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Courts Service comms chief to co-lead NUJ

Courts Service media-relations advisor Gerry Curran has been elected president of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) across Ireland and Britain.

Curran will share the role and the badge of office with joint president Fran McNulty of RTE.

In the role he will jointly preside over a National Executive that caters to the needs of 23,000 media workers from across Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, Paris, Brussels, and the Netherlands.

Busy role

Curran told Gazette.ie: “The role is a busy one, and for two very busy professionals at the height of their careers, it would be impossible to do alone.

“Thus, Fran and I wanted to take on this role while we were at the centre of the professions we work in, bringing with us real-life, real-time experiences of what the world of media work is like, for busy, in-demand professionals.”

“The NUJ is an international trade union, and it is also a long time since we had a President based in Ireland, so now we can bring a fresh Celtic perspective to the role.

"To do that we had to be realistic and say: let’s split the role, and the voluntary workload, and at the same time bring double the experience," he explained.

Protected, well-paid, and well-informed journalists are an important bedrock for any democracy, the communications supremo added.

“Our members need to work without the fear of poverty, the threat of SLAPPS, and the direct threat of death from rogue regimes and organised criminals.

“Our work will aim to support efforts to supply such a milieu for members to work in.” 

Curran said that, after the NUJ biennial conference, a roadmap was now drafted and would be acted upon in the coming months.

“There was passion and a clarity during the debates and, although it became heated at times, it spoke to the passion people have for journalism and the role of the union,” he commented.

Difficult topics

The conference raised some difficult and important topics, Gerry Curran added.

“The industry faces a huge challenge from AI, the debate has shifted from ‘AI is bad’, to a realisation that it is here to stay and as an industry we must deal with that.

“We need to protect working journalists from the threats it poses, as well as supply guidance as to its possibilities,” he said.

“We have faced many other challenges in the history of the NUJ, this is another. A clear and well-informed approach will stand to our members in the years ahead,” he concluded.