After a two year process, the NUJ Executive have finally rejected the renewal of my NUJ membership based on social media posts I allegedly made which they refuse to show me and of content and subject of which I genuinely have not a clue.
But apparently these social media posts make me not a fit and proper person to be a member of the NUJ.
Murdoch employees are fit and proper persons. The Guardian journalists who produced the front page of lies about Manafort meeting Assange are fit and proper persons. The security service mouthpieces at the BBC are fit and proper persons.
The NUJ even accepts for membership copywriters for corporations working in PR companies. All these people are fine.
But I am not a fit and proper person because of some things I allegedly said on social media, which I am not allowed to see or to explain.
I am also not a fit and proper person because I published the NUJ’s incredibly deceitful handling of my renewal application, when apparently the NUJ believes it should have been secret (why?).
Finally I have failed to produce evidence of my income from journalism. I provided them with a download from Paypal of my monthly subscription totals. Apparently this was not sufficient, but they refuse to say what would be sufficient.
I have appealed against the decision, but given it is plainly politically motivated I do not expect much joy. There appears to be a universal effort across the political establishment to deplatform and isolate anybody who queries official narratives. Given that mainstream media are such a large part of that, it is perhaps not as surprising as it should be to find the National Union of Journalists an enthusiastic part of the process.
I hardly dare to imagine the long-suffering readers of this blog would support yet another legal case, but in the New Year we may need to try.
Craig Murray
Edinburgh
18 December 2022
Thank you for your email of 18 November informing me that my application for renewal of my NUJ membership has been refused, on the grounds that I am not a fit and proper person to be a member, and that I have not provided sufficient evidence of income from journalism.
I wish to appeal this decision.
Point 1 – The Evidence Against Me
The first test of natural justice has been failed by the NUJ. I have no idea at all what are the social media posts and correspondence which you state render me not a fit and proper person to renew my NUJ membership.
I have never seen these. You have never put them to me. I have been given no chance to check if they are genuine nor to explain their context. There are two sides to every story and you have made no attempt at all to hear my side.
I have been very active on social media for 15 years and I have never been suspended nor, to my knowledge, reported for inappropriate content. I genuinely have no idea what you are talking about.
I believe the “fit and proper person test” may here be being used as a tool for an exclusion actually based on difference of political opinion.
I am myself continually subject to unprovoked attacks on social media by mainstream media journalists, many of whom I presume will be members of the NUJ. One that I know is a member is Mr David Leask, because you name him as one of the complainers against me.
Here is a link to just Mr Leask’s latest unprovoked rant against me on twitter, in which he casts aspersions on my linguistic skills for no other reason than to malign me (in fact I passed the FCO’s extremely difficult operational level exams in both Polish and Russian).
https://twitter.com/LeaskyHT/status/1598771344891486209
I am really not certain why Mr Leask remains a fit and proper person if he attacks my output, but it makes me not a fit and proper person if I attack his? I should be grateful for an explanation on this point. To be plain, I see no reason why sharp disagrrement should bar either of us from the NUJ.
I am equally often subject to unprovoked attack by mainstream media journalists in their publications. Here is a link to one one by Mr Paul Hutcheson of the Daily Record, in which he published a photo of my home next to an article inciting against me, and put me in fear for the safety of my wife and infant children.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/alex-salmond-blogger-trial-high-21789285
It is highly probable that either Mr Hutcheson or some of the editorial chain who approved doing this to me are members of the NUJ. Why does that behaviour not call into question their fit and proper person status, and how is my alleged behaviour – and I still do not know what it is – worse than that?
Again, that is not rhetorical, it is a question to which I should like to see an answer.
Point 2 – Proper Procedure Wilfully Ignored
The NUJ rulebook is perfectly plain that when an application is received, it should be sent to the applicant’s own branch or chapter for comment by members.
This rule was breached in my case. My own branch, Edinburgh Freelance, has still never had sight of my application, plainly contrary to the rulebook. I was a member for three years quite happily, with zero friction or adverse comment.
Instead what happened was that NUJ officials politically hostile to me circulated my application for comment, not to my own branch as the rules dictate, but only to a secret selected cabal of colleagues of similar political persuasion, in order to generate objections.
The chronology is important here – objections were generated before I published the fact of my application.
Point 3 – Publicising My Application
When an organisation is behaving deviously, maliciously and not in accordance with its own rules, it is of the essence of good journalism to publish it – even when that organisation is the NUJ.
I can see no reason at all why a NUJ membership renewal application should be secret if the applicant does not wish it to be. To claim my publicising the NUJ’s extraordinary handling of my application, as in itself evidence I am not a fit and proper person to be an NUJ member, is self-serving nonsense of a particularly devious kind.
Point 4 – Earnings From Journalism
I am really at a loss here. I do get more than 50% of my income from journalism, from subscriptions and donations to my blog. I have provided you with a printout from Paypal showing a year’s monthly subscriptions.
In response your membership department stated that you need to see payment per article, rather than payment by subscription. Is it really the case that journalists in new media who receive their income by subscribers are excluded from NUJ membership? If so, what is the legal basis for excluding this particular method of payment? It is the most common form of new media operation.
My last letter to your membership department specifically asked what further evidence was required, and volunteered to pay my membership fees based on gross subscription income rather than net if that were easier.
I never did receive any reply to my offer to provide whatever proof you need, provided it is also what is asked of others. To simply state I have failed to satisfy, while refusing to advise what would satisfy, is yet further evidence this has been a politically motivated process aimed at justifying refusing renewal.
Point 5 – The Purpose of the NUJ
The NUJ does not exist purely to provide those with comfortable berths in corporate media, the BBC or PR firms with their press cards, It has a particular responsibility to support journalists with views that are disliked by the political establishment, and to uphold their freedom of speech.
The sub-committee agreed that my output of articles does meet the criterion of journalism. I therefore have a right to join the union. The “fit and proper person test” is not meant to exclude people some members dislike or disagree with.
To pretend that I am in any way more aggressive in dialogue with those members objecting than they are with me is a fake made possible only by the outrageous device of the sub-committee never putting the allegations and evidence to me.
Point 6 – Health
It is true that very occasionally I have made social media posts I subsequently regret. I generally apologise very quickly. It is fairly widely known that I have been diagnosed bipolar my whole adult life, and can therefore sometimes be intemperate. That puts me in a class the NUJ should particularly seek to protect. It may well be relevant to the evidence before the committee – I do not know as I was not shown it. Nor was I given the chance to make this, nor any other, point to the sub-committee.
Point 7 – Late Appeal
I hope you will accept this appeal which is just beyond the 28 day cut-off point due entirely to force majeure. My laptop was stolen two weeks ago while on a month long tour of Germany, Austria, Slovenia and France with the Don’t Extradite Assange Campaign – a cause the NUJ supports.
I lost my draft reply to you when my laptop was stolen. Astonishingly, five days later my replacement laptop was also stolen in extraordinary circumstances. At that point I also lost access to my email accounts, including your email and the sub-committee report. I only recovered the material on return home this weekend .
May I conclude by wishing all the best to you and yours in this the festive season.
Yours,
Craig J Murray
Journalist
————————————–
Dear Mr Murray,
Further to you application for membership of the NUJ I wish to advise that the application was considered directly by the National Executive Council in accordance with Rule 3 (b) of the union’s rules.
At a meeting on Friday 11th November the NEC accepted the report of the panel set up to consider your application.
The panel found that you do not meet the membership criteria in relation to proven earnings from journalism.
The committee also considers objections to the application based on published material in the public domain and your conduct towards NUJ members.
The NEC accepted the recommendation that:
you should be considered not a fit and proper person to be a member of the NUJ within the context of Rule 3 of the NUJ Rule Book, specifically the NUJ Code of Conduct and the obligation under Membership Responsibilities.
If you wish to appeal the determination to the Appeals Tribunal you may do so in writing within 28 working days of the decision.
Please address your appeal to the General Secretary by email to [email protected]
For reference I attach a copy of the report to the NEC.
Membership Application: Craig Murray
Background: The NEC appointed a subcommittee to consider the membership application of Craig Murray comprising the Honorary General Treasurer, the Chair of Finance Committee, and the NUJ Vice President. The committee held two meetings and reviewed substantial material relating to the application.
Mr Murray’s previous application, in March 2020 was the subject of a number of objections. It was not processed because the application form was not complete, in accordance with the NUJ Rule Book.
Context: Mr Murray applied for membership on 5th March 2020. In May 2020, the General Secretary appointed the Assistant General Secretary (AGS) to carry out a preliminary investigation into objections to Mr Murray’s application.
Two objectors confirmed that they wished to proceed with their objection in accordance with the provisions of Rule 3 (iii): Chris Diamond and David Leask.
A third applicant had confirmed that they wished to proceed with their objection but
following the decision of the applicant to publish details of private correspondence between himself and the AGS, and the comments made by the applicant in his post and subsequent comments on his social media blog, the third complainant advised the AGS that he wished to request anonymity due to the perceived risk of social media abuse.
Two other members sought to raise objections but requested anonymity.
The objectors raised concerns that their objections and personal details could be posted on social media and that they may be the subject of online abuse or harassment.
An NEC panel was established to review the applications and to consider the complaint.
Since the application did not meet the membership criteria the complaints were moot and not considered at that time.
It was recommended that the complaints be noted and, in the event of a future application by Mr Murray would be considered by the NEC.
New application: A fresh application by Mr Murray was received in February 2022. The application was referred directly to the NEC.
The NEC established a sub committee comprising of the Vice President, Chair of Finance and Hon Gen Treasurer.
The subcommittee considered a significant volume of correspondence between Mr Murray and the Membership Department relating to his application.
The committee also noted correspondence from third parties relating to the application.
It was also obliged to consider previous objections.
The subcommittee was satisfied that, subject to proof of income, Mr Murray would satisfy the requirement for membership in terms of membership criteria.
Mr Murray did not provide sufficient information regarding his earnings from journalism to satisfy the panel as to his entitlement to full membership. On that basis Mr Murray was deemed ineligible for membership.
The subcommittee then reviewed the objections to the original application and the material cited in the complaints, including social media posts and Mr Murray’s blog.
The committee noted with concern Mr Murray’s behaviour towards NUJ members and office holders.
The subcommittee viewed his behaviour towards NUJ members as being inconsistent with the NUJ Membership Responsibilities and the NUJ Code of Conduct.
The committee felt that those who sought anonymity were justified in doing so, given Mr Murray’s published comments and his decision to publish correspondence relating to the investigation while the process was underway.
The committee recommends to the NEC that Mr Murray is not a fit and proper person to be a member of the NUJ within the context of Rule 3 of the NUJ Rule Book.
November 11, 2022
Yours sincerely
Jackie Clark
Head of Finance and Membership
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Far from being unfit, if you were accepted then you would be virtually the ONLY FIT member of the NUJ. I assume that Jeremy Clarkson is a member and I’ve not heard about any attempts to remove his membership. He is, of course, only the latest in a long line of gutter journalists writing biased and vitriolic filth for the gutter press (and even much of the so-called respectable press and on TV and radio).
Jeremy Clarkson is hardly the problem. In a free society, there’s no rule against offending people. I find some satire hilarious. Why can’t we have a first amendment? (Instead we have libel laws which mostly enable the rich and powerful to silence criticism … they’re even worse in some continental countries, where libel is a *crime*.)
In more enlightened times, aka decades ago, pre-‘woke’, senior people at BBC R4 often reacted to angry listener’s letters by more or less saying ‘We warned of bad language at the start of the programme. Why didn’t you use the off button for 30 mins.?’
N.B. R4 always used to be advertised as an adult radio station, i.e. it didn’t have a watershed like TV did. So these comments seemed just right.
The problem identified by Craig Murray is the same one identified by the people who set up the Free Speech Union. It needs more people to join who’ve spotted that we’re moving towards tyranny (‘COVID’ was just the start).
sound like petty little people following the State’s instructions.
hope you find a ‘grown-up’, professional, international, non-parochial organisation to protect you from the spitefulness of mini- Mammon (UK branch).
season’s greetings.
Disagree. People don’t need instructions in a totalitarian state. Everyone knows who to stick with and who to avoid; what to say and when to stay silent. No State instructions are necessary.
The UK is slowly turning into a totalitarian state.
There’s a a simple solution if Mr Murray grovels about his prior intemperance, kisses the right arses and becomes a fashionable supporter of everything currently fashionable. According to the MSM/establishment, then I image his level of fitness as a person will be radically improved.
Although I’m not sure why anyone would demean themselves by applying to what is basically a neo-lib hack guild. It’s not a reputable organisation to start with…
@Urban Fox, what are the alternatives to the NUJ if someone wanted to join a trade union for journalists in the UK/Scotland?
@Urban Fox, you mean turn into David Baddiel except that he was always an establishment stooge?!?
To put it mildly – those in charge of the NUJ are not fit and proper themselves, as they obviously (let themselves) be guided by political criteria. A degenerative symptom of bourgeois democracies.
Just embarrassing for them and their proclaimed values. Your reporting of the fit ups of Julian Assange and Alex Salmond was some of the finest independent journalism Britain has produced in recent years.
To think this is a trade union treating you like this is pretty disheartening. Think of all the disastrous lies and false narratives its fit and proper members have pushed in the last couple of decades and how they have evaded any criticism let alone sanction or deplatforming. I’m not even talking about phone hacking but all the propaganda blitzes they deployed to justify deadly austerity at home and mass murder and mayhem abroad. It was their depraved lies that destroyed Corbyn and promoted Starmer, deliberately to end meaningful democracy in Britain. These are the people the NUJ is proud of and considers fit and proper.
The NUJ have rejected you because their Israeli bosses have instructed them to do so. Since they will never disobey their Israeli masters, and are not legally required to do so, a new court case would be completely pointless.
Can you name any of these Israeli bosses of the NJU?
Forget all the bleating from those with prominent platforms from which they decry it – this is real cancel culture in operation and they will pretend it isn’t happening. Those with eyes to see know that what they really oppose is valid criticism of their false narratives.
“I Don’t Want to Belong to Any Club That Will Accept Me as a Member. ” Groucho Marx
I understand why you are trying to do this but honestly, you are better than most of them Craig, I wouldn’t worry, at least they cannot accuse you of guilt by association.
Glad I checked the thread before posting exactly the same ?
The rest of my sentiment goes along the lines of, if they did let CM join or re-join(?), it would only be to expel him! Which is the greater damnation they are failing to take advantage of by this crass Red Queen type of behaviour.
After all CM has left bigger and more royal clubs and gongs for the cause of Justice and Humanity.
I for one am glad none of my subscription for fine writing AND journalism is going towards any decrepit prossie whore house proprietors benefits.
I wish you well for a successful outcome to your dealings with these beggars on horseback , namely the NUJ. I wonder if Gove is still considered to be a fit person to hold their Union card?
Maybe the NUJ represent the gatekeepers of a rotten arch, likeminded minions who decide who to harass with their petty rigmarole, what kind of media will attack next, when it will happen and who will do it.
This a union so obviously hanging on strings, flapping in the wind for two years in pretence of dealing with an outcome to a simple legitimate demand.
But the strings get pulled and their pantomime shudders in grotesk looking distortions, as the establishment and its intelligence bots are pulling you up via these morons.
If you are so hot on getting accredited why not try elsewhere? or leave them stew in their own muck stirrings.
Glad you are back in one piece, have a happy winter solstice.
The problem is you (Craig) believe in transparency of governments, justice, and the NUJ, The governments and political parties of the UK, Scotland and the USA, as well as the NUJ, do not.
That is the violation you are guilty of. It is also the violation Julien is guilty of.
You are expected to answer and explain yourself to the rulers. They are under no obligation to explain or answer to you.
Perhaps CM can write up a piece on the NUJ , its origins, leadership, objectives and its current pathetic transformation to handmaidens of the wholly corrupt media barons.
Name and Shame has a purpose and any NUJ members who are not aware of their ‘Union’s corrupt double standards should perhaps consider doing their own research and story on it. Then resigning their position from the fascist front that is now the NUJ. It surely is because of its protection and promotion of the fake, spook assets and even faker stories and absolutely for being part and parcel of the integrity initiative collective.
These guys suffer from the currently fashionable Liberal belief that those whose comments might be considered in any small way to be outside the Overton window should be deplatformed. They also think it is part of their duty to the world to use their positions to assist in the deplatforming. As we see again and again, these guys are happy to participate in disagreement and challenges during debates from within their own in-group but they certainly won’t accept it from anyone outside, as any person or opinion from outside is regarded as offensive at best, and more likely dangerous.
However this doesn’t mean that NUJ membership refusal is fully 100% political in nature – some of the complainants may genuinely feel personally offended by any doubts cast on either their points of view or their motivation, and by extension the points of view and motivation of Liberals and centrists in general. These guys have trained each other to very high levels in offence-taking and threat-perceiving, primarily in order to protect both individual and collective egos. Amazing that in significant part these guys really think that they’re selfless giants of knowledge and intellect, that they are a beleaguered minority fighting the combined forces of evil, ignorance and selfishness for the benefit of all, that the time is long past to play fair, and that anyone that appears to be standing in their way should be neutralised with extreme prejudice.
“requested anonymity …may be the subject of online abuse or harassment’
I think it’s a woman. Otherwise I cannot imagine a man fearing social media abuse 🙂 men normally are defending their points with their face open.
A woman, once caught on lies, would request anonymity
Craig, in a way you could see this as a badge of honour. They don’t do journalism any more, it’s strictly propaganda. The NUJ should be renamed the NULB – the National Union of Lying Bastards.
I do still sometimes watch the ‘news’, just to keep an eye on what the lying bastards are currently lying about.
Historically trades guilds of course operated as closed shops excluding anyone who is not on the inside. The NUJ seems to be more of a protectionist trades guild than a trades union that would affiliate to the TUC in order to support workers’ rights across the board. At the same time from its website it seems pretty keen to drive up membership for aspiring capitalist media hacks, but clearly not where it might be reluctant to “fight for journalists’ rights, freedom of expression and ethical journalism” as practised by Craig Murray
On a technical point the legal regulations that I know best have strict criteria to define a “fit and proper person”. In the NUJ rulebook there is no definition of a “fit and proper person” (once eligibility has been established), and rejection seems based purely on members’ objections, without stating what counts as a legitimate objection which should be on objective grounds not the subjectivity of what someone might have said on social media. This is operating like the Labour Party in full witch hunting hue and cry.
Good luck with the appeal but not sure if it’s worth taking further unless one’s livelihood did depend on membership. Maybe independent journalists should form their own organisation.
Please don’t waste any time or money on trying to persuade or force a hostile NUJ to agree that one who has served a prison sentence for violation of a court order limiting the reporting of a case (and whose related appeal to the ECHR was dismissed without a hearing) is nevertheless a fit and proper person to hold an NUJ press card.
This is not intended to be a hostile comment: quite the contrary.
Interesting in a number of ways that the NUJ don’t mention contempt of court at all.
It appears, reading between the lines, that certain other NUJ journalists, with I expect Leask leading the charge, followed by any number of Guardian, Times and other ‘journalists’ (most of them really opinion columnists, which is not necessarily journalism at all) have lobbied heavily against you. I further expect that their objections will be jumped up, misleading allegations around the Salmond affair, which you exposed and the subsequent charges. As no doubt hoped by the Scottish administration who manipulated the case against you, with no public trial, based on utterly ludicrous principles such as psychic powers to read your mind, and the wilful refusal to consider your evidence. The whole fiasco was designed to discredit you, and the willing dupes such as Leask, who will hope for preferment, have played, and are playing their role.
That is no doubt why the NUJ didn’t follow its own rules and allow your local branch to make the obvious and fair decision – that of course you are a journalist, whatever opinion they have of your work, and that you do earn a living from it. To. bar you on the basis that they do not like your journalism would mean that a vast majority of NUJ memberships must be under similar threat. Of course it is political, and it wouldn’t surprise me either if the Scot gov made informal representations, letting it be known what they wanted, without of course any paper trail of that influence.
It is clear they hate you exposing their courts, and their procedures, to the light of public scrutiny. They are used to doing what they want, with little scrutiny or accountability. Your refreshingly candid publishing of correspondence and evidence has no doubt horrified them. It is very telling that by the simple expedient of publishing such material you have stirred up so much antagonism and personal attacks. Some of us remember when journalism was celebrated for exposing such truths. You can be proud of doing so, we see them for what they are, thanks to your honesty. How bitter they are at your old school standards and not playing the game, old boy. Amazing, really, how a small, independent blog can rile the self-styled great and good, with all of their resources and wealth. Well done.
Not an organisation I’d want to be within miles of, let alone a member of. Perhaps this new Union is more in line with your ethics and integrity (article in The Daily Sceptic 18 Dec 2022).
‘The Free Speech Union has set up a new Writers’ Advisory Council and has created an offer for beleaguered authors concerned that their speech rights aren’t being adequately defended.’
To hell with them. Rather than giving them any more of your time and energy, maybe you should start UPJAB (Union for Proper Journalists and Bloggers).
Leave them to it. Waste of your time, energy and resources. We see who they are – why be part of it? Enjoy Christmas with your family and friends 🙂
No doubt the MI5 snitch Paul Mason remains a member in good standing. They probably went straight to him upon receiving your application.
None of the above. The NUJ has, post Assange, been told clearly to be very careful about granting the title of journalist to anyone not controlled by establishment linked editors. It is about the redefinition of journalism. Mr Murray will remember the same point was made by the judge in his trial.
In other words, Mr Murray not being a journalist strips him of any protection from arbitrary power of the judiciary which is now clearly just the enforcement arm of the state. Internet independent journalism will become totally isolated so that only establishment journalists will be acceptable.
Related to the above, it is of note that in the so called democratic west we are now not allowed to get information from any side that our government wants to silence. All information about Ukraine, Russia, Iran or Syria, have to be monitored and filtered to suit the narrative. Sadly this is where we are heading, an information blackout as an important arm of the information war. The NUJ is not acting as a true trade Union, just another establishment enforcer.
I think this looks correct: if Craig is a journalist, then so is Assange. But it has been determined that Assange is not a journalist.
So I’m inclined to think that the NUJ isn’t excluding Craig because of anything about Craig; it’s because the establishment doesn’t want any old writer to be recognized as a journalist. To be a “real journalist” you have to earn a salary from a company that the establishment can lean on. Newspapers depend heavily on access to establishment figures, so they’re easy to lean on. Self-employed journalists and those who are financed by subscriptions: not so much.
So I don’t think you’re fighting the three-man executive committee of the NUJ; you’re up against the whole weight of the establishment. So take care.
Exactly. Moreover it means that only ‘accredited’ journalists have a protection against arbitrary state power.
Having got interested in Craig’s travails at the Court of Session, I wrote an article about that at
http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~jeremy/legal/cm-contempt.html
There’s a section headed
Distinguishing Craig from mainstream journalists
in which I record a lot of stuff I found from the Council of Europe (whatever that is) in support of
“new media actors”. Interestingly some of it was not accepted by the Russian Federation insofar
as it covered “new media actors”
Ye Gods, Craig, and you’re only just realising now that ages long necessity for the status quo to remain in festering office and prevent true progress without them effective in leading executive positions?
Fortunately though, although it be surely cold comfort to you presently, it is a default political establishment tool/weapon increasingly backfiring and no longer working as well as it used to and needs to, and indeed, its failing continued use and their zombie and ponzi support of it clearly identifies the shadow leaderships of it to a practically novel never ever before even imagined possible unknown/known unknown and rapidly evolving almighty deadly enemy …. an incredibly stealthy, relatively anonymous and virtually autonomous overwhelming force and/or IntelAIgently Designed Entity.
And that which any “Great Reset” has no other available successful open option other than to do deals with under terms and conditions not of their own advantageous choosing.
In essence, an unconditional surrender to revolutionary forces of virtually unknown metaphysical presence to prevent total corrupt political establishment devastation … annihilation, and all at the hands of formerly oppressed and suppressed raging mobs/useful idiots, now better informed and newly educated and enlightened and empowered?
And only rendered there as a question because a statement would be so terribly presumptuous or even terrifying and terrorising if of that very particular and peculiarly debilitating frame of mind.
And the Much Bigger News Picture not being yet widely popularly reported on and shown with the Main Stream Media and NUJ membership being in a large part fully responsible and accountable for its covert underground and clandestine communication network growth.
Thanks are surely due for that unintended consequence. So Thanks, MSN and NUJ memberships. Your help, whilst incalculable, is nevertheless very much appreciated.
@amanfromMars re. “Great Reset” has no other available successful open option…”
Sci-fi, or universal words of wisdom…
Sci-fi, or universal words of wisdom…, Gregor? Hmmm?
Well, certainly the smarter student and definitely the wiser AI Mastering mentor would neither dismiss nor argue against such being much more fantastic psy-fact, and a derivative futures offer only fools who be intellectually dim and mentally blunt and no longer useful tools would refuse to acknowledge and decline to accept, in order instead to do vainglorious futile battle against that which would be unknown to them …. to maintain and retain the past status quo rather than embrace, expand and exploit all future ones.
However, as Einstein is reputed to have recognised in a pondering on such a bigger picture as may matter and have an extraordinarily divisive effect and disproportionate influence …..“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” …. so stupid destructive conflict will it be for many more than just a few well chosen and worthy of well advertised rout and mercifully, merciless defeat, methinks, for there be certainly plenty of them doing crass biddings wherever and whenever one looks around everything and into everything nowadays, in these strange spaces and places of virtual trojans and viral bugs, 0day exploits and operating system remote code execution for the hijacking and exercise of command and control functions/abilities/facilities/plans.
Some will correctly tell you, that sort of destructive course choice be the way of certifiable madness, and is gravely to be regarded and always best left avoided at any cost, for the price to be paid for entry and participation is systems crippling and unavoidably surreal, and surely hardly surprisingly, also extremely disconcertingly painful.
Thanks for your insight.
…I’m glad some aren’t stupendously stupid and value human progression…
What a country we are living in. The good are smeared, vilified, cancelled and attacked. The evil are praised and rewarded. The majority cannot even see it.
This is all thanks to the membership of the National Union of Journalists.
One of the hallmarks of pretty much all ‘Western” societies today is that corruption is not limited to a few organisations or people; rather, the entire social and political context has become warped, making it more difficult to stand up for endangered species such as truth or integrity. Indeed, the commercial reliance on ‘agnotology’ – the deliberate exploitation of ignorance and falsehood – seems to have become an integral part of corporate and governmental life; and so-called ‘journalists’ would better be referred to as agnotologists. Under these circumstances, truth-tellers need to organise themselves into mutually supportive groups for their own self-defence and mental health; so I agree with Alan Glass’s suggestion about forming an alternative union for real journalists, UPJAB.
Dear Craig,
I wish that rather than appealing (late), you had replied along the lines of :
Thank you for rejecting me, as it will save me the effort of returning my membership. After due consideration, I now understand that the NUJ is no longer a suitable union for real journalists.
There is a more important point at stake here than Craig’s membership of the NUJ. The point is that “journalists” have specific protections under the law which non-journalists don’t enjoy, so the question at stake is not whether Craig is or is not a member of the NUJ, or even whether or not he is a “journalist”, but whether or not he, and people like him, enjoy those legal protections. I dare say the NUJ would be glad to welcome him into their midst and receive his subscriptions, if it wasn’t for those same legal protections he would thereby enjoy.
I’m not sure what the ‘specific protections’ are or their worth nor what ‘crimes’ will result in withdrawal of such a mighty ‘uniform’. The only benefit seems to be of Access to certain events and that too is not guaranteed, neither is protection from Police and State security apparatus. Or ‘peers’.
Or being murdered for attempting to bear witness and report it for posterity.
Does such a label mean that ONLY a certified ‘journalist in employment of a hegemonic media operator’ gets to report facts and have Legal Right to Free Speech?
What of ‘citizen journalism’?
It must be clear to many, certainly those of us who follow many a ‘independent’ journalist through their blogs and tweets etc, that there is NO media freedom.
The banning of ALL the Russia based media is easy to see.
Censorship and Propaganda is the purpose of that.
The diminishing of plurality that allows the. Consumers to make a Choice of what ever We believe in.
As is the Shadow Banning of many on the social media platforms.
Elon has not yet convinced me that he is cleaning the stables – there are still an awful lot of ‘ex’ spooks and elites praetorians in these social media platforms daily harvesting masses of personal data for use against the users.
We are living in a cloud cuckoo land which is spiralling into ever diminishing irrelevance before disappearing down the stinky sink hole of dead empires.
The NUJ and its illustrious apparatchiks are steering their little titanic into that vortex, along with the rest of the fleet of establishment institutions.
Of the many issues other contributors have raised here, I should like to add one more, which you allude to yourself – the digital form of the mass media. Several years ago Murdoch commissioned a consultancy group to check out whether the print and digital Sun and Times (already behind a paywall at that time) could be made profitable in the future. The conclusion was that they could not. It was felt Murdoch was likely to stop print publication of both by the mid-2020s. Since then we’ve had COVID and inflation, so maybe he’s changed his mind. But by and large print circulations have been dropping by an average of 7% a year (broad mean) over the last 20 years. Since ABCs became hard to see without paying for them, I am not sure the current print circulations. Some like the Telegraph seem to have plateaued some years back, but only the Mail passes 1 million, and that claim is dubious. Point is here – most if not all print nationals will be defunct in a few years, almost certainly. The Mail’s core elderly readership is regularly being urged to read on a phone or tablet at a reduced cost. The urging seems to be falling on deaf ears (no jokes, I’m over 70 myself). Why is this important? Because when propaganda cannot be pushed out on newspaper front pages – very important – it will all have to be broadcast or digital. The Mail readers are not thought likely to migrate to phones and tablets, and will probably get their news from the BBC primarily. Big problem for governments. Will everyone else just read the news online (as I do)? – well if they all go behind a firewall, no. Which means a major sector of the population will go to blogs, social media and the like, which may well be fostered, popularised and backed by the security services, or just big money, but many of which will not. It is very important therefore for the govt, the security services and the NUJ, for that matter, to determine who of the online world gets accepted and accredited status, and that the “boundary” is constantly reinforced. You fall outside that of course.
Your post made me curious about David Leask, I am now confused as to which papers he writes for, this post on Wings over Scotland seems to be quite confusing in that regard: https://wingsoverscotland.com/david-leask-a-correction/ It would have been simpler if they had listed the papers he isn’t the chief reporter for. Still a paid hack is a paid hack, money for codswallop, money for reactionary opinion, money for misinformation, it’s good to know what being an NUJ member means. I am surprised, Craig, you would want to be associated with them – that is with the exception of the legal immunity it gives you.
Clearly the transparency, clarity and accuracy of Craig’s reporting, essentially his journalistic coverage. is writing on the wall for those stenographer hacks, media gas-lighting minions, social media weaponizers, cerebral schemers and those outlets engaged in ‘subterfuge with a human face’ that are overshadowed by the NUJ, a welcomed overt organisation for trumpeting human rights and democracy.
Shining a light into the shadow of shadows reveals a public mechanism engaged in propaganda and political activism to disrupt, destabilize, and ultimately displace ‘enemy’ activists, organisations and regimes where so called Western journalists are tasked with aggressively rubbishing unambiguous matters of record alien to the Overton window, viciously attacking those few who dare challenge the established orthodoxy of UK innocence.
Vast sums of public funds are available to stream bogus narrative and I can put on record that British foreign office funding is used to develop radio broadcasting initiatives by the BBC and others that can target millions of innocent people in public awareness campaigns.
Meanwhile, those who orchestrate media lies rest comfortably in Britain, insulated from any scrutiny or consequence whatsoever, every day cooking up fresh schemes to subvert truthful journalism while hailed as champions of liberty by the mainstream press every step of the way.
Of course, now the ‘establishment’ has another way to silence dissent. Ie, Follow the rules or we will take away your NUJ card.
The collection of powers and controls by the state is not accidental.
When we wake-up – we determine our own future…
World Economic Forum: Great Reset:
“…World Economic Forum is starting The Great Reset initiative…
Determining:
The future state of global relations…
The direction of national economies…
The priorities of societies…
The nature of business models…
The management of a global commons…
A new social contract…”:
https://www.weforum.org/great-reset/