Outstanding British journalist and union leader Jeremy Dear is to be the guest speaker at the 2012 Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) Awards which will be held on Friday December 7 at the Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

He will also be the main speaker at the annual National Journalism Week Forum being put on by the PAJ and the National Integrity Action. The Forum will be staged on Tuesday December 4 at the Knutsford Court Hotel also in New Kingston.

Mr. Dear served as the elected General Secretary of the 36,000-strong National Union of Journalists (NUJ) of the United Kingdom and Ireland from 2001 to 2011.

Prior to taking up full time employment with the NUJ Mr. Dear worked as a staff and freelance journalist in newspapers and magazines, latterly as editor of The Big Issue magazine.

His work has appeared in The Guardian, Daily Mirror, New Statesman and many other publications.

Mr. Dear has served as NUJ President, National Organiser for Newspapers and represented the NUJ at the Journalism National Training Forum, Trades Union Congress and the International Federation of Journalists.

Having been elected the NUJ’s youngest ever leader he is one of two persons in its one hundred-year history to serve two terms as General Secretary.

In Jamaica Dear will address “Media for the times … The next 50 years” which is theme of the 2012 National Journalism Week.

Issues such as reporting on corruption, restrictive libel laws other barriers to reporters will also be addressed by Mr. Dear who has developed a reputation as a tough-talking campaigner for good journalism.