The phone-tapping scandal is the beginning of a popular movement for a free Press, Labour veteran Tony Benn told a packed public meeting last week in London (see previous post), writes Chris Youett.

Speaking at a meeting organised by the NUJ and pressure group Defend the Right to Protest at Conway Hall, former BBC current affairs journalist Benn added: “The influence of Rupert Murdoch is so baleful.  He has been a very negative force in British politics.  He is the most powerful man in the world.

“Governments don’t want us to know anything about what they did for 30 years – and the phone-tapping scandal is the beginning of a movement for a free Press.”

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NUJ members and Defend the Right To Protest are holding a public meeting next week on fighting back against Murdoch’s grip on UK politics.

The hacking scandal has revealed News International’s influence at the top of British politics, its corruption of police and illegal pursuit of stories that harm ordinary people. The Murdochs have enriched themselves at the expense of others’ misery and used their powerful media empire to attack trade unionists; support illegal wars; fuel racism, sexism and homophobia and demand that governments carry out free market policies at the expense of our welfare services.

Tony Benn, NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, campaigning lawyer Matt Foot, and Merlin Emmanuel from the Justice for Smiley Culture  (who was killed in police custody), will address the meeting with plenty of time for contributions from the floor about how to reveal and fight the corruption of the press, politicians and police and what sort of media we want.

All welcome.

Tuesday 26 July at 7pm, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R (nearest tube Holborn).

The events of the student march on the 10 November have provoked a witch-hunt in the media and a police operation intent on arresting activists and clamping down on protests against government policies.

The student demonstration was the largest daytime demonstration for a generation and the biggest student protest for many years. It showed the real anger with the Con-Dem proposals to increase tuition fees.

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Waltham Forest Trades Council in East London has backed exiled journalist Charles Atangana and his struggle against deportation. Charles addressed a meeting of Waltham Forest unions last night in the run-up to his case being heard at the Royal Courts on the Strand this Thursday.

There will be a protest in support of Charles from 9.30am onwards at the courts, and a solidarity picket in Manchester outside the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal offices, Moseley Street, Manchester, M1 4AH.

Charles will also be speaking at the NUJ Left meeting on Saturday afternoon in central London.

Below is the press release from Waltham Forest Trades Council in support for Charles.

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Campaigners in the UK will mark the 10th anniversary of the abduction and be-heading of Ukrainian internet journalist Gyorgy Gongadze this week by demanding answers about the investigation into his death.

A delegation from the National Union of Journalists will visit the Ukrainian embassy at 60 Holland Park, London, W11 3SJ, at 11am on Thursday September 16.

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Health and Safety at work is key issue for trade unionists especially in the media. Issues including RSI, back and neck pains, long hours, stress, screen breaks and eyesight can all affect media workers.

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Last month saw many a retrospective on how the noughties had changed the media, entertainment and news. Some of it quite unexpected – who would have predicted social networking and twitter as media tools; then there were the more predictable parts such as decline of journalistic standards and the onward march of multinational control.

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Staff at the Telegraph returned after Christmas with an extra present – a pay rise and bonus won by the NUJ. Staff received a £500 bonus and a 1.5 per cent pay rise. Full story here

Meanwhile at the BBC, the NUJ branch has secured pay rises for six members of staff who had been historically underpaid for the jobs. The victory may lead to more cases of staff who are acting up or underpaid for their job winning pay rises. More here

NUJ Left has organised a talk at this year’s Anarchist Bookfair in London. “Radical journalism, capitalist media and the labour movement” will see a group of union activists discuss radical journalism, coverage of workplace disputes, grassroots trade unionism and the problems of capitalist media.

The meeting starts at 12 noon in Lecture Room 1 in Queen Mary & Westfield College, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS [map].

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The decision not to prosecute a BBC researcher who went undercover to expose the abuse of older people is a victory for investigative journalism.

NUJ member Arifa Farooq, who used her sister’s name to apply for jobs, helped to uncover malpractice by companies caring for elderly people at home.

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