NUJ to meet contributors over money owed by `Irish Examiner’ former owner

Freelance journalists and photographers owed thousands of euro by the former publishers of the Irish Examiner and the Evening Echo are to meet the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Cork on Wednesday to try and get the money owed to them.

Up to 400 contributors are understood to be owed money by Thomas Crosbie Holdings Ltd (TCH), which went into receivership on March 6th with most of the company's titles being bought by a new company, Landmark Media Investment Ltd.

Landmark is a holding company established and owned by former TCH shareholders Tom Crosbie and his father, Ted, but it has no legal liability for the money owed by TCH to its freelance contributors.

TCH paid many of its contributors 90 days in arrears, which has resulted in freelance contributors being owed, in many cases, several thousand euro. The total owed to freelance suppliers is estimated to be well in excess of €100,000.

Freelances owed money by TCH were advised by Landmark to contact receiver KPMG and to enter all claims by March 15th. They were also asked by the new company to continue supplying it, with payment terms reduced from 90 days to 45.

In addition, staff at the company's two main titles, the Irish Examiner and the Evening Echo , are owed expenses by TCH, with some employees owed more than €1,000 as they were unable to get expense claims in before TCH went into receivership.

NUJ organiser Nicola Coleman said: "The freelance contributors are unsecured creditors but we would hope that the owners of the Irish Examiner and the Evening Echo recognise that they have a moral duty to ensure that no one is left in financial hardship."

Attempts to contact former TCH chief executive and current Landmark Media Investments chief executive Tom Murphy for comment yesterday evening were unsuccessful.