'NUJ needs to be part of the solution'

Media finance commentator Peter Kirwan has called for the NUJ to come up with some solutions to the problems of the newspaper industry, including helping redundant editors start local websites and journalists to launch bids for their own titles.
Kirwan makes the call in the latest issue of the monthly print version of Press Gazette (which is not available online) and says the NUJ as well as fighting for journalists should "strike out in unconventional directions".
He proposes it should recruit a standing team of dot.com entrepreneurs and out-of-work publishers to advise redundant editors on how to set up viable local sites.
Kirwan argues:"Very few organisations have an interest in developing ideas about alternative ownership. The NUJ could turn itself into a well-connected centre of expertise quite rapidly."
He says the union should run conferences where experts - lawyers, investors, publishers, entrepreneurs, charity directors - would look at alternative forms of ownership.
It should also help journalists who want to launch bids for newspapers they work for, something Kirwan suggests "could happen quite frequently if the big chains experience a really harsh 2009."
The problems facing the regional press are highlighted by today's ABC figures which show a number of daily newspapers have suffered circulation falls of more than 10 per cent, as Press Gazette reports.