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 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.

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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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NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear (second from left) leads a delegation to the Ukrainian Embassy, London, in 2008 on the anniversary of the murder of journalist Gyorgy Gongadze. (Marc Vallée, 2008)

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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Charles Atangana is a journalist who fled Cameroon after death threats. He has lived and worked in this country for many years but is now facing deportation back to Cameroon. He is being held in Dover Immigration Removal Centre.

The NUJ is actively supporting Charles and is campaigning for him to be given indefinite leave to remain in the UK (he lives and works in Scotland)

Tomorrow he has a bail hearing in London and the NUJ will be present supporting him.

Protest on Thursday 12th August at 14.00 in London, Taylor House,  88 Rosebery Avenue, case number EC1R 4QU.

Read here for more about the campaign and the concerns over safety of journalists and human rights activists in Cameroon

By Jonathan Warren

[On 30 August] as my colleague Marc Vallée and I were leaving Climate Camp we found a group of people arguing around the SWP stall that was selling newspapers and leaflets outside the entrance to the camp.

As we went in to take photographs the group arguing with the SWP quickly turned their attention to us, shouting loudly that we had not asked their permission before photographing them. They were immediately aggressive and threatening, I managed to calm the ones around me and walk away, however, one young man was persistently threatening towards Marc.

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Photo: Jonathan Warren

A new campaign for photographers’ rights is hugely important not just for those involved, but for our union and society as a whole.

I’m a photographer, not a terrorist! is in response to a clampdown on photography, particularly the work of our members who document protest and dissent.

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Support for six Gambian journalists is now more important than ever as they face two years in jail following their convictions for sedition.

The NUJ has been campaigning against this attack on press freedom alongside the International Federation of Journalists, the TUC and Amnesty International.

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Three leading members of the Gambia Press Union go on trial tomorrow (3 July). The First-Vice President, Secretary General and Treasurer of the NUJ’s sister union were arrested over a press release they issued criticising comments made by Gambia’s president on the stalled investigations into the 2004 killing of a newspaper editor.

Four other journalists were also arrested and all-seven face trial tomorrow – after the hearing was brought forward by four days at the eleventh hour.

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