Lionel Morrison
Lionel Morrison OBE is a South African-born British journalist, and a former president of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).[1][2] He was the first black journalist to hold that office.[1][2]
Biography
Morrison, whose grandfather came from Lewis in the Outer Hebrides,[3] was born and spent his early life in South Africa, where he set up a multiracial journalists' union in the 1950s in opposition to the apartheid regime.[1][4] He was arrested for treason in 1956.[1]
Having moved to the UK in 1960, Morrison became a member of the NUJ's National Executive Council in 1971, and its president in 1973.[2] Much of his life's work has focused on increasing black participation in unionism and journalism, and countering racial discrimination.[1] In the 1970s, finding it difficult to find employment in Britain as a black journalist, Morrison was involved in setting up some of the country's first black newspapers such as The Voice and The West Indian World.[1][5] Along with fellow journalist Syd Burke, he also helped to establish journalism courses and further education colleges across London.[1][5] Morrison was the Principal Information Officer of the Commission for Racial Equality in the 1970s and 1980s.[4][6] An honorary member and life member of the NUJ, he was awarded an OBE in 2000.[1]
Publications
- As they See it: A Race Relations Study of Three Areas from a Black Viewpoint, Community Relations Commission, 1976
- Arts Education in a Multicultural Society, Commission for Racial Equality, 1981 (with Irene Staunton and Tania Rose)
- A Century of Black Journalism in Britain: A Kaleidoscopic View of Race and the Media (1893–2003), Truebay Limited, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9555540-0-1
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Webb, Oscar. 2 April 2011. "Lionel Morrison OBE speaks about racial discrimination within journalism", NUJ.
- ^ a b c Staff. 20 April 2007. "My NUJ: Lionel Morrison", Press Gazette.
- ^ National Union of Journalists, The Journalist
- ^ a b Barker, Geoffrey. 29 March 1978. "The Tragedy of Britain's Blacks", The Age
- ^ a b Benjamin, Ionie. 1995. The Black Press in Britain, Trentham Books, 1995, ISBN 978-1-85856-028-1, pp. 47–50, 58–59.
- ^ Dod, Charles Roger; Dod, Robert Phipps. Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1990, ISBN 978-0-905702-16-2
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