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Freelancers face new terms from Herald Group

Posted: 23/07/09 By: Chie Elliott

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Freelance journalists working for The Herald, the Sunday Herald or the Evening Times will have to agree to reportedly lower rates or hand over rights to their work under new contract terms being offered by the titles' publisher.

The Glasgow-based Herald & Times Group has issued a new freelancing contract with revised terms and conditions for minimum fees, copyright and expenses.

A letter sent out by group managing editor Tom Thomson to contributors made it clear that acceptance of the new terms was a prerequisite for obtaining work from the newspaper group, according to a report on Allmediascotland.com.

The contract is valid for any work agreed from July 1, but will not apply retrospectively to past assignments.

Officers from the Glasgow branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have drafted a suggested response to Thomson (also available on AMS), which freelancers can use if they are unhappy with the terms.

Under the new contract, copyright will remain with the individual freelancer, but the group will have unlimited worldwide licensing rights to their work 'in any language and in any medium or form (existing now or developed later), including print, digital and online'.

The 'minimum' fees stated in the contract suggest £25 for an arts review, £30 for a sport match report, £115 for a reporting or sub-editing shift, and car mileage of 20p per mile, according to the contract seen by Journalism.co.uk.

The NUJ's fee guide for freelancers has suggested a minimum of £120 for a sub-editing shift at a regional daily paper and up to £290 for a long sub-editing shift at a national. The guide has also suggested reporting/writing fees of £65 for the first 100 words per 1000 for a story in a regional print edition or between £120-150 per 1,000 word for a ordered story or feature.

The Herald Group's contract has proposed £10 up to 100 words and 8p per word thereafter for commissioned stories.

Full-time Herald & Times employees have also been affected this year by belt-tightening measures, with the group announcing a pay freeze for staff at the end of last year.

June figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) reported by Press Gazette suggested circulation of the Herald Group's titles are in decline. The Sunday Herald registered an 18 per cent year-on-year drop according to last month's figures, while The Herald was down 9.69 per cent year-on-year.

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