The National Union of Journalists is welcoming a ‘trial by councillors’ of Liverpool city council’s suspended media chief Matt Finnegan – and called for the hearing to be held in public.
The NUJ says that Matt, a former journalist at the Bury Times, Bolton Evening News, and Manchester Evening News, will now finally be given the chance to defend himself after a 16-month suspension during which he has been banned from speaking out. He will face a disciplinary hearing in September in front of a panel of councillors.

More than £2,000 has been raised for the Banbury Guardian’s Help Harold appeal, which wants to buy Life Education centre mobile classrooms to teach youngsters about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.
The latest donation came from a gala night staged free of charge by a local accountancy firm.

Express & Star journalist Aidan Goldstraw is leaving expressandstar.com after seven years.
He’s been running the web operation for the West Midlands paper and won a series of awards during his time there but is leaving journalism to set up a web design consultancy.

Northumberland Gazette readers are demanding a second supermarket for Alnwick, according to a phone poll run by the paper.
Just 13 callers said “no” to the prospect of a new store, with 183 backing the proposal.

The Wolverhampton Express & Star found itself banned from reporting on the first Wolves fans’ Parliament.
Officials said journalists were banned because representatives were worried about being misquoted.