Thursday 21 July 2011

South Yorks NUJ strikers launch 'bootleg' papers



Striking NUJ journalists at the Johnston Press-owned South Yorkshire Newspapers are producing 'bootleg versions' of the Doncaster Free Press, South Yorkshire Times and Selby Times for readers as part of their industrial action against management decisions to cut jobs and close offices.

News of the Dearne appeared in Mexborough today with the strapline: "Hacking off Johnston Press since 20o11" and a feature on the issues behind the strike.

The union says the journalists have made the move to publish their own papers because they do not want their readers and communities to miss out on the real news while their indefinite strike continues.

One of the NUJ members said: "We are determined to win our strike, but we feel a real responsibility to our readers and are determined to give them the best service they can get.

"We also want to show management that we are willing and more than able to produce quality journalism under the most difficult of circumstances.We just wish our bosses would give us the opportunity to do that while we were at work."
The first issues of all three newspapers focus on the strike but next week's newspapers plan to carry news from all three towns.

One of the strikers' ideas was to call their Selby paper the News of the (scr) Ouse.

Labour Leader Ed Miliband tweeted today: "Hope the issues are resolved soon. I’ve always appreciated what Free Press and SYT do – their campaigns and stories are vital." He has come under fire from the NUJ for ignoring the dispute, despite being a local MP (see post below).

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