Journalists’ union members in the West Midlands are calling for an investigation into “alternative ownership models” for the local and regional press.

Members of the National Union of Journalists’ Birmingham and Coventry branch were closely affected by recent job cuts at Trinity Mirror-owned titles in the region, although their plans forr strike action were eventually called off.

Now the branch has tabled a motion calling on the union’s national executive committee to carry out research into different forms of newspaper ownership, including using public funds to sustain loss-making papers for community benefit.

A similar motion tabled by the NEC itself calls for a campaign to “trigger a public debate about media ownership including support for community, local and regional media startups.”

Both motions are set to be debated at the union’s annual delegate meeting (ADM) in Southport on 20-22 November.

The union says the “crisis” facing the media industry is a theme running through the agenda, with more than 20 motions addressing the cutbacks of the last year.

Other policy areas covered by the 163 motions submitted include the ethics of reporting the BNP and concerns about the top-slicing of the TV licence fee following publication of the government’s Digital Britain report.

Comments

ilovenewspapers (11/08/2009 15:44:45)
Well having just bailed out the banks I dont think any taxpayer will be supporting the bailout of the local media! You can certainly count me out , and I worked within the regional press for over 20 years. There is life after local newspapars and its about time some people stopped burying their head in the sand and woke up to the fact that newspapers are no longer a daily or weekly must-have.