NUJ members work across a diverse range of jobs – anything from reporting, writing, photography and editing to design, videography, communications and presenting.
The NUJ rules say:
"The union shall consist of journalists, including photographers, creative artists working editorially in newspapers, magazines, books, broadcasting, public relations and communications, and digital media; or as advertising and fashion photographers, advertising copywriters, front-end developers and coders; teachers of journalism in FE or HE, or any English language journalist or a journalist working in English who is a member of an IFJ-affiliated union with an NEC-approved, reciprocal agreement with the NUJ and full-time officials of the union."
Membership types
Full members
If you earn at least half of your overall income from journalism and are mainly dependent on this income, having no other full-time job, you qualify for full NUJ membership.
If you are
- a staff member employed by a company in the media industry, whether you have a company contract, work for an agency or are a rostered casual with only one employer,
- a self-employed freelance or contractor, or work for more than one employer on a casual basis,
- a journalist who is seeking asylum in the UK or Ireland,
you qualify for full membership of the union.
Dual Union Members
If you are eligible for full membership, are employed, and are a member of another union affiliated to a national federation that the NUJ recognises, such as the TUC or ICTU, in a workplace where the other union has a collective agreement and the NUJ does not enjoy bargaining rights.
Temporary members
If you are trying to establish or re-establish yourself as a full-time journalist, yet do not yet earn half of your income from freelance journalism and you don't have another full-time job, you qualify for temporary membership of the union.
Associate members
If you have a full-time job outside journalism, but prepare factual written, visual, or audio material of public concern for dissemination through public media, and support trade union rights and journalistic standards, you may qualify for associate membership of the union. Community journalists whose primary source of income is from non-journalist work may also qualify for associate membership.
Developmental (Student) members
Students on journalism courses or who practise student journalism in a medium supported by the National Union of Students or the Union of Students in Ireland qualify for developmental (student) membership.