Author Archives: Mark Fisher

Should public funds be used to support journalism? – with John Toner

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At tonight’s meeting in conjunction with Edinburgh & District branch, we’ll be picking up on the latest report from Frances Cairncross who suggests local news coverage could disappear without public funding:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/feb/11/public-funds-should-be-used-to-rescue-local-journalism-says-report
Leading the discussion will be John Toner, NUJ national organiser for Scotland, who will also be updating us on the latest Scottish media news. Among the other contributors will be Scotsman columnist and branch chair, Joyce McMillan.
Should be a lively discussion.
MONDAY 18 FEBRUARY
Edinburgh Freelance Branch
7pm
Edinburgh Central Youth Hostel
9 Haddington Place, EH7 4AL 
https://www.syha.org.uk/where-to-stay/lowlands/edinburgh-central.aspx

Freelance Branch AGM

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Our first meeting of 2019 is in two weeks’ time when we’ll be electing our branch officers and looking forward to the year ahead.

Here’s a list of the branch roles and the current office holders. Let me know if you’re interested in standing for any of the posts (or standing down).

Chair: Joyce McMillan
Vice-chair: Simon Barrow
Secretary: Mark Fisher
Membership secretary and welfare: Paul Cockburn
Treasurer: Joyce McMillan (standing in for Nick McGowan-Lowe)
Training: vacant
Edinburgh Trade Union Council rep: vacant
Student rep: Denitsa Tsekova
Auditor 1: Joyce McMillan
Auditor 2: Adam Ramsay

MONDAY 21 JANUARY
Edinburgh Freelance Branch AGM
7pm
Edinburgh Central Youth Hostel
9 Haddington Place, EH7 4AL 
https://www.syha.org.uk/where-to-stay/lowlands/edinburgh-central.aspx

I look forward to seeing you there.

Journalism: the next generation – Mon 19 Nov

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Next Monday’s meeting is a chance to welcome the next generation of journalists into the NUJ as we talk about making the transition from student journalism to a professional career.
We’ve already been publicising the meeting among students and have had a phenomenal response. We’re hoping there’ll be a similarly big take-up from branch members because we’ll finish the evening with an informal chat, giving the students a chance to talk to professional journalists about their careers. Do come along!

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Facts and Fake News, Balance and Bias

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The discussion at our meeting on Monday 17 September will be on the topical theme of Facts and Fake News, Balance and Bias.

Is the Conservative MP Damian Collins correct to say “we are facing nothing less than a crisis in our democracy based on the systematic manipulation of data to support the relentless targeting of citizens without their consent by campaigns of disinformation and messages of hate”? Continue reading

Freelance journalism and GDPR

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I’m delighted to announce that our guest speaker for tonight’s session about General Data Protection Regulation for journalists is Sorcha Lorimer of Sympatico Consulting, a North Berwick company specialising in data privacy regulation. She’ll be focusing on the practicalities of GDPR as it affects journalists and will be providing an ebook guide. More about Sympatico here: http://www.sympaticoconsulting.co.uk Continue reading

Can journalists be book publishers?

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At our meeting this month, we’ll be hearing from print journalists who have made the transition to writing books. What are the pros and cons of self-publishing, traditional publishing houses, print-on-demand and the extra effort of taking on such a big undertaking? Are there knock-on benefits? And is it an effective way to make journalistic skills pay?

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