8 February 2024

PCS in the media round-up: January 2024

Media highlights during January were our 40th anniversary commemorations of the union ban at GCHQ, the retirement of Mark Serwotka and a strike by members working for Fujitsu.

In addition to the many local newspapers and websites that covered the march and rally in Cheltenham on 27 January, BBC Points West previewed the GCHQ event and sent a crew to cover it on the day, interviewing Mark Serwotka about the GCHQ union ban and the importance of using these commemorations to challenge minimum service levels.

Ahead of the event, Tribune published Fran Heathcote’s column while Civil Service World printed a piece by ‘Alan’, a current GCHQ employee. On the morning of the event we featured on ITV and the MailOnline.

Elsewhere, the Mirror’s Ros Wynne-Jones wrote her Real Britain column all about the event, featuring interviews with two of the original workers who refused to give up their trade union membership.

Other highlights include Fran’s first interview as general secretary in Civil Service World and various reports (including on the BBC) on a strike by members in Fujitsu.

Overall, we had 1,090 stories in the media in January.

Comparative advertising spend was £5.68m (how much money we would have to spend on advertising to receive the same level of editorial coverage).