Despite the sad passing of its chairman, The CRA continues to tackle issues of paramount importance to writers, such as digital copyright and a European Commission attempt to clamp down on any recommendation of rates.
Cometh the hour, cometh the… organisation. As pressure on the rights of authors, journalists and other creators rises, the Creators Rights Alliance appears to have steered itself out of the doldrums which arose from the illness and recent death of its founder chairman David Ferguson.
David, a self-taught musician, had achieved eminence both as a successful composer of music for TV and as a radical advocate of creators’ rights. The loss of his energy and focus hit the CRA a near-fatal blow and it has taken some time to recover. An obituary written by his friend Mark Fishlock appeared in the Guardian on 28 July.
The ABSW has been involved with the CRA since 2001 and has attempted to play a significant part in the development of its policies. A few critics have questioned whether the Association should get involved in the fight to support the rights of such a broad slew of media creators, many not connected with writing or science.
But recent news – Google’s 'opt-out-or-be-dammed' announcement regarding its plan to digitise every book ever published, or the confused debate over the fate of supposedly ‘orphaned’ works, for example – make it clear that there really is nowhere to hide. There are corporate interests out there that will have the benefit of your work free of charge if they can get it.
The CRA met in July under its vice-chairman Mike Holderness, a freelance journalist, policy consultant, and National Union of Journalists activist. The meeting launched a redesigned website, published a manifesto, restructured the organisation and reinvigorated the sense of purpose of delegates of affiliated organisations. There has been a much-needed rebalancing, with a reduction in the perceived emphasis on music interests and the emergence of stronger voices from the other genres, including those of journalism, book writing, illustration, photography and design.
There is also a clearer definition of the role of the CRA which should remove the roadblocks set up by the demand for consensus on every policy issue. It now sees itself as a forum for UK organisations representing creators: both authors and performers, roles that are increasingly merged in the digital world. The CRA’s raison d’être is that organisations can, when they wish, throw their weight behind joint initiatives and statements.
An important new strategy is to seek a high profile representative to take the CRA chair as a figurehead and spokesperson. Ideally, this individual will already be active in some field of creator’s rights so that they can bring in significant networks of contacts. Nominations are being sought from the affiliate organisations.
The current arrangement over chairmanship will probably continue past the organisation's annual general meeting in November, with the vice-chair handling the meeting-to-meeting running of the organisation including setting agendas for meetings under the new chairman.
The CRA’s present administrator, Lucy Weston has decided to move on and will be replaced with a researcher-administrator (see advertisement) who can assist the chair, vice-chair and committee with policy development, lobbying and fundraising. Funding is secure until the end of the current financial year, with a reasonable prospect of support from the Journalists’ Copyright Fund thereafter.
Elsewhere, The CRA has been active in Europe and contributed to The Creators’ Forum, which met in Brussels in June. The European Commission has struck – perhaps unwittingly – at the bargaining power of freelance creators by attempting to use competition law to stop any recommendation of rates – an activity that the ABSW has recently begun, albeit through the legal loophole of characterising it as a historical record. This prohibition of rates advice has already been disputed by the CRA in UK Government policy.
The Brussels meeting agreed to approach the European Commission with a range of proposals for the support of authors’ rights in late 2009. Proposals will draw heavily from the new CRA Manifesto.
The CRA has already demonstrated in its involvement with government departments that a combined voice carries much greater clout than the simple sum of its parts. As the ABSW’s representative, I shall continue to argue that proper protection of the UK’s creative talent – the feedstock of every media sector – will in the long term strengthen UK media and benefit the economy.
Mike Harrison
The ABSW is a CRA affiliate organisation. Mike Harrison represents the ABSW on the CRA’s national committee.
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Saturday, 25 April 2009
ABSW: Website is getting a facelift
New and exciting changes are afoot for our online presence.
The ABSW website is in the process of being redesigned having looked pretty much the same for a number of years. But it’s not just the look of the site that getting an overhaul though – the content is too. The committee hopes that the process will give the site a new lease of life, encouraging more members to use it whilst also providing them with more useful functions.
Some of the new things we’re planning are:
We’ll also be incorporating both ABSW blogs (the main blog and The Science Reporter blog) into the site. In fact, we’ve spent a good deal of time thinking about how we can make the ABSW’s web presence more integrated overall so, for example, we can have more signposts to things like the ABSW-L Google Group (which, if you use it at all, I suspect most of you use more like a mailing list rather than a forum).
Given that the current site is written and maintained by Michael Kenward in his spare time, it’s amazing it’s kept as up to date as it is. Of course, we have to be a little careful that we don’t create an all-singing, all-dancing website that is too time-consuming and difficult to maintain. To that end, we’ll be implementing a content management system allowing multiple people with little or no coding knowledge can log in and take responsibility for a certain section of the site.
So when will it be finished I hear you cry? Well, the first iteration should be released onto a now suspecting public within the next month or so. After that, the set up of the site should enable us to make small improvements over time, so that the website remains up-to-date, in terms of both look and content (this is actually the way Amazon handle their site: constant small upgrades rather than a complete redesign).
So, the real answer to the question is the website will NEVER be ready. Which is why your comments and suggestions will always be welcome. You can email me at webm...@absw.org.uk
Mike Nagle
The ABSW website is in the process of being redesigned having looked pretty much the same for a number of years. But it’s not just the look of the site that getting an overhaul though – the content is too. The committee hopes that the process will give the site a new lease of life, encouraging more members to use it whilst also providing them with more useful functions.
Some of the new things we’re planning are:
- wiki’s on all things science writing so that our members can share their expertise with each other;
- an updated member’s directory;
- a dedicated jobs section, and;
- a member’s only area.
We’ll also be incorporating both ABSW blogs (the main blog and The Science Reporter blog) into the site. In fact, we’ve spent a good deal of time thinking about how we can make the ABSW’s web presence more integrated overall so, for example, we can have more signposts to things like the ABSW-L Google Group (which, if you use it at all, I suspect most of you use more like a mailing list rather than a forum).
Given that the current site is written and maintained by Michael Kenward in his spare time, it’s amazing it’s kept as up to date as it is. Of course, we have to be a little careful that we don’t create an all-singing, all-dancing website that is too time-consuming and difficult to maintain. To that end, we’ll be implementing a content management system allowing multiple people with little or no coding knowledge can log in and take responsibility for a certain section of the site.
So when will it be finished I hear you cry? Well, the first iteration should be released onto a now suspecting public within the next month or so. After that, the set up of the site should enable us to make small improvements over time, so that the website remains up-to-date, in terms of both look and content (this is actually the way Amazon handle their site: constant small upgrades rather than a complete redesign).
So, the real answer to the question is the website will NEVER be ready. Which is why your comments and suggestions will always be welcome. You can email me at webm...@absw.org.uk
Mike Nagle
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
NEWS: Science journalism in crisis?
There was much discussion of the state of science journalism at this year's AAAS meeting.
At the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in February this year, journalists gathered at an informal session to discuss the current and upcoming challenges for specialist science reporters, particularly in light of CNN's decision to axe their entire science, technology and environment news staff.
Organized by the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) and the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ), the view of the panel was that some of the bad news in developed world journalism was being offset by good news elsewhere.
WFSJ Board Member Nadia El-Awady spoke of the healthy state of journalism in Africa and the Arab countries, contrasting bad news in the US reported by Curtis Brainard of the Columbia Journalism Review, and the state of play elsewhere.
But as Pallab Ghosh, Science Correspondent for BBC News and the current President of the WFSJ, pointed out, science journalists are needed now more than ever. Ghosh gave a presentation on how the media's representations of climate change and the associated politics are affecting debate in this area, highlighting the important role real science journalists have to play.
A full report on the event is available at The Columbia Journalism Review.
Sunny Bains
At the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in February this year, journalists gathered at an informal session to discuss the current and upcoming challenges for specialist science reporters, particularly in light of CNN's decision to axe their entire science, technology and environment news staff.
Organized by the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) and the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ), the view of the panel was that some of the bad news in developed world journalism was being offset by good news elsewhere.
WFSJ Board Member Nadia El-Awady spoke of the healthy state of journalism in Africa and the Arab countries, contrasting bad news in the US reported by Curtis Brainard of the Columbia Journalism Review, and the state of play elsewhere.
But as Pallab Ghosh, Science Correspondent for BBC News and the current President of the WFSJ, pointed out, science journalists are needed now more than ever. Ghosh gave a presentation on how the media's representations of climate change and the associated politics are affecting debate in this area, highlighting the important role real science journalists have to play.
A full report on the event is available at The Columbia Journalism Review.
Sunny Bains
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
ABSW: Calm sea, prosperous voyage...
ABSW Chair, Ted Nield, reflects on a difficult few years before the mast.
I like to think that there is nobody on this Earth less eager than I to be a leader of men (and less of women). Yet being Chair of professional organisations is a fate that has befallen me more than once, and in a familiar pattern. It has always happened by accident, usually because I had been sturdy lieutenant to a captain who, for one reason or another, has found it necessary to walk the plank. The organisation has always been on the cusp of change. And after the subsequent years of hard labour, the sunlit uplands open out - just in time for me to hand over to someone else.
I became ABSW Chair when Toby Murcott was forced to stand down through ill-health, and served for almost a year in his place before beginning my elected three years at the following AGM. At that time we had lost our core funding, and had instead been riding the turnover on various activities that would soon fall away. The bursary scheme for science writing students, funded by the Wellcome Trust, fell foul of a policy change. Then, after two years on my watch, Syngenta pulled out as sponsors of the ABSW Awards. It was an early sign that bad economic times lay just around the corner.
As turnover fell, the absence of core funding, and the fact that over the years we have not increased membership dues in line with inflation, threw our financial difficulties into sharp relief. Unless we cut costs we would fold, possibly within a year. At the 2008 AGM, our President, Professor Colin Blakemore, told us that the ABSW had a “whiff of death” about it. He was of course doing his duty, though his olfactory organs were not detecting anything we had not already scented ourselves. If anything, we had perhaps grown used to the stench.
My preoccupation, which had hitherto been to keep The Science Reporter coming out every two months, quickly shifted to paring down costs, and running the briefings in a way that continued to engage our membership while remaining on the right side of the balance sheet. I secured a year’s sponsorship from The Geological Society, introduced modest charges, and made people buy their own booze. We transferred everything online - which at least provided one opportunity to connect more effectively with young members, that crucial group without whom all collectives are doomed.
The struggle has, of course, been worth it. Although fitful, the past three years has seen us establish the ABSW's first regional group (only to see it fold when Laura Fogg was promoted and moved elsewhere by the BBC. We will do it again, and see it last). And under the auspices of the World Federation of Science Journalists, we entered into a twinning arrangement with the Ugandan Science Journalists’ Association.
In 2008, the clouds began to lift as we won the right to host the World Conference of Science Journalists in London. Membership remained buoyant, especially among young science writers, many of whom responded magnificently to my call to take an active part in the Executive Committee (EC), bringing an infusion of new blood that has been a wonderful tonic. To complete my joy, Natasha Loder of The Economist, with whom I served with when I first got involved with the EC, has stepped forward to take over as Chair this summer.
Such handovers are best done gradually, and the process has already begun. Natasha will take the reins formally at the World Conference, allowing me to bow out a little before time (and sparing me the embarrassment of having been Chair for an unconstitutionally long period). She will then stand at the next AGM, together with those of the current EC who wish to stay, and any more who wish to join.
Thanks to the vigorous activity of your now revitalised EC, we shall soon have a long-awaited new website, and a new set of briefings, hosted by our new sponsors the Royal College of Surgeons. Thanks to Natasha and Sunny Bains, we will have a modest set of Awards at the WCSJ this year, keeping the brand alive. And thanks to Sunny, Richard Hollingham, Mun-Keat Looi and others, you are now reading the TSR newsletter that marks the maturing of our long struggle to transfer activities online.
Natasha knows that much needs to be done if we are to capitalise on the revitalising boost of this year's WCSJ, and changes will need to be radical. But I think I leave at a time when the ABSW can be said to be past its crisis and on the road to recovery. For helping that to happen, I thank all those who have served on the EC during my Chairmanship. Without wishing to be invidious I would like to single out for special thanks Martin Ince, Treasurer, and of course Barbie Drillsma, Administrator. We also owe a huge debt (though not literally) to John Gagg, Finance Director of the British Science Association, for his financial guidance. Finally, without Julie Clayton and Pallab Ghosh, the WCSJ would never have come to our capital city. Thank you all.
Ted Nield
Chair, ABSW
I like to think that there is nobody on this Earth less eager than I to be a leader of men (and less of women). Yet being Chair of professional organisations is a fate that has befallen me more than once, and in a familiar pattern. It has always happened by accident, usually because I had been sturdy lieutenant to a captain who, for one reason or another, has found it necessary to walk the plank. The organisation has always been on the cusp of change. And after the subsequent years of hard labour, the sunlit uplands open out - just in time for me to hand over to someone else.
I became ABSW Chair when Toby Murcott was forced to stand down through ill-health, and served for almost a year in his place before beginning my elected three years at the following AGM. At that time we had lost our core funding, and had instead been riding the turnover on various activities that would soon fall away. The bursary scheme for science writing students, funded by the Wellcome Trust, fell foul of a policy change. Then, after two years on my watch, Syngenta pulled out as sponsors of the ABSW Awards. It was an early sign that bad economic times lay just around the corner.
As turnover fell, the absence of core funding, and the fact that over the years we have not increased membership dues in line with inflation, threw our financial difficulties into sharp relief. Unless we cut costs we would fold, possibly within a year. At the 2008 AGM, our President, Professor Colin Blakemore, told us that the ABSW had a “whiff of death” about it. He was of course doing his duty, though his olfactory organs were not detecting anything we had not already scented ourselves. If anything, we had perhaps grown used to the stench.
My preoccupation, which had hitherto been to keep The Science Reporter coming out every two months, quickly shifted to paring down costs, and running the briefings in a way that continued to engage our membership while remaining on the right side of the balance sheet. I secured a year’s sponsorship from The Geological Society, introduced modest charges, and made people buy their own booze. We transferred everything online - which at least provided one opportunity to connect more effectively with young members, that crucial group without whom all collectives are doomed.
The struggle has, of course, been worth it. Although fitful, the past three years has seen us establish the ABSW's first regional group (only to see it fold when Laura Fogg was promoted and moved elsewhere by the BBC. We will do it again, and see it last). And under the auspices of the World Federation of Science Journalists, we entered into a twinning arrangement with the Ugandan Science Journalists’ Association.
In 2008, the clouds began to lift as we won the right to host the World Conference of Science Journalists in London. Membership remained buoyant, especially among young science writers, many of whom responded magnificently to my call to take an active part in the Executive Committee (EC), bringing an infusion of new blood that has been a wonderful tonic. To complete my joy, Natasha Loder of The Economist, with whom I served with when I first got involved with the EC, has stepped forward to take over as Chair this summer.
Such handovers are best done gradually, and the process has already begun. Natasha will take the reins formally at the World Conference, allowing me to bow out a little before time (and sparing me the embarrassment of having been Chair for an unconstitutionally long period). She will then stand at the next AGM, together with those of the current EC who wish to stay, and any more who wish to join.
Thanks to the vigorous activity of your now revitalised EC, we shall soon have a long-awaited new website, and a new set of briefings, hosted by our new sponsors the Royal College of Surgeons. Thanks to Natasha and Sunny Bains, we will have a modest set of Awards at the WCSJ this year, keeping the brand alive. And thanks to Sunny, Richard Hollingham, Mun-Keat Looi and others, you are now reading the TSR newsletter that marks the maturing of our long struggle to transfer activities online.
Natasha knows that much needs to be done if we are to capitalise on the revitalising boost of this year's WCSJ, and changes will need to be radical. But I think I leave at a time when the ABSW can be said to be past its crisis and on the road to recovery. For helping that to happen, I thank all those who have served on the EC during my Chairmanship. Without wishing to be invidious I would like to single out for special thanks Martin Ince, Treasurer, and of course Barbie Drillsma, Administrator. We also owe a huge debt (though not literally) to John Gagg, Finance Director of the British Science Association, for his financial guidance. Finally, without Julie Clayton and Pallab Ghosh, the WCSJ would never have come to our capital city. Thank you all.
Ted Nield
Chair, ABSW
ABSW: Society events at the WCSJ
The committee is currently working on two events for the World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) designed specifically for ABSW members (though technically speaking the entire WCSJ is an ABSW event!).
The first event is an ABSW Science Book Sale, which will run in a basement during the conference. Leftover review books have been donated by Nature's Phil Campbell, New Scientist's Jeremy Webb, and The Economist's Fiametta Rocco. Fifty of these books will be given away free to WCSJ participants from developing countries attending the conference on scholarship (they'll also be able to buy science books at a reduced rate). The remainder will be sold off to raise money to help republish the ABSW career guide So You Want To Be a Science Writer?. We need volunteers to support the book sale by helping to collect and deliver the books (anyone with a car in Central London?), and to help man the sales desk during the lunch breaks (an honesty box system will be in place at all other times). Please contact me if you are able to help.
In the second event, Anna Lewcock and I are working on a 'Lunch for Authors and Editors' at 1pm on Wednesday 1st July. They hope to bring together some of the figures in popular science book publishing, be they agents, editors, or buyers. Speakers include popular science writer John Gribbin. The idea is to give a small window into the world of writing and publishing a popular science book, and give everyone the opportunity to ask questions and network. If you have any suggestions for speakers, or wish to be involved in some way, please contact me or Anna Lewcock. The event will be free but lunch is not. Please check closer to the time whether you need to bring lunch with you.
Finally, the ABSW award for Best Newcomer in Science Journalism will be presented to the winner at a gala reception at the WCSJ. Further information, and a form for entry, can be found online.
Natasha Loder
ABSW Committee
The first event is an ABSW Science Book Sale, which will run in a basement during the conference. Leftover review books have been donated by Nature's Phil Campbell, New Scientist's Jeremy Webb, and The Economist's Fiametta Rocco. Fifty of these books will be given away free to WCSJ participants from developing countries attending the conference on scholarship (they'll also be able to buy science books at a reduced rate). The remainder will be sold off to raise money to help republish the ABSW career guide So You Want To Be a Science Writer?. We need volunteers to support the book sale by helping to collect and deliver the books (anyone with a car in Central London?), and to help man the sales desk during the lunch breaks (an honesty box system will be in place at all other times). Please contact me if you are able to help.
In the second event, Anna Lewcock and I are working on a 'Lunch for Authors and Editors' at 1pm on Wednesday 1st July. They hope to bring together some of the figures in popular science book publishing, be they agents, editors, or buyers. Speakers include popular science writer John Gribbin. The idea is to give a small window into the world of writing and publishing a popular science book, and give everyone the opportunity to ask questions and network. If you have any suggestions for speakers, or wish to be involved in some way, please contact me or Anna Lewcock. The event will be free but lunch is not. Please check closer to the time whether you need to bring lunch with you.
Finally, the ABSW award for Best Newcomer in Science Journalism will be presented to the winner at a gala reception at the WCSJ. Further information, and a form for entry, can be found online.
Natasha Loder
ABSW Committee
NEWS: Creators' Rights Alliance enters new phase
As writers face possible new copyright legislation and worsening economic conditions, a cross-platform body such as the Creators' Rights Alliance (CRA) can add more weight to their interests than any single-media representative body or union ever could.
The CRA currently brings together fourteen organisations (see footnote) supporting or representing members working as media creators – particularly, in television, radio, the press and publishing. They include writers, journalists, designers, photographers, composers and so on. The CRA campaigns for a better deal for them under the shifting conditions of the digital era. The ABSW affiliated to the CRA in 2001 and has been praised for ‘punching above its weight’ alongside such giants as the National Union of Journalists and the Musicians’ Union.
Over a period of eight years, the CRA has achieved significant influence. Examples are publishing a video and a legal text outlining the problems faced by copyright creators in the UK; organising national events, campaigns, conferences and seminars; making submissions to HM Treasury’s Gowers Review of copyright legislation, the review of the BBC Charter; and much else (more details available online). The CRA’s own website is currently in skeleton form awaiting imminent redesign).
Events in 2008 threatened to put an end to this activity and possibly to the organisation itself. The founding chairman, David Ferguson became seriously ill. After a period of uncertainty, during which work on a new policy statement was disrupted, he resigned at the start of this year. It also emerged that economic troubles in the larger affiliate organisations meant they couldn’t afford to continue to pay a fee related to their size – the largest being the £4000 annual sum put in by the NUJ.
A crisis meeting at the start of April sought to address these problems. The affiliation fee was fixed at a flat rate of £250 p.a. and plans laid to approach the Journalists’ Copyright Fund for fresh core funding. Re-examination of the policy manifesto draft showed that, while still too raw for general publication, it is sufficiently complete for use in lobbying government. The manifesto will be tidied up during the next few weeks and made available online. Vice Chairman Mike Holderness agreed to act as caretaker chair while a search is made for a high-profile figure who can both chair and lobby on the CRA’s behalf (any suggestions are welcome). And the CRA administrator has begun a new recruitment campaign.
Next year marks the 300th anniversary of copyright in the UK and the government is currently reviewing intellectual property legislation. We’re facing a rare opportunity to balance the interests of copyright creators against those of commercial publishers and distributors.
This is urgent. As the economy pinches, disadvantaging creators through bad deals and working conditions will degrade the industries they underpin. A cross-platform alliance such as the CRA can add more weight to our interests than any single-media representative body or union ever could. The aim is nothing short of a win-win boost to the creative economy.
Mike Harrison
Mike Harrison represents the ABSW on the CRA’s national committee.
CRA affiliate organisations are: ABSW, ALCS, AoI, BAPLA, CIoJ, Directors UK, GMG, ISM, MU, NUJ, OWPG, PCAM, Society of Authors, WGGB.
ABSW: Local groups for local people
New regional groups are springing up around the country, helping to drag the ABSW outside of London.
While London-based events are convenient for those of us living here, the ABSW comprises members from all over the UK, many of whom are far from the capital. One of the main targets of the Executive Committee this year is to make the ABSW as useful as possible for all its members, regardless of geography.
The most active regional group at the moment is the South-West branch, which currently caters for around 15 members based in or around Bristol. They’ve enjoyed several meet-ups already, and have another planned for 21 May at the Bristol Festival of Ideas. Anyone interested in attending this or future events with this groups should contact Hayley Birch).
We have coordinators in place for several other regions, and all we need now is people to get these groups off the ground.
Mike Kenward is gauging interest in lunchtime meetings for members based in or near Brighton. If you’re Oxford-based, Richard Scrase is your point of contact. He’s planning a monthly pub meeting for starters.
Tony Jones has agreed to coordinate a North Wales group. Helen Gavaghan is our Northern England coordinator.
There has been a bit of a muted response from Scotland-based ABSW members on the ABSW-L so far, but James Urquhart is eager to get some activities going north of the border.
Whatever you fancy doing – whether meeting in a local pub over a few pints, visiting a museum, exhibition or event, or even holding an ABSW briefing in your area – get in touch with your regional coordinator and help make it happen! No group in your area? Contact me to get something started.
Chrissie GilesABSW’s Regional Groups Coordinator
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
