this is still a hugely profitable business, they merely want to earn as much as they can, as much as last year, as much as ten years ago, so fuck us all over in a bid to return to that level.
It's absolute lunacy and must end. And I'm comfortable predicting that it will come to an end, in one way or another, this year.
How long before Newsquest, or Northcliffe, simply grows tired of not making the profits they used to and sells everything?
Surely it won't be long.
And far from fearing that day, I relish it coming, because once the evil empires loosen their grip on everything anyone reads and looks at online, the groups will splinter, some taken on by independent owners, even worker groups.
Then, and only then, will we see a newspaper run properly once more, by people who care about what goes in, what doesn't go in, and cares about the quality of the package over and above a huge profit margin.
Perhaps then we will see a newspaper that is happy with a 10% profit - 10% of a lot is still a lot - and will invest in quality product and people.
But am I just dreaming? You tell me...
Meanwhile, I'm off to update my CV and work out how I can maintain a story count in a newspaper the size of a Starbucks napkin.
You can, should you be minded, follow me on Twitter - @haplesshack - or email me at thehaplesshack@gmail.com
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Is anyone listening in?
It may come as something as a surprise, but I have never blogged on the so-called phone hacking 'scandal'.
Being a legally-minded yellow belly has played a part in that of course, but so has my own difficulty in settling on an opinion of this tactic, whether it has happened or not.
You see, the clear cut moral supremacist in me immediately wants to cry 'outrage', 'folly' and other such words only an indignant mother can use with any authority.
But the reporter in me yearns to cry 'what the hell, these things are news and if people don't want you to find out, they should sort their fucking lives out' at the top of my voice across the newsroom.
So where do I fall? I remain, as yet, undecided.
One thing I can tell you however, is where I don't fall. That, my friends, is in the sickeningly self-righteous camp of those seemingly taking such joy in highlighting the alleged working processes of some newsrooms.
I mean, come on, even the most liberal newshound on Planet Papers has to swallow a bit of ego here and admit - to themselves in a darkened room on a cold winter night if no-one else - that they would love to have written the possible exclusives these alleged hackings have produced.
And more to the point, if they don't, why the fuck not?
The last thing any reporter who understands the pressure in a national newsroom should be doing is taking this easy chance to, effectively, shit on their brethren.
Because like it or not folks, newspapers will ultimately stand and fall together, tabloid or broadsheet, tits-on-page-three or no-tits-on-page-three.
If we are all so confident we have never, ever, pushed a boundary in the pursuit of truth; whether we perceive it as being in the public interest or otherwise, then this nauseating witch hunt taking place at the NotW should continue unabated.
However, cast your mind back to your first day in a newsroom.
What would you have done to score a huge exclusive to impress the scary person sitting in the big office? I can guarantee the answer would have been an unequivocal 'anything'.
No, that doesn't excuse illegal tactics, if any of those being alleged have been used and those caught should face stern punishments.
But please, save me the self-righteous pontificating so much in evidence currently.
Being a legally-minded yellow belly has played a part in that of course, but so has my own difficulty in settling on an opinion of this tactic, whether it has happened or not.
You see, the clear cut moral supremacist in me immediately wants to cry 'outrage', 'folly' and other such words only an indignant mother can use with any authority.
But the reporter in me yearns to cry 'what the hell, these things are news and if people don't want you to find out, they should sort their fucking lives out' at the top of my voice across the newsroom.
So where do I fall? I remain, as yet, undecided.
One thing I can tell you however, is where I don't fall. That, my friends, is in the sickeningly self-righteous camp of those seemingly taking such joy in highlighting the alleged working processes of some newsrooms.
I mean, come on, even the most liberal newshound on Planet Papers has to swallow a bit of ego here and admit - to themselves in a darkened room on a cold winter night if no-one else - that they would love to have written the possible exclusives these alleged hackings have produced.
And more to the point, if they don't, why the fuck not?
The last thing any reporter who understands the pressure in a national newsroom should be doing is taking this easy chance to, effectively, shit on their brethren.
Because like it or not folks, newspapers will ultimately stand and fall together, tabloid or broadsheet, tits-on-page-three or no-tits-on-page-three.
If we are all so confident we have never, ever, pushed a boundary in the pursuit of truth; whether we perceive it as being in the public interest or otherwise, then this nauseating witch hunt taking place at the NotW should continue unabated.
However, cast your mind back to your first day in a newsroom.
What would you have done to score a huge exclusive to impress the scary person sitting in the big office? I can guarantee the answer would have been an unequivocal 'anything'.
No, that doesn't excuse illegal tactics, if any of those being alleged have been used and those caught should face stern punishments.
But please, save me the self-righteous pontificating so much in evidence currently.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
And a funny new year...
Well hello all and a happy new year and all that balls to everyone who actually reads this.
Due to a distinct lack of inspiration induced by a festive season spent bathing in copious amounts of alcohol and unsuitable food, I am falling back on the classic new year filler - a round-up of the previous year!
Yes, that's right, here are a couple of my favourite piles of shit from 2010. Enjoy!
Plus, I've saved a new one for last so don't despair!
Not strictly a journalistic error, but what the hell, it is funny... Is Facebook trying to tell me something?
Got to love this picture to accompany a story about undercover police officers. My, how they're getting hard to spot!
A rather over-enthusiastic columnist here it seems. Thanks for the Tweet, you know who you are!
And a special mention to those lovely people who follow me on Twitter, @haplesshack, just because they are special people:
@victoriaraimes
@fleetstreetblue
@nottshospice
@daviesshell
@NewsShopperJR
@ellastella
@obicolkenobi
@hizzary
@SeamusOKeeffe
@JTheBossRoss
@thegirlsilver
@PogalJoners
@Bezeb
@HullMailNews
Obviously, they may be mental, but I still love them.
Have a good one - and don't forget to keep your spots and any other rants coming to thehaplesshack@gmail.com should you wish to!
Due to a distinct lack of inspiration induced by a festive season spent bathing in copious amounts of alcohol and unsuitable food, I am falling back on the classic new year filler - a round-up of the previous year!
Yes, that's right, here are a couple of my favourite piles of shit from 2010. Enjoy!
Plus, I've saved a new one for last so don't despair!
Not strictly a journalistic error, but what the hell, it is funny... Is Facebook trying to tell me something?
Got to love this picture to accompany a story about undercover police officers. My, how they're getting hard to spot!
A rather over-enthusiastic columnist here it seems. Thanks for the Tweet, you know who you are!
And a special mention to those lovely people who follow me on Twitter, @haplesshack, just because they are special people:
@victoriaraimes
@fleetstreetblue
@nottshospice
@daviesshell
@NewsShopperJR
@ellastella
@obicolkenobi
@hizzary
@SeamusOKeeffe
@JTheBossRoss
@thegirlsilver
@PogalJoners
@Bezeb
@HullMailNews
Obviously, they may be mental, but I still love them.
Have a good one - and don't forget to keep your spots and any other rants coming to thehaplesshack@gmail.com should you wish to!
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
The Secret of Daily Mail's Success...
Sorry to harp on about the Daily Mail website - actually, scrap that, I'm not sorry at all - but it really is becoming such a beacon of excellence for both newspapers, news websites and newspaper executives who are stuck in the pit of trying to justify everything, to everyone, all the time, even though they have no fucking clue what they're actually talking about.
I give you Mail Online publisher Martin Clarke, and his recent address at the Society of Editors Conference.
He said: "Mail Online has succeeded because it does what newspapers have always done, it tells fascinating stories clearly with great headlines, punchy words and brilliant pictures."
Let's take this one step at a time...
"Mail Online has succeeded because...":
* "fascinating stories": Really? Where? A quick look today reveals 13, yes, 13 celebrity-based stories in the top half of the Mail homepage. There are nine 'news' stories in the main section.
* "great headlines": Again, really? Headlines today include: 'Rent boy quizzed by police over claims that husband of honeymoon murder victim paid him for sex sessions', 'Big freeze returns tonight with EIGHT inches of snow and temperatures of -10C on the way, prompting fears it will eclipse the winter of 1962-3' and 'He has an army of liberal millionaire supporters bit WikiLeaks boss is STILL trying to raise £240,000 in cash for his bail'.
Yeah, fuckin' fascinating those Martin...
* "punchy words": See above.
* "brilliant pictures": See below - I'll let you judge.
Now, to all those executives now knocking one off over Clarke's genius thinking and incredible figures on Mail Online, I give you the response.
* "Please, stop wallowing in a vat of your own clueless thinking and realise that whacking celebrity names in headlines, along with words like "rent boy" and "sex sessions" (preferably together) does not indicate some kind of genius online thinking, it indicates a blatant attempt to produce plastic figures based on wankers who know nothing about anything reading shit stories."
If that is the future, then you can stick it right up your arse and we should all quit now.
Thank you Mr Clarke for killing our industry. Still, you'll be long fucking dead with millions in the bank when the final person left trying to preserve some sort of integrity is handed a P45.
Still, at least he has some sense of how shit his own site is.
"I don't think we'll ever win any web design awards."
No shit Sherlock.
I give you Mail Online publisher Martin Clarke, and his recent address at the Society of Editors Conference.
He said: "Mail Online has succeeded because it does what newspapers have always done, it tells fascinating stories clearly with great headlines, punchy words and brilliant pictures."
Let's take this one step at a time...
"Mail Online has succeeded because...":
* "fascinating stories": Really? Where? A quick look today reveals 13, yes, 13 celebrity-based stories in the top half of the Mail homepage. There are nine 'news' stories in the main section.
* "great headlines": Again, really? Headlines today include: 'Rent boy quizzed by police over claims that husband of honeymoon murder victim paid him for sex sessions', 'Big freeze returns tonight with EIGHT inches of snow and temperatures of -10C on the way, prompting fears it will eclipse the winter of 1962-3' and 'He has an army of liberal millionaire supporters bit WikiLeaks boss is STILL trying to raise £240,000 in cash for his bail'.
Yeah, fuckin' fascinating those Martin...
* "punchy words": See above.
* "brilliant pictures": See below - I'll let you judge.
Now, to all those executives now knocking one off over Clarke's genius thinking and incredible figures on Mail Online, I give you the response.
* "Please, stop wallowing in a vat of your own clueless thinking and realise that whacking celebrity names in headlines, along with words like "rent boy" and "sex sessions" (preferably together) does not indicate some kind of genius online thinking, it indicates a blatant attempt to produce plastic figures based on wankers who know nothing about anything reading shit stories."
If that is the future, then you can stick it right up your arse and we should all quit now.
Thank you Mr Clarke for killing our industry. Still, you'll be long fucking dead with millions in the bank when the final person left trying to preserve some sort of integrity is handed a P45.
Still, at least he has some sense of how shit his own site is.
"I don't think we'll ever win any web design awards."
No shit Sherlock.
Monday, 13 December 2010
'Tis the season to be jolly...
Christmas is a tricky time for every department at a newspaper.
Sales are struggling to cut down supplies and deciding on which day to leave off their ABCs as sales are just so shit.
Editorial is stockpiling features like never before, while trying to maintain some semblance of actual news in a see of festive press releases.
And managers are, well, looking forward to the posh lunch/day off event they have planned despite giving every employee a £5 pot to piss in for their Christmas party...
Yet they shouldn't be the only ones reveling in the opportunities December presents.
Surely, for advertising departments up and down the land, Christmas is the time of joy, the time to make hay as it were, while the snow falls?
Every shop in the land should be queueing up to show off their wares in the pages of the local rag, giving away this that and the other and basically cosying up to newspapers all over the shop (I'm on fire for puns today).
However, it has to be embraced, and let's be honest, it's a bit of a God-send (can you see what I did there?) for stories in the week or so before the day itself, and for the week after. There are picture stories galore to be had, Christmas miracle births, Christmas Day births, swims, walks, etc etc.
So it was with interest that I took a little looksie round the usual band of high-flying news websites in a bid to see how each had harnessed the new season and was somewhat let down by my findings.
Various big hitters had nothing at all to do with Christmas online that I could find, including www.thisisnottingham.co.uk, www.thisisbrighton.co.uk, www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk and www.thisisbristol.co.uk to name but a few.
Others had a very small nod to the festive season, including the Lincolnshire Echo, which was flagging up a Santa's Letter scheme (prime advertising fodder I would imagine, as mentioned above) - a snip at £3.95!
The Reading Evening Post too seemed to have found a way of trying to eek out some cash, with a tie-up for Christmas shopping with an external retailer (see picture below).
Others had made a bit more of an effort, including Newsquest big hitters www.thisisbolton.co.uk and www.oxfordmail.co.uk, who put their stablemate the Argus to shame with full sections dedicated to everything snow- and Santa-based. A quick peek at the Bolton offering is below.
It would be interesting to know how much money their efforts made? Hopefully a lot.
Same with www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk, which is running a Christmas lights competition, a natural home for such competitions what with page-starved books for most papers.
Anyway, the point of having a look really was just to harness whether anyone is actually trying to do anything differently in this sea of 'difficult financial times'.
My answer, as has been exposed so many times while writing this blog and working in a newsroom, is no in pretty much all cases.
I can only presume we're all too full of piss and wind (as well as mince pies and cheap Champagne) to actually try and do anything?
I sincerely hope those attempting to innovate and fight their way out of this paper bag of a recession succeed. Those who moan a lot but have tried nothing? Well, the papers will survive, hopefully without you...
Sales are struggling to cut down supplies and deciding on which day to leave off their ABCs as sales are just so shit.
Editorial is stockpiling features like never before, while trying to maintain some semblance of actual news in a see of festive press releases.
And managers are, well, looking forward to the posh lunch/day off event they have planned despite giving every employee a £5 pot to piss in for their Christmas party...
Yet they shouldn't be the only ones reveling in the opportunities December presents.
Surely, for advertising departments up and down the land, Christmas is the time of joy, the time to make hay as it were, while the snow falls?
Every shop in the land should be queueing up to show off their wares in the pages of the local rag, giving away this that and the other and basically cosying up to newspapers all over the shop (I'm on fire for puns today).
However, it has to be embraced, and let's be honest, it's a bit of a God-send (can you see what I did there?) for stories in the week or so before the day itself, and for the week after. There are picture stories galore to be had, Christmas miracle births, Christmas Day births, swims, walks, etc etc.
So it was with interest that I took a little looksie round the usual band of high-flying news websites in a bid to see how each had harnessed the new season and was somewhat let down by my findings.
Various big hitters had nothing at all to do with Christmas online that I could find, including www.thisisnottingham.co.uk, www.thisisbrighton.co.uk, www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk and www.thisisbristol.co.uk to name but a few.
Others had a very small nod to the festive season, including the Lincolnshire Echo, which was flagging up a Santa's Letter scheme (prime advertising fodder I would imagine, as mentioned above) - a snip at £3.95!
The Reading Evening Post too seemed to have found a way of trying to eek out some cash, with a tie-up for Christmas shopping with an external retailer (see picture below).
Others had made a bit more of an effort, including Newsquest big hitters www.thisisbolton.co.uk and www.oxfordmail.co.uk, who put their stablemate the Argus to shame with full sections dedicated to everything snow- and Santa-based. A quick peek at the Bolton offering is below.
It would be interesting to know how much money their efforts made? Hopefully a lot.
Same with www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk, which is running a Christmas lights competition, a natural home for such competitions what with page-starved books for most papers.
Anyway, the point of having a look really was just to harness whether anyone is actually trying to do anything differently in this sea of 'difficult financial times'.
My answer, as has been exposed so many times while writing this blog and working in a newsroom, is no in pretty much all cases.
I can only presume we're all too full of piss and wind (as well as mince pies and cheap Champagne) to actually try and do anything?
I sincerely hope those attempting to innovate and fight their way out of this paper bag of a recession succeed. Those who moan a lot but have tried nothing? Well, the papers will survive, hopefully without you...
NUJ action? You must be joking...
Now, the seemingly endless saga of strikes at Newsquest newspapers up and down the country is something I've mused on before.
However, previously, I targeted the sloppy coordination of the NUJ, which has singularly failed to galvanise the clearly strong voice for protest at many centres.
And I'm going to do exactly the same again.
I realise there is strict legislation in place which governs such moves, but surely the NUJ has some idea of how to go about coordinating a nationwide strike, as that clearly seems to be something Newsquest employees are craving?
It would seem that would be the only way to truly do something about the shoddy treatment of so many journalists by a company which makes "lots of money", apparently.
This is what you're there for NUJ, not your usual sprouting of bullshit rhetoric.
However, previously, I targeted the sloppy coordination of the NUJ, which has singularly failed to galvanise the clearly strong voice for protest at many centres.
And I'm going to do exactly the same again.
I realise there is strict legislation in place which governs such moves, but surely the NUJ has some idea of how to go about coordinating a nationwide strike, as that clearly seems to be something Newsquest employees are craving?
It would seem that would be the only way to truly do something about the shoddy treatment of so many journalists by a company which makes "lots of money", apparently.
This is what you're there for NUJ, not your usual sprouting of bullshit rhetoric.
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