Journalist Group Seeks Expansion, Sidesteps Hard Decisions

Michael Hedges June 6, 2022 - Follow on Twitter

Consensus does not come easily to journalists. Big questions, in particular, highlight the talents of those who earn their daily bread observing and sharing. No two sets of eyes, metaphorically, see exactly the same. This is a good thing. Small things, like punctuation, are no less debated. This, too, is just fine.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) held its triennial 31st Congress this past week in Muscat, Oman. Even that location was controversial, if briefly. The IFJ is federation of journalist trade unions. Headquartered in Brussels since 1952, the IFJ represents 187 unions and associations with a membership of 600,000. The IFJ co-locates with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). Officially, the IFJ “does not subscribe to any given political viewpoint, but promotes collective action to defend human rights, democracy and media pluralism.”

Organizational duties were large for the nearly 350 Congress delegate/members. New officers were elected, board members confirmed. Dominique Pradalié, editor-in-chief at French public broadcaster France 2 and former general secretary of French journalist union SNJ, was elected IFJ president succeeding Moroccan journalist Younes Mjahed. The IFJ executive board affirmed a new regional grouping, Federation of Asia-Pacific Journalists (FAPaJ) to compliment the EFJ, Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) and the Federación de Periodistas de América Latina y el Caribe (FEPALC).

All the expected international issues were noted. “Journalists are threatened and are often killed,” said Journal La Nation (Djibouti) editor Kena-did Ibrahim Houssein, quoted by Muscat Daily (June 4). “We have witnessed the problems that journalists in Afghanistan and Ukraine encounter. Here at the (Congress), we are trying our best to come up with solutions for such journalists. We are also working on plans to free our colleagues who are in jail, some on death row.”

No healthy meeting of such a diverse sphere would complete without a few activists. The Norwegian Union of Journalists pressed the IFJ executive board to condemn the Omani authorities regarding the up-coming trial of local investigative reporter Mukhtar al-Hanai. His alleged crime is reporting on corrupt Omani officials. The trial was (winkie blinkie) “postponed” until after the IFJ Congress, reported union online portal Norsk Journalistag (June 1).

The Independent Trade Union of Ukraine (NMPU) presented a resolution on behalf of several Ukrainian journalism advocates to expel the Russian Union of Journalists “as an organization that united not journalists but propagandists,” said a statement quoted by Ukrainian media news portal Detector Media (June 3). It failed on procedural conflicts; the Executive Committee on Ethics rather than the Congress at large must take on the question and no representatives from Russia were on hand to make their case. “The refusal of the Russian Union of Journalists to participate in the IFJ (Congress) may not be as clear-cut as Ukraine wants,” said NMPU chairperson Sergei Shturkhetsky.

The IFJ Congress did, however, accept a resolution, first raised by several members in March, condemning “Russian disinformation and war in Ukraine.” Said Mr. Shturkhetsky: “This resolution is another step towards a clear distinction between journalism and propaganda. After all, Russian misinformation in the case of Ukraine led to genocide." In addition, IFJ vice president Timur Shaffir, of the Russian Union of Journalists, was not reelected to the executive board.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Journalist Unions/Associations

• Hot Topics - Journalism

• Hot Topics - Propaganda