NUJ’s new media rep a ‘proud luddite’
‘One of the most common insults thrown at the union is that we’re all Luddites – opposing technological change because of our innate conservatism and fear.’
– Donnacha Delong, new media representative on NUJ national executive
Donnacha Delong, who represents new media on the National Union of Journalists national executive, mounts a reasonable defence of Ned Ludd in this month’s Journalist, the NUJ’s house magazine.
We should beware of simply writing off the luddites, warns Donnacha Delong, lest we go the same way. The luddites had worked hard to acquire skills that gave them access to relatively well paid jobs and fairly decent working conditions. The machines that were automating the mills would make those skills redundant and see the luddites’ children condemned to work in sweatshops at a much reduced wage.
The fear of journalists is that new media will be deployed in a way that devalues their skills. Citizen journalists seem more than happy to supply their words and, more often, their photos just for the buzz of seeing their work in print.
Yet while nobody voted for the industrial revolution, it came anyway. The luddites understood their plight and could see the path history was taking, but their sinmple tactics of crude opposition were always doomed to fail. And this is why Delong is wrong to embrace the luddites; getting the analysis right is the easy part.
The real challenge is to craft new business models that continue to reward professional journalism.
Comments (3 comments)
Stephen,
I might be a Luddite by nature as I think most of us are, but we have to continually review and change if we are to survive and prosper, that and a bit of luck
Rob
Rob Artisan / April 12th, 2008, 8:07 pm / #
Hi Stephen,
I did point out in the piece that:
“Their tactics — sabotage and destruction of the new machinery — was an extreme response to extreme circumstances.”
For many at the time, the destruction of their trade by the industrial revolution was a matter of life and death - that’s clearly not the case now.
You say:
“The real challenge is to craft new business models that continue to reward professional journalism.”
I agree completely, people continually fail to mention that I’ve been a professional online journalist for around a decade. However, I’m continually faced by people who don’t get online journalism, who don’t see that it’s a new kind of journalism, one where usability and accessibility, where interactivity and multimedia working, are essential.
My opposition to the undermining of professional journalism online isn’t as crude as the Luddites, I’m not smashing computers as I go. However, the spirit of opposition of the Luddites might not have saved them, but it did plant the seeds of trade unionism, which is my main tool now in the fight for quality journalism online. As a result, I don’t accept that I’m wrong to embrace my predecessors.
D.
Donnacha DeLong / April 22nd, 2008, 10:56 pm / #
Hi Donnacha
I’m sure we can learn from the Luddites; a certain conservatism is understandable and justified, but change is inevitable. The union’s role will obviously evolve too, but it is the power of media owners that is most immediately undermined. I suspect the citizen journalists will come to recognise the importance of professionalism and the union will have a role to play in empowering them.
Stephen Newton / April 23rd, 2008, 9:41 pm / #
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