{"id":469889,"date":"2025-10-03T01:45:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T01:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/469889\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T01:45:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T01:45:20","slug":"an-algorithmic-terminator-arrives-on-planet-fitba-phil-mac-giolla-bhain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/469889\/","title":{"rendered":"An algorithmic terminator arrives on Planet Fitba \u2013 Phil Mac Giolla Bh\u00e1in"},"content":{"rendered":"

A blast from the future dropped into my inbox this morning.<\/p>\n

It was from my union, the NUJ.<\/p>\n

NUJ issues formal ballot notices to Reach over mass redundancies<\/b><\/p>\n

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has submitted formal notices to ballot members\u00a0for industrial action at The Mirror and Reach plc\u2019s Scottish titles in a dispute over job\u00a0losses, unreasonable workloads, and the use of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

The ballot comes after Reach, the UK and Ireland\u2019s largest commercial news publisher,\u00a0placed 600 journalists at risk, threatening 321 jobs, in what the union called a\u00a0\u2018devastating body-blow\u2019 for journalism.<\/p>\n

Staff at The Mirror will be particularly affected by the cuts, losing around 40 writers and\u00a0editors \u2013 including five dedicated brand writers, ten news journalists, and seven picture\u00a0desk workers. At a meeting of the NUJ Mirror chapel, members took a unanimous\u00a0decision to be balloted\u00a0for strike action.<\/p>\n

In Scotland, 4 in 10 journalists at the company have been placed at risk of redundancy.\u00a0On Tuesday NUJ members at Reach\u2019s Scottish titles, which include the Daily Record,\u00a0voted strongly in favour of a ballot.<\/p>\n

In addition to the loss of so many skilled journalists, NUJ members at Reach are hugely\u00a0concerned by the workload burden placed on remaining staff, as well as the lack of clear\u00a0commitments on the company\u2019s use of artificial intelligence. The NUJ Reach group\u00a0chapel has urged the company to fully disclose the ways in which AI is being used and to\u00a0commit to consultation with the union on any new proposed uses of AI technologies. The\u00a0union has also raised significant concerns over the use of artificial intelligence to\u00a0centralise and duplicate content, which jeopardises editorial quality and blurs the\u00a0distinction between the company\u2019s different brands and regional titles.<\/p>\n

The NUJ has asked members to vote \u2018yes\u2019 to both strike action and action short of strike.\u00a0As NUJ reps at other NUJ chapels meet in coming weeks, the union has stressed that all\u00a0options remain on the table, and further ballots seeking members\u2019 views on industrial\u00a0action may be announced.<\/p>\n

Laura Davison<\/b>, NUJ general secretary, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThese proposals, if carried out in full, will mean the dismissal of experienced and\u00a0highly professional journalists. But it will also place considerable burdens on\u00a0those who remain and newsrooms will be made weaker and less able to produce\u00a0quality journalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the company insists that AI is not behind the cuts, this assertion is clearly\u00a0not accepted by our members and is not borne out by the evidence. The union\u00a0believes that left unchecked, these savage cuts will not stop here to the detriment\u00a0of what we all understand as journalism. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSenior managers talk of doing away with \u201cduplication\u201d in the reporting and\u00a0production process, but this is the essence behind the individual brands that have\u00a0proudly served the reading public for generations. The hollowing out of newsroom\u00a0staffing in favour of AI chatter overseen by shrinkingly small staffing is the road to\u00a0nowhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are therefore asking members to vote in favour of both strike action and\u00a0action short of a strike.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent years, I have written about the threat posed by AI to journalism.<\/p>\n

For example, here in 2020<\/a> and in May of this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I realise that there will be a few tears shed on Planet Fitba at the thought of job losses at the Daily Radar.<\/p>\n

However, I am unable to go there.<\/p>\n

Journalism matters, and newspapers are needed for that.<\/p>\n

Here in D\u00fan na nGall, we are blessed with excellent local titles-and they\u2019re local in every sense of the word.<\/p>\n

None more so than the uniquely irrepressible\u00a0 Tirconaill Tribune.<\/p>\n

More than twenty years ago, I was proud to be one of their columnists.<\/p>\n

It made sense, then, when a comrade from the old days reached out to me about a rather local difficulty.<\/p>\n

His front door was about to become a building site for a year, and it was amazing that the property developer had been given planning permission.<\/p>\n

I had only one local title in mind to get on the job.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This front-page scoop rather scuppered the project. My fella was delighted, as were all his neighbours.<\/p>\n

Dear reader, there isn\u2019t any algorithm that was capable of delivering that bit of necessary journalistic activism.<\/p>\n

Across these islands, local titles are being gutted by bean-counters in large media organisations.<\/p>\n

One cost-cutting wheeze is the \u201csubbing hub\u201d, essentially a few overworked sub-editors who process copy from sometimes hundreds of miles away.<\/p>\n

The decline in quality is clearly discernible, but it\u2019s cheaper. I suspect that some CEOs now see that AI can replace the few remaining sub-editors.<\/p>\n

Where does this all end?<\/p>\n

No idea.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re of a dystopian mindset, then the Daily Radar is about to be handed over to an adolescent version of Skynet.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly a race to the bottom, with anything remotely resembling journalism being sacrificed for the bottom line.<\/p>\n

Consider this: if an algorithm thingy were in charge of this humble little site, would Hugh Dallas<\/a> still be employed at the SFA?<\/p>\n

Regardless of the platform, it was Mark 1 journalism that did for him.<\/p>\n

Just because Planet Fitba is generally poorly served by the current crop of journalists, especially when it comes to matters related to Ibrox, doesn\u2019t mean that the Fourth Estate isn\u2019t worth preserving.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\tDiscover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bh\u00e1in<\/p>\n

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