NUJ sticks up NS meeting with 'Wanted - for the killing of local journalism' leaflet

The NUJ protested outside the headquarters of the Newspaper Society today as the top bosses of the regional newspaper industry arrived for their annual general meeting.
The union handed out a leaflet reading: “Wanted - for the killing of local journalism”.
Due to address the AGM were three regional chiefs: Michael Pelosi of Northcliffe, John Fry of Johnston Press and Mark Dodson of Guardian Media. The NUJ says all of them have overseen big cuts to jobs and the moving of local paper journalists out of the communities they serve.
Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “The owners of these big newspaper companies have squandered huge profits which could have been used to bolster local journalism and invest in the communities they claim to serve.
“Now they are all getting together to lobby the government to allow them to own ever bigger regional monopolies with ever more remote news factories.
“And they use their enormous resources to squeeze out any truly local competition.
“We urge them to stay in the communities they serve and to produce quality newspapers and websites that people want to read - or to leave the way clear for new media start ups that can do the job properly.”