By a London Freelance branch member
The proposal for the National Union of Journalists to have a political fund has been narrowly defeated in a ballot of members: 53% voted no and 47% yes on a turnout of 28.6%.
NUJ President George Macintyre commented:
"The union will respect the result but will continue to campaign politically around issues that matter to members, and will hope not to face any legal challenge."
The ballot fulfilled a decision of the 2003 Annual Delegate Meeting. The leadership of the union put a lot of effort into getting a yes vote, but were hampered by high profile journalists like Jon Snow and Jeremy Paxman coming out against the political fund on the grounds that it would jeopardise the appearance of journalists' political neutrality when doing their job.
