Surely we don’t want a spin doctor as President

THE MAY/JUNE issue breathlessly hailed “dynamic” new NUJ president James Doherty. But calling him a “journalist”?

Last year I contacted him for comment about his Glasgow City Council boss whose allegations about a politician were proved false by the Standards Commission for Scotland.

However — in a classic example of attacking facts with spin — taxpayer-funded Mr Doherty criticised the commission’s very clear findings. He even emailed an unsolicited quote from a GMB union crony attacking the commission.

Like a poor man’s Alastair Campbell, Mr Doherty then made a threat of “PCC and/or legal action”.

Surely a union for journalists should not have a politicised, anti-journalism spin doctor (who had been a reporter for a time) in such a prominent post.

Russell Findlay
Glasgow

The Journalist is published by the National Union of Journalists