MICHELLE STANISTREET is stepping down as leader of the National Union of Journalists, a role she has held since 2011.

It’s been, as she frankly acknowledges, “an extremely challenging time” for the industry. 

As soon as she was in post evidence that Rupert Murdoch title News of the World had hacked the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler spurred a national conversation about media ethics — and the corrupting influence of ownership by a handful of plutocratic press barons, concerns that led to the Leveson Inquiry. 

Her term of office has been dominated too by fears for journalistic freedom — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in 2012 and only gained his freedom from a British jail this year. 

Covid lockdowns hit the print press, which had already seen sales decline for years, hard (Morning Star print sales, despite having risen last year, are still below 2019 levels), a process of monopolisation has seen the merger or destruction of swathes of local papers, social media and its control by a few giant companies have posed increasing problems for professional news gathering and reportage, and now AI-generated content threatens jobs, accuracy and raises trust issues in a media that’s already widely distrusted.

Where to begin? For Stanistreet, with journalism as a public good. “Our work as journalists is a reflection of the quality and shape of our democracy.

“News cannot just be seen as another business. You can’t leave quality journalism to the vagaries of the market.

“The news sector has been hollowed out for so long that it’s in a really fragile state.”

The NUJ first launched its News Recovery Plan at the outset of the pandemic, and has now revamped it as a platform for change. Labour has been “coy” about media reform, she says, but still hopes the new government will grasp the nettle.

While this calls for financial support for media, she’s clear this is not about “propping up a failed business model.

“We need something better for the news industry. Our work is not just about important questions such as terms and conditions of employment, freelance opportunities for members — it’s also about the role of journalism itself, that matters to us as a craft union.”

The News Recovery Plan proposes a windfall tax of 6 per cent on tech giants, which have “had a free ride for too long” amassing fortunes from other people’s content, followed up by an ongoing digital tax to help fund sustainable journalism. 

Targeted help for co-ops to take over regional titles from the monopolies that have snapped them up, strategic public advertising from government and the NHS to support independent media (as happened during Covid, although the Morning Star was mysteriously left out of the thousands of titles which benefited from public health advertising) and measures to encourage newspaper readership — including tax credits for households with subscriptions and vouchers for 18 and 19-year-olds — are among the proposals.

Local newspapers should gain “asset of community value” status like pubs so they can’t be closed overnight and when they’re threatened locals have an opportunity to save them. Funds would come with strings attached, so companies cutting pay or jobs or blocking union organisation would be ineligible, and those taking the money would need to have employee representation on boards.

Democracies have an interest in encouraging newspaper readership to combat the proliferation of fake news and disinformation, the NUJ argues, but what of the accusation from much of the left that mainstream media is just as misleading?

Stanistreet thinks the failure to proceed with the Leveson II inquiry which would have opened up questions of ownership, as well as shone a light on the murky relationship between police, politicians and the media, was a missed opportunity.

“Poor journalistic practice doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The context is the consolidation of media ownership in the UK.” 

Having been mother of chapel (as NUJ shop stewards are known) at the Sunday Express and sister titles, Stanistreet is no stranger to the negative influence of ownership by a press baron, in that case the pornographer Richard Desmond. She describes “pretty crude” editorial interference by the then-owner, including altering news copy and headlines, often to promote a reactionary agenda including what she considered incitement to racial hatred in coverage of asylum-seekers.

Reactionary political agendas have helped hollow out whole sectors of news coverage deemed unhelpful — most obviously with the axing of industrial reporters, with the Morning Star now the only national daily with this dedicated role, something Stanistreet says makes the daily paper of the left a crucially important part of the media mix. 

It has also promoted “churnalism,” where money is saved by getting staff to churn out substandard copy without proper news gathering, and while titles always denied this, she notes that now some openly boast that they use in-house versions of ChatGPT that can turn press releases into news copy in house style. Key points in the news recovery plan concern promoting the importance of actual journalism.

“AI has the capacity to turbocharge the already significant problems we have with misinformation and disinformation. This is not something that can be ignored. It has to be grappled with right now, and that will require legislation.”

Being able to challenge the tycoons directly was a reason the NUJ insisted on becoming a core participant at Leveson, and she remembers the cross-examination of Murdoch by John Hendy, acting for the union, as a “red letter day.”

Given the hysterically anti-union tone of much mainstream media coverage, Stanistreet points out that the NUJ has to organise in some of the most anti-union workplaces in the country. Getting recognition often takes a “Herculean effort.”

This February saw the “momentous victory” of union recognition at PA Media: “For me personally it was a very emotional outcome. It’s been a four-year slog.” She’s hands on as general secretary, something she describes as inevitable given the NUJ’s relatively small size, but which keeps her grounded in the day-to-day struggles of trade unionism: “I still work on individual cases.” 

Strong trade unions definitely counter the power of bad bosses, but what does she say to those who see even Britain’s public service broadcaster, the BBC, as a propaganda outlet that, for example, played a part in the demonisation of Jeremy Corbyn?

“I’m a critical friend of the BBC. It needs to be accountable, but I’m a fierce proponent of the benefits of public service broadcasting, and what it achieves for society.” She notes that news is one small part of the BBC’s huge output, and points to its importance in the creative industries and its economic role.

“When it comes to the news agenda, take a step back and look at the breadth of content, journalism and programming taking place. The NUJ has thousands of committed, talented members at the BBC, who genuinely care about public service broadcasting.”

The threat to independent journalism in Britain over the last decade was most dramatically illustrated by the imprisonment of Julian Assange, and the NUJ along with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) was prominent in demanding his release. 

Stanistreet says it is understandable Assange reached a plea deal to secure his freedom, and is relieved that the deportation to the US for what was undoubtedly a political offence did not go ahead: “It’s not a legal precedent that’s been set” — but says the case leaves a “lingering threat” to journalists, given it hasn’t been established in the courts that you can’t persecute somebody for publishing public interest journalism either.

The treatment of journalists internationally is a rising concern, with the deliberate killing of journalists in war zones on the rise — particularly in Gaza, where the IFJ has issued regular updates on the scores of reporters killed.

Stanistreet says the closure of Gaza to international media is an outrage, one the British government needs to press Israel to relax: “It places the whole burden of covering this terrible war on the journalists of Gaza alone.” 

British journalists may not face systematic killing by an occupying military, but she’s aware too that political polarisation and an often toxic social media culture have led to increases in harassment of journalists, including through rape threats and death threats. The union will be launching a press freedom safety tracker in the autumn.

It’s a troubled scene she leaves, but having steered the NUJ for 13 turbulent years, she feels it’s the right time to move on. Survival and sustainability for small unions is difficult, but Stanistreet is proud to have defended the NUJ’s independence, noting many craft unions have folded into larger general ones. 

“I passionately believe this union is distinct, that it must stand up for journalism as well as journalists, that it must be able to put its money where its mouth is on issues of ethical concern — as with the Chris Mullins protection of sources case. I’m sure its future as an independent union will be prioritised — whoever comes next.”