Almost a third of people who responded to a National Union of Journalists membership survey claim to have been bullied at work.

Of those who replied, 31 per cent said they had been bullied. Forty per cent of that sample worked in newspapers, while 21 per cent were in TV and radio and a quarter in magazines and press and PR.

Union general secretary Jeremy Dear said: "It is shameful that bullying is still common and that so many lives are made a misery because of it. The NUJ takes bullying extremely seriously and we are working hard to try and raise awareness of it and eradicate it."

The NUJ 2006 Membership Survey, conducted by the Trade Union Research Unit at Ruskin College, found that groups which were the target of bullying and discrimination were familiar, mainly being ethnic minorities, or women. The researchers also said that bullying appeared to be becoming more widespread.

They said the survey showed that bullying in relation to ethnicity was most common among Asian respondents, at 47 per cent, with a third of black and a third of white respondents, and 18 per cent of mixed race respondents experiencing it.

Sixteen per cent of respondents said they had experienced discrimination - and the reasons were varied, ranging from race, sexuality and age to childcare arrangements and not having attended a fee-paying school.

The results also showed that 68 per cent of women - as opposed to 32 per cent of men - reported being discriminated against. They are also most likely to be bullied, though with a smaller margin – 52 per cent to 48 per cent of men.

The researchers said that women in the media are most at risk of discrimination between the age of 35 and 44, whereas men are more likely to experience it between 45 and 54.