Understanding the print industry- Working Practices and Employment.

30/09/13 Task 1 Working methods, types of employment and employment regulation. Pre-Press The contents of the newspaper/magazine are decided by the client and the business. This stage includes copy writing the work produced, sourcing images and design layouts. A part of this stage can include further discussions with the design layout team. Press In this stage the appropriate colours should be selected, the printing plates have to be set up and then the printer has to be set with the correct paper size and weight. Several test prints are run, before the actual print flow begins, this is to make sure that the colours are the right ones and that they are not running and any graphics that are being printed are clear and understandable. After the pages are printed, they are folded and cut ready for post press. Post Press In the case of the magazine and newspaper production, the printed pages are put together for binding. Some magazines and newspapers have special editions for example, a big celebrity story or if the Queen has visited/celebrated something special. Other roles in post press include embossing which means that checks for sharp edges, pinholes and shadowing are checked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_check_(printing)#Post_press_check House Style This is a set of rules for publishers for use of language in their work, including spelling, italics, and punctuation. This helps make consistent language for the publishers work, and throughout their publishing career. Many journalists and publishers use a style guide which specifies fonts and what colours should be used. Style guides are quite common for general use and professional. Students in universities use these when studying various subjects such as; journalism, law, medicine, government and business and industry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_style. House style gives readers the chance to understand the information written by the journalist if English is not their first language. It can also resolve issues between an editor and a writer. http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/graphicidentity/housestyle. House style also teachers journalists about abbreviations, text formats and acceptable language. (http://www.oup.co.uk/academic/authors/AuthorGuidelinesMain/HouseStyle/) Digital technology.

Digital technology includes; design, image production and copy writing and also print and distribution. Some changes to the way of digital technology have benefited the industry with faster production times. However, the downside of digital technology in the industry is that the sales across all major newspapers in the UK including The times and Sunday Times has decreased, therefore have started to use the internet more and started using a charge for accessing their websites, this started in the June of 2010. The Times now has more than 12,000 paying, digital only subscribers. The news media has seen the biggest change so far, with the BBC and ITV having news websites where news is posted an accessed every minute/hour. As for the photographers in the industry, they can be at a news scene, upload the photos to the internet and then be on the picture editors desk within minutes instead of days, therefore printing is done faster and news stories are brought to us more frequently. However there are some pros and cons with using digital technology in the industry. One of the pros of using digital technology is that it helps us to see stories clearer and have a better view of the world we live in. The con is that young aspiring journalists are not going on to try and find news stories to build up their portfolio/proforma but instead are sitting behind a computer, dissecting news stories from the internet. Another con of the use of digital technology in the industry is that, journalists who have been in the industry for quite a long time e.g. news reporters and camera men, may not get used to the new technology that is changing in the industry and feel they could be replaced. Role of Unions. Unions work within lots of different sites, including schools, colleges and the print industry. What the unions do is to, bring workers together and fight for workers rights. Union workers are largely interested in staff wages, working conditions and safety. One of the questions is Do unions have great influence in the industry? I agree and disagree w ith this because unions are interested in workers safety conditions, and if a journalist is sent to an unknown area with shootings or alone the union should be there to protect that person and make sure they have the best working conditions and are safe throughout their journey at all times. I also disagree because if a freelance journalist is working for a small company and joins their union, their wages will differ depending on the amount of stories they are getting in each week/month. One of the typical job roles the union does is to fight for better holidays. Averaged out, the union members get up to 29 days holiday per year whereas a non-unison member gets 23. As part of the industry, journalists are constantly involved with work and hardly get any free time, this is because there is always a new story waiting to be written up or found out about. Without people buying the papers and watching the news, no journalist would have a job, this is also why I disagree that the union has a great influence in the industry because everybody should have the exact same number of holidays as every other working person, and most journalists class their working time as a holiday, if they are posted abroad they are given time to explore the island and then write up their story.

Out Sourcing This is the process of giving an element of a project to another company to complete. This process is fairly new to the print industry. These sorts of companies like to create TV subtitles for film and TV and also creating on screen graphics. As this is fairly new in the print industry and not many companies use this, it is quite uncommon for photographs to be sent abroad to be developed but this is beginning to take an effect as it is cheaper, and the company can save money. Some companies outsource to avoid different types of cost, this includes high taxes, the difficult side to outsourcing is that if a photograph is sent abroad and there needs to be communication between the two companies this can be time consuming and the two companies would have to install and use instant messaging. This can be tricky if the other company is on the other side of the world. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing) Sub-contractor Sub- contractors perform specific tasks such as die cutting or perfect binding. Printers in the industry will sub-contract the work to another company to perform the task for them i.e. if the printers dont have sufficient workers. In the UK there are three types of s ubcontractors; Domestic, nominated and named. A domestic subcontractor is someone who contracts with the main contractor to fix or supply any materials or execute work forming part of the main contract. A nominated contractor: the main contractor is permitted to make a profit off the nominated but must supply water, power; regular breaks and restrooms to enable the subcontractor to do his/her job. A named subcontractor does the same as a domestic subcontractor. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcontractor) Franchising. A franchise is practicing using another firms successful business, such as McDonalds. The people running the franchise get to use the companys name and logo. A franchise can offer advice and assistance in organising, training, merchandise, marketing and managing. This is in return for a monetary consideration. Companies in the industry with a franchise include, Venture Photographic, Signs Express and Fast signs. As an example Venture Photograph, have been the leading and award winning franchise for the past decade. The franchise is run all over the UK and also Asia and the USA, with 35 different studios. The average turnover in the UK from a Venture franchise is in the region of 640 000, and our top performing franchisees turnover in excess of 1 million. (http://www.venturephotography.com/runyour-own-studio/) Apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are paid placements in which you learn whilst you work (and earn). Also, being on an apprenticeship helps you gain recognized qualifications to start you on your journey to the working world. Apprentices are often paid under the minimum wage;

however most students say they benefit from doing a work based placement. If you are an apprentice and are studying at college, the placement will allow a one day release which will allow you to study at college e.g. hospitality. Apprenticeships are also popular because you can learn trade skills that cant be taught in the classroom. Sometimes apprenticeships can be a good way of working your way into the print industry, even if you are not in the role you hoped for because, it shows to the employer that you have experience and are flexible in different types of roles. Multi skill. An employee who has a multiple set of skills is valuable in the print industry. This could involve photography or writing. These employees are cheaper for the employer to hire and pay because they can do many jobs at a time; this saves the employer from hiring, 2-4 people for a specific job role. A multiple set of skills is a good thing to have because it is a good way of progressing into a company. A company who has staff that can work in different roles can produce more productivity. It also helps the company as they dont have to employ a different person for every job, however it can put pressure on companies to reduce their staff if two or three people come in with a multi skill. Shift Work. Shift work is heavily used in the print industry, with many employers and employees working eight to twelve hour shift blocks. Some companies within the industry can change their shift patterns week to week, however most stick to eight to twelve hour blocks. In the case of newspapers they need to be produced overnight, so it is most likely that newspaper journalists will work twelve hours to ensure they have a story ready to be printed and sold the next morning. Some journalists/printers etc. can be paid thousands for their shift work, especially when working staggering amounts of overtime. Shift work happens in lots of industries, print and medicine being the main ones. This may involve industries running and being staffed for up to 24 hours a day. Flexibility. Journalists need to be prepared to work at any time and especially outside of their work hours. Some journalists have to be flexible because they may have to travel abroad at short notice to cover a story. Being flexible also helps gain employment because it shows that you are a willing person and are committed to the job. You may also have to adapt to a new surrounding quickly because you could get moved about often and showing that you can do this quickly, could get you promotion. Contracts: Permanent.

A permanent contract is being paid and working for a single company. A few years ago a permanent contract could mean a job for life, however, now it just means you could be part of the company indefinitely. Temporary A temporary contract is not a fixed contract and lacks job security. However it does offer flexibility as it is classed as part time and are therefore only working a few days a week. These types of contracts can have a fixed work period or can be a rolling contract from week to week. Temporary contracts are also used as a try out to see how a person copes in the job role before being given a permanent job. Full time workers can work up to 40 hours per week, part time can work up to 1 hour per week, freelance workers can work anytime they want depending on the clients demands and the workload they have, and volunteers try to work for free as much as they can to gain experience for working in the industry. Employment Regulations. Equal Opportunities: this act was reinforced into companies in 2010. It is designed to eliminate discrimination, sexism and victimisation. The act helps eliminate these cases and promote the equal opportunities between men and women in the work place. This act also covers; sexual harassment at work, working parents- with childcare provision and equal pay and conditions. Since being reinforced in 2010, there has been 3 different acts come into the workplace in 1975, 1976 and 1995 all of which being the Sex Discrimination Act, the Race Relations act and the Disability Discrimination Act. Employment Equality (Age) Regulation 2006. This is a piece of legislation which stops the discrimination of age in the workplace. This works in the workplace for example, if a 55 year old man got made redundant, another employer would be able to employ him without any question/reference to his age. The act also comes into assistance when an older member of the business is fired because a younger person who needs assistance and training has been allowed into the job, purely because he/she is younger and has fresh legs. The act clearly prohibits any employer, not matter how old or young, to discriminate any of their employees based on their age and also not to justify why this person shouldnt be workin g in this type of industry. Some key points that the Age discrimination act are that: You cannot subject someone to harassment because of age. You cannot victimise someone because of age. Compulsorily retire an employee unless it can be objectively justified. (http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1841)

Task 2 Digital Technology. Has digital technology had a positive or negative effect on the print industry? Personally, I think that digital technology has had a positive and negative effect on the industry. Firstly I agree that digital technology does have a positive impact on the print industry today because people who travel and work a lot, may not get time to sit and watch the news, or read magazines, therefore I think it is easier for these people to be able to have an app on their phone which allows them to check for news updates quickly whilst on the move. From this point I also think digital technology has a negative impact because there is more people being employed to work on the internet and publish stories, rather than journalists going through a process to get their work pictured in the magazine/newspaper they work for. I think the Times and Sunday Times have benefited greatly from the use of digital technology because they are bringing in a profit through, charging people on their website and also because people, such as the older generation like to go out and buy the newspaper. Another reason why I agree that digital technology has had a positive effect on the print industry is because journalists, graphic designers, photographers etc can get their work sent and published at a quicker process time than normal. The downside to this is that, if companies outsource a project abroad, messaging and contact facilities may be poor i.e. a project in Australia because they are on the other side of the world, therefore whilst we are sleeping, they could be working on the project in the day. The Liverpool echo, for example makes good use of the digital technology available because they use the football, to attract visitors onto their website. They also have journalists who own twitter accounts and can interact with fans and tweet news for the echo. Another downside to digital technology being used is that, journalists may end up posting all their news on social media sites and eventually newspapers will be extinct. I have come to the conclusion that digital technology doesnt always have its bright side as older generations still like to read their newspapers and it could potentially put thousands out of a job if, social media was to take over.