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Journalists owed £37,000 by failed Bullivant title

Journalists who worked for failed weekly newspaper The Birmingham Press have been left with individual debts of up to £9,000 following its collapse last month.

The independent publisher announced his withdrawal from the so-called Birmingham newspaper war after estate agents in the city decided to return to rival Trinity Mirror-owned publications.

Now the liquidators of CJB Media, the company founded to launch the weekly title, have published a formal ‘Statement of Affairs’ revealing it owes creditors a grand total of £343,186.

The sum includes more than £37,000 owed to individual journalists who freelanced for the short-lived title.

According to the document, published by liquidators Begbies Traynor and sent to all creditors yesterday, the main creditors are listed as Mr Bullivant himself, stating the company owes him £145,000 which he invested as a director’s loan.

And North Wales Newspapers of Mold, Flintshire is owed £107,362.88, believed to be in respect of a printing contract.

The list of freelance journalists owed money as a result of the venture includes:

  • Rosalind Dodd, the former Birmingham Post features writer who was widely acknowledged to have been the main contributor to the Press, owed £8,935.89;
  • George Dobell, a former Post sports writer made redundant in 2008 who compiled the Press’ impressive cricket coverage, owed £5,500;
  • Dave Ismay, a former Aston Villa executive who wrote a weekly sports diary column, owed £4,465;
  • Neville Boyd-Maunsell, the former Post ‘City Correspondent’ who contributed a financial analysis column, owed £3,800;
  • Ian Peasley, freelance reporter, owed £3,775;
  • Anthony Casey, freelance reporter, owed £3,360;
  • Annette Rubery, freelance writer, owed £2,236;
  • Mike Davies, film reviewer, owed £1,200;
  • John Duckers, a former Post business editor who contributed his ‘Duckers and Diving’ column, owed £2,030;
  • Jayne Howarth, another former Post writer, owed £1,055;
  • David Baldwin, who compiled weekly entertainments reviews, owed £908; and
  • Tony Collins, former Birmingham Mail education correspondent, owed £210.

    The document reports that a meeting of creditors on 11 November formed a liquidation committee “comprising of George Dobell, representing himself, Chris Morley [of the National Union of Journalists], representing Anthony Collins, and Hew Jones, representing NWN Media Limited”.

    This committee would “represent the interests of the creditors” who were requested to “submit full particulars of their claims not later than 14 December 2010″.

    Others among a total of 38 company creditors currently claiming debts include:

  • Bullivant Media Ltd (the publisher’s other company), owed £23,177.30;
  • HM Revenue & Customs, owed £2,577;
  • Irwin Mitchell (solicitors), owed £2,162.59;
  • Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance, owed £1,527.96; and
  • Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (where the Press’ office were based), owed £1,806.69.

    It is not yet known what percentage of debts, if any, can be met by the liquidation of CJB Media’s assets, and the document warns: “The level of return to creditors is highly speculative until such time as the Company’s affairs are fully wound up.”

    It estimates that if the winding up of CJB Media is “relatively straightforward”, it could take “around 18 months to complete”.

    Mr Bullivant was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

  • 18 comments

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    • November 17, 2010 at 2:43 pm
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      I hope the NUJ apologise for supporting this venture so much. It didn’t take a newspaper expert to work out this would happen.

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    • November 17, 2010 at 2:56 pm
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      All budding Alan Sugars should be made to read this and take it as the most sobering of sobering lessons. I feel sorry for everyone involved, including Mr Bullivant himself, but this was a doomed venture from day one. I, for one, am staggered by the numbers involved in a newspaper which lasted only 6 months.

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    • November 17, 2010 at 3:01 pm
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      Our industry is full of merchants of doom but I admire anyone such as Chris Bullivant who has a go – and he has to be admired for that. The product itself was good, at least the copy that I saw was. It is, of course, unfortunate that freelances and others are owed money.

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    • November 17, 2010 at 3:18 pm
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      I am amazed Mr Bullivant is still putting himself forward as a victim. I suspect his ‘director’s loan’ will not be a priority of the liquidation committee so how he pays it back to the fool who lent it him is anyone’s guess. He may need to sell the Bentley and even one of the Jags!

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    • November 17, 2010 at 4:05 pm
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      Why’s Tony Collins represented on the liquidation committee? He’s only owed £200!

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    • November 17, 2010 at 4:16 pm
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      Disillusioned – I think you will find that the £140k is a loan made by Mr Bullivant to the company, therefore its out of his own pocket – well done Chris you put your money where your mouth is.

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    • November 17, 2010 at 5:48 pm
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      Bullivant had many critics but I have to say at least he had a go. It’s too easy for people to stand in the background and critisise, it doesnt matter whether we are bashing the banks or blaming failed businesses, it is a negative outlook that serves absolutely no purpose. If anything untoward happened then thats a different matter but as I see it, he was always going to be up against it in the face of such strong competition and I don’t feel this demise bears much reflection on the economic future of print . Publishing newspapers is a tough but rewarding industry to be involved in. While I have sympathy with those freelancers who will lose out on vital cash, lets not forget they wouldnt have had any potential earnings or income they have already received had it not been for this bold attempt to create a new newspaper in Birmingham. I try and encourage people not to join in with this kind of negative talk, if there is a lesson to be learned and you feel you have something to offer then add your comment. I for one do not feel the NUJ should apologise and find it absurd that it should even be suggested otherwise.

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    • November 17, 2010 at 5:59 pm
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      Is it just me or does anyone else find it shocking that the freelancers owed money did not chase up debts on a monthly basis and/or refuse to do more work until they were paid. Going by these figures they all worked without collecting invoices monthly. Either that or they were promised huge one-off fess in which case it’s no wonder the debts are so big. I mean you wouldn’t continue filing copy if you were owed more than a month’s invoices would you?

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    • November 17, 2010 at 6:05 pm
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      Chris Bullivant did a lot to pioneer free newspapers but has tarnished his legacy with this one. His own company was only just out of administration, the money clearly wasn’t there to invest in the product properly (it didn’t even have a website for goodness’ sake) and it was clearly the wrong time for a new launch. Maybe the freelancers should have chased up invoices sooner but with work thin on the ground, I’d imagine they didn’t want to burn any bridges.

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    • November 18, 2010 at 10:00 am
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      actually, thnis may surprise some readers, but we freelancers, myself included, did chase up monthly invoices. we just didnt get responses. And yes, with times tight, you don’tw ant to shoot yourself in the foot so youm keep hope that you’ll get paid by the sual freelance standard – eventually. I did get two paid at least and It was a pleasure to actually be able to write film reviews again after the trinity mirror purges

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    • November 18, 2010 at 10:02 am
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      newspaper without a website. It wasn’t all bad then. They’d have lost even more money.

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    • November 18, 2010 at 10:38 am
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      Am I reading this right? Let’s applaud Bullivant for having a go? So perhaps we should say well done Bernard Madoff for ‘having a go’ at making a hedge fund work? The simple fact is Bullivant was all mouth and no trousers and gambled with the livelihood of individuals.

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    • November 18, 2010 at 10:47 am
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      Bit harsh to compare a Bullivant to Madoff, but I get your point. I feel very sorry for the journalists involved. I’ve been in the situation where I haven’t been paid on time by a client but you keep working for them because you hope they will come good and you don’t want to burn bridges. Bullivant appears to have cashed in on this. He’s quick enough to spout off when it suits him, perhaps he could show some grace and comment now. He could also show respect to those left out of pocket by his actions by removing his claim to the creditors. Bullivant is quick to tell people how he invented free newspapers in this country. Perhaps he did, but he’s also ensured many people will think twice before working with start-up publications again.

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    • November 18, 2010 at 11:26 am
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      Mr Bullivant is chasing successes and dreams that lie in the past. I bet he wishes he had sold up years ago when has business might have fetched a tidy sum.

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    • November 18, 2010 at 2:11 pm
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      Hopefully this will mark the end of the pathetic tit-for-tat squabble between Bullivant and Trinity, so they can both concentrate on paying their staff a half decent wage for continuing to put out good papers in the face of cuts and ‘streamlining’.

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    • November 18, 2010 at 4:13 pm
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      Just to put the record straight Scrooge (not your real name?), I am on the liquidators committee because I was asked and because I have a background of trade union negotiation, which may prove helpful to everyone owed money

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    • November 18, 2010 at 5:39 pm
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      Clicker: The NUJ’s cheerleading was coming from London. Those of us in the West Midlands who worked hard for the union in our spare time and who knew Bullivant’s reputation felt queasy about it at the time and are even more so now.

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