Mail wants to charge freelancers to write

The Daily Mail apparently wants to charge freelance journalists to write for its newspapers. Yes, that’s right: the Mail thinks freelancers should pay £175 in order to be added to a list that will permit them to supply work. After that, a simple brown envelope containing £120 will suffice each year thereafter in order for the freelancer to remain on “the list”.

This comes from a piece buried on page 23 of the NUJ magazine, Journalist. A delegate at the union’s recent ADM in Belfast, Simon Chapman, raised the issue. He encourages the NUJ to oppose the idea, noting: “If you don’t sign up, you don’t get work.”

What a wheeze. It reminds me of one of those dodgy estate agents who charges students a fee just to look at the list of rat-infested shit holes he has available to rent. Except that this particular estate agent would then start whining about immigration policy and babbling on unfunnily about the Home Secretary’s cleavage.

Meanwhile, Trinity Mirror newspapers in North Wales have agreed to award photographers a whopping 29% increase per photo used. Which would be great news… except that the rate has gone from £7 to £9 per picture.