Daily Sport
The National Union of Journalists is calling for an open meeting of creditors of the Sunday and Daily Sport titles, after the publisher went into administration earlier this year.

According to a report by the union "questions remain" that they wish to see answered in the open, including the role played by Northern and Shell owner Richard Desmond and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

In April BDO, the administrators appointed by Sport Media Group, Sport Newspaper and Moresport, told Journalism.co.uk that Northern and Shell was "a pivotal creditor" to which SMG owed money and whose services had been required "on a daily basis".

The union is urging creditors, said to include the almost 80-strong workforce made redundant as a result of the closures, to complete and return a form sent to them from the administrators by 14 June in a bid to secure a creditors' meeting.

"There are still questions to be answered in this unfortunate affair and given that the immediate victims were in large measure journalists, it is only right that it is out in the open," the NUJ's Northern and Midlands organiser Chris Morley said in a report.

"Without this, important lessons that could be valuable for other newspapers in the future may not be learned. The sudden end of these newspapers was a body blow to the journalists who had given so much to the publications."

The Sunday Sport has since been bought by former owner David Sullivan and was relaunched on 8 May, while the search for a buyer of the Daily Sport continues.

The NUJ is also currently pursuing legal action in a bid to claim "tens of thousands of pounds for lack of consultation over redundancies".

BDO has not responded to a request for comment on a creditors' meeting at the time of writing.

Update: A spokesman for BDO has told Journalism.co.uk under legislation it is not required to hold a meeting unless it is specifically requested by 10 per cent of the creditors by value.

But they added that BDO would be happy to engage with any creditors or any group of creditors that have a query, at any stage of the administration.

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