TUC 2012 - Media moguls need their wings clipped

TUC 2012: It has been a momentous year since the last TUC conference, with the setting up of the Leveson inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the media.

The NUJ fully supported the inquiry and - eventually - was accepted as a core participant representing the side of the workers in the newspaper industry.

We presented evidence to Lord Justice Leveson on the bullying and intimidation journalists face from management, forcing them to act unethically in order to pursue stories that are designed to raise circulation and thus profits rather than inform, educate and entertain readers.

That is why in our motion to Congress we are calling for the introduction of a conscience clause into journalists' contracts of employment which will allow them to refuse unethical assignments.

We also demand that workers have the right to be represented in their workplaces so they can defend themselves from these unacceptable work practices.

As the events unfolded in court number 73, we have seen the victims of a press hell-bent on getting salacious headlines at all costs and the unedifying spectacle of prime ministers and politicians admitting they fawned at the feet of the Murdochs in hope of preferment in their papers.

The inquiry has exposed the ineffectiveness of the Press Complaints Commission, an organisation stuffed full of newspaper editors protecting their proprietors' interests.

Our motion to Congress calls for a change to press regulation to ensure it ceases to be the plaything of media barons and for the public and journalists to play a full part in ensuring higher standards of the press by holding newspapers that behave badly to account.

In our second motion to Congress, the NUJ notes the appointment of George Entwistle as the new director general of the BBC at a time when the corporation faces 2,000 job losses - following 7,000 job cuts since 2004.

This attack on the pay and conditions of our members will affect the quality of the journalism.

It is all the fault of Mark Thompson, the previous director general, who agreed to a licence-fee freeze while allowing the BBC's coffers to be plundered to pay for projects including the roll-out of superfast broadband and the funding of the World Service.

Our motion notes that the deal was struck "in the political context of significant pressure from News Corporation."

The NUJ has called for the licence-fee deal to be reopened and conducted with genuine transparency and consultation.

The motion calls upon Congress to establish a new plan for the future of the BBC to ensure that the future of quality public-service broadcasting is protected.

Michelle Stanistreet is general secretary of the NUJ.