News

Should public funds be used to support journalism? – with John Toner

By Mark Fisher | Feb 18, 2019

At tonight’s meeting in conjunction with Edinburgh & District branch, we’ll be picking up on the latest report from Frances Cairncross who suggests local news coverage could disappear without public funding:https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/feb/11/public-funds-should-be-used-to-rescue-local-journalism-says-reportLeading the discussion will be John Toner, NUJ national organiser for Scotland, who will also be updating us on the latest Scottish media news. Among…

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Freelance Branch AGM

By Mark Fisher | Jan 7, 2019

Our first meeting of 2019 is in two weeks’ time when we’ll be electing our branch officers and looking forward to the year ahead. Here’s a list of the branch roles and the current office holders. Let me know if you’re interested in standing for any of the posts (or standing down). Chair: Joyce McMillanVice-chair: Simon BarrowSecretary: Mark…

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Freelance Christmas Party with Jenny Lindsay

By Mark Fisher | Dec 3, 2018

I’m delighted to invite you to our annual Christmas party in conjunction with Edinburgh and District Branch next Monday And I’m doubly delighted to say our entertainment this year is from performance poet Jenny Lindsay, described by the Scotsman as “defiant, eloquent and inspiring”

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Journalism: the next generation – Mon 19 Nov

By Mark Fisher | Nov 13, 2018

Next Monday’s meeting is a chance to welcome the next generation of journalists into the NUJ as we talk about making the transition from student journalism to a professional career. We’ve already been publicising the meeting among students and have had a phenomenal response. We’re hoping there’ll be a similarly big take-up from branch members…

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Making the move from writing to PR – and from PR to writing

By Mark Fisher | Oct 12, 2018

We would like to invite you to an NUJ discussion we’ve organised on Monday 15 October which is aimed at people working in press and PR. “Making the move from writing to PR – and from PR to writing”

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Facts and Fake News, Balance and Bias

By Mark Fisher | Sep 14, 2018

The discussion at our meeting on Monday 17 September will be on the topical theme of Facts and Fake News, Balance and Bias. Is the Conservative MP Damian Collins correct to say “we are facing nothing less than a crisis in our democracy based on the systematic manipulation of data to support the relentless targeting…

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Freelance journalism and GDPR

By Mark Fisher | May 21, 2018

I’m delighted to announce that our guest speaker for tonight’s session about General Data Protection Regulation for journalists is Sorcha Lorimer of Sympatico Consulting, a North Berwick company specialising in data privacy regulation. She’ll be focusing on the practicalities of GDPR as it affects journalists and will be providing an ebook guide. More about Sympatico…

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Can journalists be book publishers?

By Mark Fisher | Mar 8, 2018

At our meeting this month, we’ll be hearing from print journalists who have made the transition to writing books. What are the pros and cons of self-publishing, traditional publishing houses, print-on-demand and the extra effort of taking on such a big undertaking? Are there knock-on benefits? And is it an effective way to make journalistic…

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12 Feb John Toner guest speaker

By Mark Fisher | Jan 16, 2018

This is how the office holders are looking after last night’s branch AGM. The training and ETUC rep posts have still to be claimed – if you’re interested in one of them please let me know.

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