# National Union of Journalists

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades Union Congress (TUC) affiliated, and a former member of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU).

## Structure

There is a range of National Councils beneath the NEC, covering different sections and areas of activity. There is an Industrial Council for each of the NUJ's "industrial" sectors:
* Broadcasting (BIC)
* Freelance (FIC)
* Magazine & Books (MABIC)
* New Media (NMIC)
* Newspapers & Agencies (NAIC)
* Public Relations & Communications.
The Photographers' Council, while not an industrial council, functions in the same way to campaign on issues relevant to the union's photographer, photojournalist and videographer members.
There are also National Executive Councils, covering all sectors, for Ireland and Scotland. The Irish Executive Council, which has a higher degree of autonomy, covers Northern Ireland as well as the Republic. Since 2016, in response to Brexit, the Union's Continental European Council further expanded the NUJ's remit to include NUJ members working in Continental Europe, in particular for NUJ branches in Paris, Brussels and the Netherlands, to campaign on issues of common interest.
The union's structure is democratic, and its supreme decision-making body is its Delegate Meeting, a gathering of elected delegates from all branches across the UK, Ireland and Europe. Between Delegate Meetings, decisions lie with the NUJ's National Executive Council, a committee of 27 people, elected annually by members. The NEC is chaired by a President, elected, along with a Vice-President and Treasurer, at the Delegate Meeting.
The General Secretary (GS) is elected every five years by a national ballot of all members and is held to account and responsible to the National Executive Council (NEC). The current GS is Michelle Stanistreet. The General Secretary is responsible for the day-to-day running of the union and directing its staff. However, important decisions such as authorising industrial action must be taken by the NEC.

## Leadership
### General Secretaries

    1907 (1907): William Watts
    1918 (1918): Harry Richardson
    1936 (1936): Clement Bundock Tim Gopsill and Greg Neale, Journalists: 100 Years of the NUJ
    1952 (1952): Jim Bradley
    1969 (1969): Ken Morgan
    1977 (1977): Ken Ashton
    1985 (1985): Harry Conroy
    1990 (1990): Steve Turner
    1992 (1992): John Foster
    2001 (2001): Jeremy Dear
    2011 (2011): Michelle Stanistreet
    2024 (2024): Laura Davison

### Presidents

Presidents of the NUJ:
    1907: R. C. Spencer
    1909: G. H. Lethem
    1911: John Hunter Harley
    1913: W. T. A. Beare
    1914: F. E. Hamer
    1916: E. Williams
    1917: A. Martin
    1918: F. J. Mansfield
    1919: James Haslam
    1920: J. E. Brown
    1921: Thomas Jay
    1922: T. A. Davies
    1923: Walter Meakin
    1924: T. K. Sledge
    1925: Thomas Dickson
    1926: A. J. Rhodes
    1927: H. A. Raybould
    1928: F. W. Bill
    1929: H. D. Nichols
    1930: W. G. Mitchell
    1931: W. Betts
    1932: J. G. Gregson
    1933: James Hume Aitken
    1934: E. J. T. Didymus
    1935: R. S. Forsyth
    1936: F. G. Humphrey
    1937: F. P. Dickinson
    1938: E. S. Bardsley
    1939: James William Thomas Ley
    1940: Ernest E. Hunter
    1941: T. Foster
    1942: D. M. Elliot
    1943: A. Kenyon
    1944: R. J. Finnemore
    1945: A. J. Gibson
    1946: F. Treavett
    1947: J. E. Jay
    1948: L. R. Aldous
    1949: H. D. Moxley
    1950: Jim Bradley
    1951: J. Taylor
    1952: Henry Bate
    1953: P. W. Jarrett
    1954: E. A. Lofts
    1955: A. D. Ramsay
    1956: G. Reid
    1957: T. Bartholomew
    1958: G. R. Mead
    1959: R. G. Venmore-Rowland
    1960: M. J. Williamson
    1961: P. G. Reid
    1962: K. L. Ley
    1963: William Heald
    1964: G. Byrne
    1965: L. H. Kirwan
    1966: D. C. Tuckett
    1967: G. A. Hutt
    1968: Kenneth Holmes
    1969: Cyril Kilner
    1970: C. Bland
    1971: Douglas Rees
    1972: Harold Pearson
    1973: John Bailey
    1974: Ivan Peebles
    1975: Ken Ashton
    1975: Rosaline Kelly
    1977: John Devine
    1978: Denis Macshane
    1979: Jacob Ecclestone
    1980: Francis Beckett
    1981: Harry Conroy
    1982: Jonathan Hammond
    1983: Eddie Barrett
    1984: George Findlay
    1985: Ray McGuigan
    1986: Bob Keogh
    1987: Lionel Morrison
    1988: Barbara Gunnell and S. McGuire
    1989: Paul McGill
    1990: David Sinclair
    1991: Chris Frost
    1992: Jim Boumelha and R. Trevor
    1993: John Toner
    1994: Anita Halpin
    1995: Kyran Connolly
    1996: Jeremy Dear
    1998: Mark Turnbull
    1999: Christy Loftus
    2000: Dave Toomer
    2001: Rory MacLeod
    2002: John Barsby
    2003: George Macintyre
    2004: Jim Corrigal
    2005: Tim Lezard
    2006: Chris Morley
    2007: Michelle Stanistreet
    2008: James Doherty
    2009: Peter Murray
    2011: Donnacha DeLong
    2012: Barry McCall
    2014: Andy Smith and Adam Christie
    2016: Tim Dawson
    2018: Sian Jones
    2021: Pierre Vicary
    2023: Natasha Hirst

## Publications

The NUJ publishes a magazine called The Journalist.

## Controversies

In November 2024, several BBC journalists quit the NUJ and a dozen more journalists in the UK were in the process of handing in their NUJ membership cards. This came after they were urged by the NUJ to wear the colours of Palestinian flag (red, green and black) or a keffiyeh to mark a 'Day of Action For Palestine'. Charlotte Henry who runs The Addition, a media and tech newsletter, announced that she was leaving the union because the industry had become a 'hostile environment for the Jews'. The Board of Deputies of British Jews has condemned both the NUJ and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), its umbrella union organisation "for failing to support Jewish workers".