media and culture
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in the media and culture industries around the world, and analysis and reviews of art, culture and the media.
Radical London & The Workers Dreadnought in the early 1920s - Claude McKay
Arriving in London from the US in 1919, West Indian writer McKay describes in these excerpts from his autobiography how he became involved in radical circles and worked on Sylvia Pankhurst's Workers Dreadnought paper.
From; A Long Way From Home, Claude McKay; Pluto Press, London 1985. Originally published in 1937.
Coventry Telegraph strike averted as pressure wins more staff
The Coventry Telegraph has moved to avert strike action by promising more staff, according to the National Union of Journalists.
The union chapel was due to stage industrial action tomorrow, and then an open-ended disruptive mandatory chapel meeting on Monday to coincide with the union-wide Stand Up for Journalism campaign. But an about-turn by the company managed to persuade members to call off their planned action.
Camus, Albert and the anarchists
Organise! magazine looks at the life and work of the great existentialist writer Albert Camus.
Born in French Algeria into a poor family in 1913, Camus lost his father in the Battle of the Marne in 1916. He was raised by his mother, who worked as a charlady and was illiterate. Winning a scholarship, Camus eventually began a career as a journalist. As a youth, he was a keen footballer as well as being a member of a theatrical troupe.
Wildcat strike at Paris Opera
A strike at the Paris Opera has forced the cancellation of six shows, including two on Monday, and threatens to cause losses running up to 2.2 million euros (3.1 million dollars) if it continues.
Hundreds of ballet dancers, actors and stage hands are adding an artistic flourish to France's grim autumn of industrial strife, by bringing theatrical productions to a halt in protest at the government's attempts to reduce their retirement packages.
Liverpool museum staff on fourth day of strikes
250 staff at six Liverpool museums staged their fourth one-day strike in three months today.
The dispute is over pay offer which staff describe as being at half the rate of inflation, and involves admin, conservation and other staff.
Staff at the National Gallery in London also staged strike action over pay in 2006.
BBC announces 2,500 job cuts
The BBC has confirmed plans to eliminate 2,500 jobs in a bid to save $4 billion over the next five years, The Times of London reported Thursday.
Details are being given to staff at briefings across the country, with Director-General Mark Thompson explaining that he wanted to announce the layoffs quickly to avoid plunging the corporation into uncertainty.
BBC faces strikes over 3,000 job cuts
A new wave of strike action is likely at the BBC as its director general Mark Thompson prepares to announce up to 3,000 job cuts.
Staff yesterday claimed morale was lower than at any point since John Birt's directorship as union leaders met the BBC Trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons.
NUJ strike ballot in Coventry following unanimous vote
The NUJ chapel at the Coventry Telegraph are balloting for strike action in a stand against inadequate editorial staffing levels.
A packed chapel meeting voted unanimously for the move after exhausting the newspaper's internal disputes procedures in a long-running row over non-replacement of leavers or long delays in getting vacancies filled.
Mischief Night - review
Its writer/director Penny Woolcock wanted Mischief Night to be ‘a very silly film about very serious issues’. Tom Jennings judges it spot on.
A Midautumn Night’s Dream
Pan’s Labyrinth - review
Tom Jennings reviews Guillermo del Toro's Pan’s Labyrinth, a fantastical tale set in post-Civil War Spain.
Between a Roc and a Hard Place
This unusual film follows twelve year-old Ofelia to Galicia, North-West Spain, when her mother marries a vicious Civil Guard captain mopping up anti-fascist resistance in 1944.
