Independent staff vote for action on job cuts

NUJ members at the Independent and Independent on Sunday have voted in favour of taking industrial action over redundancies.
In a postal ballot members voted by 64 per cent in favour of strike action and by 80 per cent in favour of action short of a strike, the union said today. The action will take the form of a mandatory NUJ chapel meeting next Friday (6 March) between 5pm to 7pm.
The dispute is over plans by the company to impose compulsory redundancies. The union says the company has rejected requests by a number of staff to leave voluntarily and says it is also concerned about "a lack of strategic vision for the future of the newspapers".

Indy staff vote for action on job cuts

Independent journalists have voted to hold a ballot for industrial action over job cuts.
At an NUJ chapel meeting today, attended by more than 130 members and with some voting by proxy, more than 90 per cent backed the call for a ballot.
The NUJ fears that up to 35 journalists on the Independent and Independent on Sunday face compulsory redundancy. Management proposed last November that 90 jobs should go, around 60 of which were in editorial. The union says 50 have applied for voluntary redundancy but the company has accepted only 34 of those applications
Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “Independent journalists feel there is no plan or vision about how to take the papers and websites forward with a much smaller staff. People who want to go will be forced to stay and staff wishing to stay will be forced to leave. This is a recipe for widespread demoralisation and makes no business sense.
"Those staff remaining have many concerns, including the effect on the quality of their journalism, and health and safety.”
At the Independent’s sister titles in Dublin journalists have been concerned by plans to replace a pay rise with a share issue.

The Independent is for sale

That's the view of MediaGuardian commentator Roy Greenslade today on the back of Independent News & Media's trading statement.
He says: "Though there is no overt "for sale" sign over the Indy, it's obvious that if Alexander Lebedev - or another oligarch - came forward with a £1 coin and a willingness to lose £1m every couple of weeks or so, then INM would bite his hand off.
"Whatever INM might say to the contrary, the Indy and Sindy are in play, available to any bidder. One only has to look at the context in the rest of the statement. No dividend for 2008. No bonuses for directors. A 10% cut in directors' fees and a 10% cut in executives' salaries."

Twitter it's all in the name

Interesting leader in The Independent today about the Twitter phenomenon. It argues that the success of the mini-blogging site is all to do with its name.
The Indy says: "Think of the big success stories: Google, YouTube, Facebook, Skype. What do they have in common? A euphonious moniker. Being able to turn the name into a verb helps too."
To make its case it lists some of the clunky names of dot.com flops.
"DigiScents; AmCy; E-loft. Can you imagine "AmCying" someone or "E-lofting" something? But when you Twitter? Well, that really can be gold."
According to my dictionary, "twitter" is described rather lyrically as to"utter succession of light tremulous sounds". On the other hand a "twit" is a "foolish or insignificant person".

The Times has 'more balls' than The Indy

MediaGuardian commentator Roy Greenslade claims today: "The Times clearly has more balls than The Independent. It is keeping up on its website an article headlined It's the Siege of Sark as islanders keep the Barclay brothers at bay despite having received a letter of complaint from lawyers acting for the Barclay boyos."
As Roy regularly reminds readers of his blog, The Independent has pulled from its website Stephen Glover's December 22 article about the Telegraph, in which he described what was happening to the paper as a "national tragedy".

Independent correspondent flees Gaza home

The Independent's Gaza correspondent Fares Akram reports today how he and his pregnant wife were forced to flee the Israeli offensive. He writes: "We've left our home. Like 60,000 other Gazans, we've taken our belongings and fled. Once again, we've become displaced people. Soon, there will be nowhere to run to, since nowhere in Gaza is safe. In the early hours of Saturday, the bombing got louder and closer to our home, and the rattle of machine-gun fire became more intense. The tanks were not far off."
On 5 January Fares Akram reported how his father was killed by an Israeli air strike in Northern Gaza.

Move to Associated will 'safeguard' Indy and IoS

The Independent and Independent on Sunday are to transfer from Docklands to Northcliffe House, Kensington, headquarters of Daily Mail-publisher Associated Newspapers, in a move which staff have been told will "safeguard" the future of the two papers.
Under an agreement signed today, Independent Newspaper titles will have their own dedicated office space and will share some back office services at Associated, which publishes the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard, Metro and London Lite.
The two groups’ editorial, management and commercial operations will remain separate. The Independent and Independent on Sunday will remain under the full ownership of INM. The move will take place at the end of January 2009. It follows last week’s announcement of a major editorial restructuring of The Independent which will deliver annual cost efficiencies of around £10 million. The new shared service agreement with Associated will deliver additional savings. Staff have been told that the chance to share office space and exploring sharing back-office services will help safeguard the future of The Independent and Independent on Sunday. Independent managing director Simon Kelner was on the Mail on Sunday and knows the Associated headquarters in Kensington well.