Reporters will refuse to undertake photographic jobs and have touted possible strike action at a cuts hit newspaper group.
Stourbridge Newsquest NUJ chapel passed a motion opposing compulsory redundancies after a plan to cut four photographer roles down to one full-time equivalent across the publisher’s Worcester division.
The plan will mean a single staff photographer covering a 30-mile patch.
The NUJ move comes just over a week after Paul Walker, pictured left, group editor of the seven titles which make up the company’s Stourbridge Division, quit his role with immediate effect.
In a statement, the chapel said: “We, as the Stourbridge Newsquest NUJ chapel, resolve to remind Newsquest that as a chapel we are opposed to compulsory redundancies within the editorial department at Newsquest Stourbridge.
“Should the company make compulsory redundancies the chapel has resolved to meet and consider the possibility of industrial action.
“We also wish to make it clear that, as reporters, we are opposed to the replacement of professional photographers by other staff.
“Therefore NUJ members have resolved not to accept assignments which would normally be given to professional photographers.”
The NUJ says more chapels are set to follow suit in this course of action. Cuts to photographic staff have also been made at several Newsquest titles across the north of England in recent weeks.
Paul had been responsible for overseeing the Stourbridge News, Halesowen News, Dudley News, Kidderminster Shuttle, Bromsgrove Advertiser, Droitwich Advertiser and Redditch and Alcester Advertiser.
Peter John, group editor of the Worcester Division, which includes the daily Worcester News, has assumed responsibility for his portfolio. He has declined to comment on the NUJ move.
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‘Bout time. The power is in your hands, lads & lasses; “forget” your camera phones (sorry, must be on me desk) & just use notebooks. That’ll larn ’em (perhaps). There was never anything the toggies could do to safeguard their jobs – it really was up to their colleagues. Time was we wouldn’t dare take pix, even if we could use a camera.
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All well and good but this will probably mean staff refusing managers’ instructions, with disciplinary repercussions. One of the reasons we all operate in the middling levels of this industry is that we’re yes-people, the obedient toiling majority, and not made of particularly defiant stuff (if we weren’t, our lives would be different). Best of luck to anyone who can afford lofty principles here.
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I’m sure reporters would be within their rights to refuse to use their own phones/camera kit for this.If Scroogequest want them to do pics then they can provide the kit.Results will speak for themselves.
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“What’s that, boss? The picture is out of focus/too dark/too light/blurred cos they moved? I just can’t seem to get the settings right on this thing. What a shame…”
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Time to stand up and be counted!
It cannot get any worse!
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Every reporter on every paper should do the same, but companies know they have staff by the short and curlies. In any event the papers will just carry on with crap pictures from the public. Quite why anyone with a degree would waste it on a “career” (job) in journalism baffles me!
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If we’d wanted to be photographers we’d have done that surely?
Instead we chose – for our sins- to be reporters
The worst thing anyone can do here is agree to take photographs in the first place.
Not to purposely submit poor pictures or agree to do this as a one-off
It just normalises this process.
Everyone must stand firm on this one – the situation is bad enough as it is.
And it goes without saying – those who agree to do this are denying a freelance photographer of a decent living.
Shameful.
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The way to deal with this is through dumb insolence. All reporters should appear to be as enthusiastic as possible about this new initiative and butter up the boss.
But then reporters should ensure they only take boring but competent-looking pictures – and feign shock and bewilderment when asked why the pix are so bad.
Of course, they must promise to do better next time but they should still keep on making a mess of it.
Guys and gals, you need to be two-faced to management in the face of such an unreasonable request.
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At the weekend, I happened to be in the town centre when I was politely accosted by a young man who introduced himself as a reporter from the local Newsquest daily, doing a vox pop on some contrived burning issue of the day. He said he’d like to ask my opinion on a couple of points and then take my picture. I said I’d be happy to oblige, if and when his employer reinstates the photographers and subs it has sacked. I can only hope that he reported this response back to his editor.
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Suedehead. I recall some hacks employing those tactics when their roles were extended, without extra pay, to shooting videos. They looked like they had been sitting on a jelly when shooting. It all backfired. Bosses, mostly over promoted ad reps, were happy with them!! Cheap.cheap!
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Well done everyone at Stourbridge for taking a stand, it shows the integrity of all the staff involved and is something to be proud of.
Keep fighting the fight.
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By extension, if your paper has no staff reporter ( like many JP rags) and a reporter takes a snap, a freelance trying to pay bills is denied work. Don’t do it please.
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Years ago it was a just about a disciplinary offence for a reporter to take snaps unless he suddenly came across a fire or TA in his path. Few carried cameras anyway. In the ’60s and 70s it was considered very wrong to take snaps as it was thought the thin edge of the wedge to get rid of staff photogs. Now I notice many young reporters taking pix and staff photogs are gone, replaced by freelance casuals. As others have said it’s probzably best for reporters to take very poor quality pix.
Soon we’ll all be asked to take lightning sketches of some scenes!
What state will local papers be in about ten years time? Will it get much worse in the “profession?” What happened to Lobby Ludd?
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Well done to the reporters! but sadly many experienced snappers were the ones with local knowledge; and were also more aware of the necessity of accuracy,particularly in adresses,spelling of names and phone numbers……….
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Suedehead, nice idea but there’s a slight flaw in your plan – management genuinely don’t care what appears in their papers. The entire content could be in Swahili and they wouldn’t be bothered.
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“Disciplinary offence for a reporter to take snaps”…makes it sound like the bloody Army!
“Managements genuinely don’t care what appears in their papers”…what, don’t they care even if there are not enough adverts?
If things are this bad, it is surely time to think of a new career.
Circulations are tumbling like ninepins, I can’t see how throwing a spanner in the works is going to improve things in the long term.
How much should a weekly trained reporter realistically earn? Would 25k satisfy, for say, a 10,000 circulation? What about the editor then, 50k anybody? How many staff photographers should it have…two, three? Perhaps two full-time page designers.
What about the advertising team, do they get paid peanuts? Who is allocated company cars, advertising and editorial? Does the editor get his own car?
Do we have our own delivery vans? What are business rates, rents, car park charges etc for a town centre office?
Does anyone know what insurance rates are for staff hurt during the course of their work? Perhaps exbusinesshack could fill me in on that.
By the way, who is going to pay for all this?
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It isn’t possible to reverse progress folks. Technology has moved on and journos need to accept this. It is hard to see photographic staff lose their jobs but capturing useable images just isn’t the craft it used to be. We no longer use chemicals to produce pictures and dark rooms are a thing of the past. iPhone pictures are perfectly good enough for most jobs in newspaper publishing these days and reporters are perfectly capable of capturing images. Don’t hold reporters back from developing their skills with out-dated sentimental recollections of yesteryear.
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So many points here. 1. NUJ chapel might “consider” industrial action. What might that be? I suspect an empty threat, and I speak as a life member. 2. Any decent reporter stumbling on a great picture (armed robbery, fire, plane crash, siege, take your pick – no pun intended) would use his or her phone to grab a shot and go back to the office whooping in victory. So the principle is set. Reporters WILL take pics when it suits. 3. The people who say management don’t care about quality are spot on. Of course they don’t.
4. The few who are left in the office are hard working but perhaps not well trained. And they are not militant. I’d they refuse to take pictures they will just be sacked and replaced with even cheaper people. It’s not fair to put them in the front line.
5. If those who are left were prepared to go on all-out strike and could stop production of the papers, and had financial support from the union, then I would back them. But they aren’t, they can’t, they haven’t. We have to proceed on this issue on that basis. Sabre ratting does not help.
6. I think the modern day reporter, sad as it is for some, must harvest content from wherever he/she can, Internet, own phone, social media, subject to the law and the code of conduct.
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Phil Deane – it’s not just bitter ex-newspaper people appalled by lowering standards. It’s the public, which is so obvious I shouldn’t have to tell you. It’s ok moving with the times and letting new journos get on with it, but surely you can see what you produce these days is pretty poor – at least the newspapers Trinity Mirror produce in North Manchester are. That’s not harking back to a golden era of long lunches, high-staffing levels, low story counts per reporter and four day weeks. It’s just what people see in front of them. Mix with real people who buy their local rag and see if anyone is impressed with what is produced.
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McTavish, I was referring to editorial content. From my experience of almost 20 years in the industry, management couldn’t care less.
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Sacking photogs and getting journos/public to fill that role will only result in an unacceptable drop in quality and then circulation leading to a drop in advertising and finally a cut in journalistic staff. It seems newspaper owners have a death wish. However their plan B (digital) is already a failure. The advertising just isn’t happening.. It’s pure greed but it’s going to backfire.journos should refuse photo work as it will only lead to the loss of their jobs due to the aforementioned reasons. JP, TM and NQ listen carefully…. PEOPLE DONT WANT TO READ THEIR LOCAL NEWS ON A SMALL PHONE SCREEN!!!!
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Sadly, not only do people not want to read their local news on a small phone screen, most people who read “news” on a phone don’t want to read LOCAL news at all, except weather reports & traffic news. All they want is national sleb rubbish, pointless gossip & sex stories – until some situation arises that affects them. By then, though, it’s too late and their local news source has disappeared. The (older) people interested in local events would still buy their newspapers, but now in Reading they don’t get the opportunity.
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GladImOutOfIt – there are still two newspapers in Reading, the Reading Chronicle and the Reading Midweek. They are independent, committed to print and doing a damn fine job in difficult circumstances
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