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International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
On Monday 3 November at 5.30pm, the NUJ will host an online speaker event to mark International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Our expert panel will discuss the urgent need to protect journalists in the UK, Ireland, and globally, as well as the concrete steps required to ensure their safety and freedom to report. We will also come together as a community to mourn fallen colleagues and amplify our demands for accountability for their deaths. Register for free here.
Journalist Safety Liaison Officers
JSLOs provide a single point of contact for journalists and employers on the specific issue of crimes against journalists. Each police force in the UK has a designated JSLO who can provide practical support to journalists facing abuse and threats. If you would like contact details, please email David Ayrton ([email protected]) with the subject line 'JSLO request'.
Events
On 7 November the NUJ will visit the London Metropolitan Police Training Centre in Gravesend, Kent. The aim of the visit is to cover Public Order and Public Safety and there is space for around 15 NUJ members to attend. The visit will start at 8am and finish at 4pm. If you are interested in attending, please contact NUJ Official David Ayrton, [email protected], with your name, contact details, and employer or freelance status.
Reporting Gaza: Work, life and death. On 10 November the South Wales branch will hold a conference on the daily realities of life as a Palestinian journalist. Speakers include Palestinian journalists Sami Abu Salem and Shaimaa Eid, filmmaker Claudio Laurini, and journalist Jonathan Cook. The event will take place at the Temple of Peace and tickets are free. Register online.
The NUJ Ethics Council will hold a webinar on 19 November (from 5:30pm) focusing on ways to responsibly and sensitively report on terror attacks and murder. Hear from Rosalind Ereira, Survivors Against Terror campaigner as well as Marie Percival, service director of Advic, an Irish charity that campaigns for the rights of homicide victims and their family and friends. The session will be chaired by Professor Chris Frost, chair of the NUJ Ethics council. Register here.
The annual Write to End Violence Against Women Awards ceremony will be held in London on 27 November. These awards recognise and celebrate journalists who have demonstrated excellence in reporting on violence against women and girls. The event is free to attend. Register here.
On 28 November at 6:30pm the London Freelance branch will hold an in-person event on addressing the online targeting and harassment of women journalists of colour. Register here.
Awards
The free-to-enter NCTJ Awards for Excellence are now open for entries from students, trainees and apprentice journalists across the UK. There are various categories, including for news, sports, features, scoops, videos, and podcasts. The deadline is 12 November. Apply here.
The Press Awards have several categories open for individual entrants, including ‘News reporter of the year’, ‘Photographer of the year’ and various awards in speciality areas. There are team awards too, including ‘Scoop of the year’ and ‘News website of the year’. Entries close on 14 November and there is a fee attached to applications. Apply here.
Entries are now open for the Amnesty Media Awards. There are 10 categories - including for written, broadcast, radio, and photo journalism - that recognise media workers' role in highlighting human rights abuses domestically and internationally. The deadline to apply is 26 January and the awards ceremony will be held at BFI Southbank next May. Apply here.
Campaigns
Stop the freelance rip-off. Thank you to all freelance members who responded to the UK government's consultation on late payments and poor practices. We've long-campaigned for improved conditions and we will continue to lobby for improved payment terms. Read our latest piece.
Oppose the Reach cuts: Reach plc, the largest commercial news publisher in the UK and Ireland, plans to make hundreds of redundancies across editorial. Write to parliamentarians using our amendable template letter, highlighting the hugely detrimental impact the job cuts will have on journalists and journalism more broadly. Read more on the dedicated campaign page with NUJ calls. You can also support journalists at the company by sending a message of solidarity to [email protected]. On 22 October the union announced that members at The Mirror had voted in favour of strike action.
News Recovery Plan. A Future for News: the NUJ’s recovery plan for the news industry is the updated road map to reinvigorate the industry and sets out a bold set of measures and interventions to protect jobs and quality journalism. Its proposals address the threat of generative AI and the significant additional pressure of the cost-of-living crisis to an already beleaguered sector.
Artificial intelligence: journalism before algorithms. Stay updated on our AI campaign, including calls for urgent regulatory oversight to protect the integrity of journalism and journalists' rights. The NUJ has signed a letter to the prime minister seeking explanation for the failure to uphold copyright holders' rights, as AI continues to ingest millions of protected works without permission or payment.
#ShowUsTheMoney: the NUJ is campaigning for increased salary transparency. Too many job adverts do not include salary details, and research shows this disadvantages women, disabled workers and Black and minority ethnic workers. Find out more on our calls.
The NUJ is urging all members to use our online tool to raise concerns over the UK government's cuts to journalism education. We need your help amplifying our concerns over the government's withdrawal of Strategic Priorities Grant funding from journalism courses for the 2025-26 financial year. Use our template to write to your MP. Email [email protected] with queries; read more on our campaign page.
Journalists' Safety Tracker
The NUJ's Safety Tracker collates evidence of harassment, abuse and lawfare against journalists. Both freelance and staff journalists can make submissions using the online tool. Share it with colleagues to encourage its use and help inform our campaigns to tackle threats against journalists. Report an incident using the tracker.
UK Early Day Motions - Lobby your MP
Ask your MP to sign EDM 1892: Job reductions at news publisher Reach plc, noting alarm at the detrimental impact on journalism and the use of artificial intelligence to replace journalists' jobs. Tabled by Rebecca Long-Bailey, who chairs the NUJ Parliamentary Group, the motion urges Reach to engage meaningfully to protect public interest journalism. On 16 October Lisa Nandy, UK culture secretary, committed to meeting the NUJ and its parliamentary group to discuss the cuts.
Ask your MP to sign EDM 2026: Proposed changes to STV News and STV North News at 6, calling for the company to engage meaningfully with trade unions and staff over plans, and for Ofcom to conduct an immediate review into how STV will meet regional broadcast licence obligations.
Ask your MP to sign EDM 1046: News journalism and artificial intelligence tools, urging the introduction of effective regulatory protections to protect the future of our media and creative industries. The motion calls for news reporters, photographers, broadcasters and other creatives to be properly remunerated and credited where their work is used as the basis for derivative content using artificial intelligence.
Ask your MP to sign EDM 793: Funding for the BBC World Service, calling for sustainable funding for the World Service as a vital source of accurate and trusted journalism to audiences worldwide.
Ask your MP to sign EDM 466: Union derecognition by RELX at LexisNexis and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, to show support with journalists following the company's decision to issue notices terminating longstanding recognition agreements.
Ask your MP to sign EDM 349: Detention and trial of Frenchie Mae Cumpio, urging the UK government to use every diplomatic effort to secure the journalist's release. Both the NUJ and IFJ have condemned her arrest on false charges - an effort to silence her journalism.
Ask your MP to sign EDM 295: Reductions in jobs and services at the BBC, recognising the harm from ongoing BBC cuts on journalists and creative and accessible content.
Petitions
Pass the Employment Rights Bill in full: the UK government's Employment Rights Bill could deliver the biggest upgrade in workers' rights in a generation. Add your signature to the TUC's calls to peers in the House of Lords urging no watering down of proposals.
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) have been used to stymie reporting and prevent publication of stories in the public interest. Sign the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition's petition urging a standalone Anti-SLAPP Law that offers universal, clear and easy-to-access protections against abusive legal threats. Add your name.
Social media
Keep up with the latest breaking news, campaigns, solidarity events and more from the NUJ campaigns team on X, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook.
Online courses, workshops & webinars
NUJ trade union training dates for 2025: all course outlines and learning outcomes have been updated to reflect the new hybrid ways of working and the challenges this presents for organising members. The NUJ reps' training programme features a monthly two-hour session, which focuses on the structure and workings of the NUJ for new reps before they embark on the core reps' training. NUJ recruitment materials can be found on the website. The NUJ race reporting guide advises on covering stories relating to race in a way that is accurate and inclusive.
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NUJ Training Scotland. Courses are delivered by Zoom unless otherwise stated. Available for members outside Scotland. Go to the calendar and register for sessions on the NUJ Scotland training website. Upcoming sessions focus on improving news writing skills (21 November) and submitting freedom of information requests (8 December).
NUJ Training Wales. Visit the Welsh training website for the events calendar (which is updated when courses become available) and access a huge range of at-a-glance guides on a wide range of topics for media professionals. This includes upcoming sessions focusing on maximising your LinkedIn presence (14 November) and launching a newsletter or podcast on Substack (28 November).
The GFTU Educational Trust is running a year-long series of online educational sessions focusing on the significant role women have played in trade union and working class history. Register here.
TUC training, events & resources
On 1 November TUC Midlands will host an Equalities Conference in Birmingham to reflect on achievements and ongoing challenges in the fight for equality and workers' rights. Register online.
On 13 November Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, will join MPs, lawyers and other trade unionists to discuss the significant changes and opportunities resulting from the Employment Rights Bill. The event will take place in Hallam Conference Centre, London, from 9am-4:30pm on Thursday 13 November. Book your place.
Combining efforts: 200 years of trade union history. A new exhibition by the LSE Library and TUC Library runs until 31 January in London. It traces some of the history of the development of trade unions through years of struggle, triumph, defeat, and resilience. Read more, including detail about a library tour.
TUC Education is the one-stop-shop for training and resources for reps and activists. All the TUC's resources, research, training and content on sexual harassment are available in one section on the TUC website.
You can also find:
- the recording from the TUC webinar for reps on the Equality Act 2010
- the generative AI policy toolkit
- a free toolkit on greener workplaces for a Just Transition
Research
Aliya Hamid Rao, a researcher at LSE, is working on a project about redundancies in journalism and looking to interview journalists who have been made redundant (or taken voluntary redundancy) in the past 12 months about their experiences. The interviews will be confidential and anonymous and take at least 90 minutes. Aliya is happy to meet you at a location of your choice and provide a £50 honorarium for your participation. Please email: [email protected].
Iqra Iqbal, a media academic from Pakistan, is appealing to female members of the NUJ for help with her research on the impacts of harassment and violence on women journalists. Iqra is studying the experiences of female journalists in the UK, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey. She aims to document the occurrence of harassment and assault, and also understand the psychological impact on female journalists. If you can help, please email her at [email protected].
A report by Amnesty International reveals the scale and severity of threats, intimidation, and violence against journalists in Northern Ireland. Read the report in full.
NUJ Rulebook 2025-2027
The updated rulebook is now available on the website. The rules define the union's work, membership, and democratic structure and includes amendments from the Delegate Meeting held in Blackpool in April.
IFJ international press card
As well as issuing UK and Irish press cards, the NUJ can also supply members with international press cards, which are essential for working safely and with international support. These cards are issued to full members working in foreign countries by the International Federation of Journalists via the NUJ. Please note that there is an additional £100 fee for issuing international press cards. Log in to the website to apply.
Appeals
The IFJ Safety Fund is a lifeline for journalists facing violence and persecution or needing urgent medical treatment. It is a shining example of journalist to journalist solidarity, providing immediate financial support to colleagues in various parts of the world, including Gaza. Please donate what you can here.
Sign our open letter calling for the UK government to exert serious pressure to protect journalists in Gaza and support an independent investigation to end impunity.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists reports that 40 media professionals are currently imprisoned in the country. Under president Alexander Lukashenka’s rule, journalists face restrictions on media freedom and independent media outlets struggle to survive. Watch this video (caution: contains some flashing images) and please donate to the Belarusian Association of Journalists. Please contact Ray Tostevin, SW England NUJ chair if you have any problems with the donation link.
Freelance
NUJ AI licensing survey - please spare a few minutes to complete the survey open to all freelance members on artificial intelligence licensing. Let us know if you are being approached to consent to your work being licensed by publishers and media agencies for AI use. Complete the survey.
The National Council for the Training of Journalists’ Journalism Skills Academy is offering freelance NUJ journalists a 15% discount on its professional training courses. Visit their website for more details and use the discount code FL15 to book a course. You must be a freelance.
The Federation of Entertainment Unions (FEU) offers a huge range of online training courses and webinars to help creative freelances with their career and the business side of being self-employed. Visit the FEU's training page to register.
The industry body ScreenSkills provides masterclasses, online courses and resources for creative and media freelances plus information on mentoring, bursaries and funding. Visit their website to find out more.
Discounts
UK Dell Business Partnerships Program. From 1 November, members can unlock their discounts directly on Dell.com - no coupon codes needed. Members have access to stackable discounts on desktops, laptops, servers, accessories, and monitors. Access your Dell discounts here and use your unique passcode: NUJ
You can also contact a dedicated tech advisor at [email protected].
Book offer
Orwell Prize for Journalism winner Gary Younge’s book Dispatches from the Diaspora: From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter is a powerful collection of journalism on race, racism and black life and death from one of the nation’s leading political voices. Go to the Faber website and quote the discount code Newsletter30 for 30 per cent off for NUJ members.
Scam warning
The NUJ communicates with members about direct debits only by writing, so beware of scammers who call by phone.
NUJ subs
Many of us are feeling the squeeze as the cost-of-living increases. If you are struggling to pay your NUJ subscription fee because your income has reduced significantly, you are unemployed, or are on maternity leave please contact the membership department at [email protected] for help and advice.
NUJ extra
NUJ extra helps members and their dependents who have fallen on hard times.
Your union profile
So the union can keep you up to date with news from the union and involve you in decisions such as consultative ballots on pay and other industrial issues where we need to ballot for action, please log in to the NUJ website, check your personal profile and add your personal email and mobile phone numbers so we do not have to send sensitive information to your workplace address. When you change jobs, remember to update your information. To do this log on at www.nuj.org.uk/login.html and then click My NUJ. You can update your contact preferences by clicking view/edit my profile.
NUJ Rate for the Job
How does a freelance journalist, especially one starting out, know what to charge? To help, the NUJ issues a Freelance Fees Guide. Getting up-to-date data requires members (in confidence) submitting the rates they get for shifts, and lineage etc. Find out more on the London Freelance Branch website.
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