Journalists across Europe are expected to take part in the National Union of Journalists‘ ‘Stand up for Journalism’day on 5 November..
The event has been billed as the biggest demonstration by UK journalists since Wapping and is being held to protest ’round after round of cuts in newsrooms”.
According to the NUJ, the European Federation of Journalists decided to support the action and events are now planned in 20 countries across the continent.
The union said that there will be a two-minute work stoppage by media workers in Serbia, a demonstration outside the National Assembly in Paris, and a petition to the government in Romania.
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Events in the UK include a bonfire in South Yorkshire, a street stall in Scarborough and an exhibition of good local journalism in Oxford.
The centrepiece is in Manchester where journalists and their supporters will gather outside the Manchester Evening News offices on Hardman at 12.30pm before marching the short distance to the Society of Editors conference at the Radisson Hotel on Peter Street.
After the lobby there will be a public meeting at the Manchester Friends Meeting House, Mount Street.
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Joining NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear and president Michelle Stanistreet on the platform will be a Manchester nurse, Karen Reissmann, who is facing disciplionary action for talking to the press about health service policy in her role as a Unison shop steward.
This year’s NUJ President Michelle Stanistreet, who works for the Sunday Express, said: ‘The media is now owned by a smaller and smaller group of extremely wealthy corporations.
‘They make big profits but they want more. So journalists face a constant round of job cuts and dwindling editorial budgets. This means that more and more news is just recycled press releases.
‘We want our editors to join with us and stand up to the culture of cuts. If they believe that journalism is important for democracy and for local communities they must take a stand.
‘They are meeting on a site that was developed to commemorate the Peterloo massacre – when demonstrators were killed by state troopers. We hope they will take courage from history and seize the moment. “
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