5 nov: Picket ArgoPress - Stand up for journalism
NUJ member - 01.11.2007 11:21
5 November is the European day of action ‘Stand Up For Journalism’ to fight for improved pay and defend quality in media. the Netherlands branch of the NUJ will be targeting Argopress with a leafletting action. Argopress publishes The Holland Times and six free local Dutch-language papers and pays its journalists a poverty wage. Join the picket! When: 5 November 2007, 08:30 am. Where: Delflandlaan 4, Amsterdam; metro/rail: Station Lelylaan, trams 1 & 17.
Campaign flyer
PRESS RELEASE
Friday 2 November 2007
Journalists target Argopress to demand an end to poverty wages in journalism
The European Federation of Journalists is conducting a European day of action on Monday 5 November 2007, as part of the ‘Stand Up For Journalism’ campaign initiated by the National Union of Journalists (Great Britain and Ireland (NUJ). Their goals are to protect jobs and pensions, to improve pay, and to defend quality in media.
In Amsterdam, the Netherlands branch of the NUJ will be ‘standing up for journalism’ by targeting Argopress with a leafletting action. Argopress is part of the media enterprise Argo Media Groep and publisher of the English-language paper The Holland Times and six free local Dutch-language papers, including the Amsterdams Stadsblad, Diemer Courant and Amstelveens Weekblad.
As Argopress itself boasts, its English-speaking readership is a “wealthy but a hard to reach group”, and to reach this expatriate community the paper is distributed to “several large multinationals such as Shell, Canon, and Cisco Systems”, as well as upmarket hotels. However, whilst The Holland Times takes almost €3000 for a full-page advertisement, it pays its contract staff wages on, or just above, the minimum wage and freelance journalists as little as 10 eurocents per word! Moreover, there have been frequent complaints by freelance journalists about long delays in payment of even these small amounts, requiring them to actively chase money that is owed to them. The Netherlands branch of the NUJ understands that the situation is no better at the Dutch free papers that Argopress produces.
Argopress is not alone in offering such low pay rates, but is a prominent example of a company that is paying a poverty wage to journalists: the minimum wage in the Netherlands is approximately €300 a week for journalists up to 23 years-of-age. Freelancers on a rate of 10 eurocents a word cannot possibly turn out enough work to match even this minimum level, particularly when you remember that they have to cover their own overheads, insurance etc. Underpayment leads to overworked journalists, bad media reporting and therefore causes harm to workers, to quality journalism, and undermines the freedom of the press and freedom of information.
By paying substandard wages, companies like Argopress exploit the vulnerable position of entry-level journalists who are faced with high competition and low wages enforced by commercial media enterprises. To protest against poverty wages, the NUJ is calling on advertisers to put the paper under pressure – and calling on English and Dutch-speaking journalists and their supporters to picket the publisher’s headquarters in Amsterdam on Monday 5 November as part of the ‘Stand Up For Journalism’ campaign.
Argopress is absolutely not alone among the English language press in offering such low freelance pay rates. Elsewhere in the Netherlands and indeed all across Europe, journalists are facing a dramatic worsening of working conditions, caused by excessive commercialisation, political pressure and falling media standards. Whilst the media is owned by an increasingly smaller group of wealthy corporations that enjoy high profit margins, journalists worldwide are facing continual rounds of job cuts, dwindling editorial budgets, and poverty wages. Permanent contracts are becoming a thing of the past with the result that quality media is being eroded. ‘News’ increasingly refers to recycled press releases or unchecked wire service stories supplied by corporate news agencies rather than being based on investigative journalism. Critical investigation, however, is vital for upholding democratic standards, human rights and transparency.
Stand up for journalism campaign www.standupforjournalism.org.uk
NUJ www.nuj.org.uk
EFJ www.ifj-europe.org
Picket Argopress!
When: 5 November 2007, 08:30 am
Where: Delflandlaan 4, Amsterdam; metro/rail: Station Lelylaan, trams 1 & 17
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 Website: http://www.standupforjournalism.org.uk/
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