The fresh revelations about News of the World phone hacking will have horrified anyone with even the remotest shred of human decency.

That private investigators employed by the News International-owned tabloid could hack the phone of a murdered teenager (giving her parents false hope that she might still be alive and potentially obstructing a criminal investigation), and do likewise to victims of the July 7 bombings, to the parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, and to the families of soldiers killed in action almost beggars belief.

But this is more than a story about bad journalistic practice, it is an example of corporate power unchecked, of where rampant profiteering, vicious union-bashing and political manipulation leads.

Murdoch: union buster

Rupert Murdoch derives his wealth and power from his assaults on organised labour, starting when he drove unions out of his company at Wapping in the 1980s.

To break the print unions, and undermine the NUJ, required political support and police assistance. Murdoch received both willingly during the 1986-87 dispute and so cemented a cosy relationship between News International, police and government that has now brought us the latest toxic revelations.

The reluctance of the police in acting over the initial phone hacking allegations – the payments made to individual officers by News International – and the failure of every government since the 1980s to stand up to Murdoch makes sense. It is a case of unaccountable corporate power assisted by government and in cahoots with the police.

This is what “democracy and a free press” in 2011 looks like.  What does this all mean for NUJ members and journalists?

Quality requires strong NUJ

The scandal demonstrates the urgent need for union recognition at News International and all media workplaces. At News International, journalists have no effective source of redress for any concerns they may have about ethics and intimidation (the compliant union at the NOTW the News International Staff Association – NISA – is an ineffective company tool).

By contrast, when the Daily Star tried to run a racist ‘Daily Fatwa’ page early in 2007, the NUJ chapel, led by the now general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, took action to have the page removed. For several years the union has been running its Journalism Matters campaign pointing out that excessive profiteering in the industry goes hand in hand with driving down standards and putting skilled workers on the dole.

NUJ members are bound by the union code of conduct, which stipulates that a journalist “obtains material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means”, and “does nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest”. What’s been going on at the News of the World flagrantly breaches those clauses.

Strong unions can make a difference over standards. It is no coincidence that the phone-hacking story was broken by NUJ members, working for a paper, The Guardian, where the NUJ has a strong chapel.

NOTW scandal threatens free press

But there is a danger that the NoTW scandal will be used by government to bring in statutory regulation in order to muzzle the media and stamp down on genuine investigative journalism.

In this, it is helped by the toothless Press Complaints Commission, which has proved to be useless over the phone-hacking scandal and other instances of media bullying. It is run by right-wing editors and political appointees who do nothing to criticise their powerful friends such as Rupert Murdoch

The NUJ’s recent Delegate Meeting in Southport called for the replacement of the PCC with a genuinely independent and democratic regulatory body with teeth. This must now be a priority campaign – unions and the public need a say on a new industry watchdog.

Alternatives to big corporate control

This is a crisis of media control and accountability, not of journalism in general.

The NUJ has been arguing for some time that we need alternative forms of media ownership, that are more accountable, less obsessed with narrow profiteering and give media workers control over the process of production. The union should step up its support for co-operative, mutual and other democratic models, that fully respect union rights, should be stepped up. Whether at News International or Newsquest, the old corporate model fails journalists and the public.

Solely calling for a public inquiry into these allegations of criminality is inadequate. Inquiries usually change little.

We need to campaign for:

• Newscorp’s bid for BskyB to be rejected out of hand. By standing by the former NoTW editor Rebekah Brooks, on whose watch the worst offences took place, Murdoch is showing himself to be not fit and proper to control a major broadcaster.
• Immediate recognition of the NUJ at News International and at other Murdoch-owned workplaces. Full unionisation throughout the entire media. Only strong unions can effectively combat overbearing and unethical managements.
• The NUJ’s code of conduct should become statutory.
• A proper debate and inquiry into media ownership to promote plurality and the interests of media workers and the public

The best response to this crisis is to campaign ever more forcefully for strong unions and journalistic standards.

Statement by Tom for NUJ Left 7/72011

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