RICHARD WORTH relishes the fleeting moment and sense of flow of the late, great saxophonist
The Newsmongers, A History of Tabloid Journalism
Terry Kirby, Reaktion, £20
TERRY KIRBY was one of the founding reporters for The Independent and worked his way through various senior positions in the paper. He now teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses on journalism at Goldsmiths.
As such, The Newsmongers is a broadsheet journalist’s account of tabloid journalism. It focuses on the narrative of the story, keeps the who-what-when-why-how front and centre, has many central villains, and few heroes.
Forty years on, TONY DUBBINS revisits the Wapping dispute to argue that Murdoch’s real aim was union-busting – enabled by Thatcherite laws, police violence, compliant unions and a complicit media
Claims that digital media has rendered press power obsolete are a dangerous myth, argues DES FREEDMAN
The once beating heart of British journalism was undone by technological change, union battles and Murdoch’s 1986 Wapping coup – leaving London the only major capital without a press club, says TIM GOPSILL
LAURA DAVISON traces how Murdoch’s mass sackings, political deals and legal loopholes shattered collective bargaining 40 years ago – and how persistent NUJ organising, landmark court victories and new employment rights legislation are finally challenging that legacy


