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when your employer won’t back you, that makes union membership so essential. Joseph Hanlon London
Answers are online Chequing the post (The Journalist, February/March 2012) only tells part of the story. The NUJ has substantial resources called the Freelance Fact Pack – available on the NUJ website at http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj. html?docid=933 – which has been described as nearly everything you wanted to know about freelancing and quite a lot you didn’t ... For example, the section on ‘business’ alone includes 22 different information sheets. Most of it has been written by NUJ freelance activists with expertise in each particular area. Any and every freelance NUJ member can get to this information free. Oh yes, the Freelance Office at Headland House has already done the footwork for insurance on behalf of the members; it comes from Imaging Insurance and they’re the only people who offer appropriate public indemnity cover.
STeve BeLL
They’re very helpful and deal with every one individually. And, sorry, but little of this is a secret; it hasn’t been for years. It’s been available in the Freelance Fact Pack ... Adam Christie Leeds branch, FIC and NEC
Media monopolies silence dissent Ray Snoddy suggests (February Journalist) that Sir Ray Tindle should help Ashley Highfield re-launch Johnston Press as a digital local news broadcaster. Is he aware that Tindle censored his vast local newspaper empire in 2003, ordering editors not to run any anti-Iraq-war stories? Snoddy’s column was all the more ironic, running alongside John Pilger’s piece castigating all of us for failing to scrutinise and investigate the bogus war case. Bruce Whitehead Edinburgh Freelance Branch
Last word on gypsies This debate may well be running out of steam, but Nathaniel Harrison raises an issue that is very important
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Please keep letters to 200 words maximum
for journalists to get right. The word Gypsy is not offensive when used about the community also known as Roma. It’s their word and, while it may be used as an insult, it has not been abandoned by the community. Where it is seen as offensive is when it is used to refer to all travellers, whether Roma, Irish or other. The recommended collective term for travellers is just that, travellers. Most important to remember is the NUJ’s policy on gypsies and travellers: “Only mention the word gypsy or traveller if strictly relevant and accurate.” If it is relevant, such as the coverage of Dale Farm, then journalists have a duty to ensure their coverage is accurate, and that includes recognising that there is diversity within the traveller communities and this should be represented in the media. Donnacha DeLong, London Central
Attacks in Mexico After the timely article on Mexico by Jeremy Dear (February Journalist), our colleague Lupe Sosa sends heartfelt thanks and this alert from Mexico:
Email your letters to: journalist@nuj.org.uk Post them to: The Editor, The Journalist 308-312 Gray’s Inn Road London WC1X 8DP
“At least 14 journalists from the city of Juarez have been suffering aggression by police from the beginning of this year alone whilst undertaking news coverage of various incidents. “We journalists demand a total cessation to the attacks and unrestricted respect for the exercise of our profession on the part of the diverse crime (police) bodies.” Almendra McBride London Freelance
Taken for a ride? Media agencies are not the only ones making a quick buck at the expense of people trying to break into journalism. National Geographic Traveler and web network Matador has a competition for aspiring travel writers to win a trip to National Geographic’s headquarters in Washington, DC and spend a day with the editorial staff. It costs $25 to enter! Many journalists and editors earn less than that per hour. it looks more like a cynical moneymaking exercise. George Mitton London Magazine
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