A disservice to journalists

I read with interest the article

(The News, Tuesday, March

26, 2024) by Douglas Hickson looking back at his career with

The News.

I have the greatest respect for Mr Hickson as a survivor of the 'old school' of journalism, steeped in hot metal and the heyday of printed newspapers.

Indeed I owe him a great personal debt. He gave me my first job in journalism with The News in the summer of 1979.

My career began during the demise of the old ways and the beginning of a new era. As a young reporter I wrote copy on a typewriter. I now read The News on my smartphone.

Back then The News

blazed a trail with new printing techniques and early adventures in colour. It began replacing typewriters with computers in the early 1980s.

Mr Hickson does a disservice to my generation of journalists by dismissing in just a few lines the historic dispute with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) over the introduction of new technology at The News in 1984.

The 14-week dispute was one of the first opening salvos in a long-running battle by the NUJ to protect the future of local journalism and should not be glossed over in such a casual fashion.

In those pre-internet days we had little idea of the turbulence that lay ahead in our industry and the thousands of jobs that would subsequently be laid waste, both in print and journalism.

I am glad Mr Hickson takes pride in his efforts to keep publication going, but we 'striking' journalists were fighting for fair reward for adopting new skills in the computer age.

We were not, in fact, on strike, but were locked out for refusing to adopt the new technology without a satisfactory agreement on jobs and remuneration.

It is a reflection of the way media managements have undervalued the skills of journalists that the industry now finds itself in such a parlous state.

I wish Mr Hickson well, but felt it important to provide a fuller context to the dispute which was not elaborated on this interesting slice of the history of The News.

Alan Cooper Former head of print at The

News, Southsea