|
Association of European Journalists |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
UK Section |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
WPF Day |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
UK Section report
2007 MEETINGS |
||||||
|
Secretary's report on the UK Section for the AEJ's
2007 Congress, Dublin |
||
|
Prepared
for the AEJ International Congress, Dublin, 8-10 November 2007 Membership of the UK section has grown to 41, up from 36 last year. Beyond the core of regular members, a broader range of journalists takes an interest in our professional lunches. These meetings are open to non-members and follow a question and answer pattern with guests who can shed light on issues of topical concern. This less formal circle now runs to nearly 200 email addressees who receive the AEJ's notices. On 3 May, the World
Press Freedom Day debate on "World Media Freedom is in Retreat" was
chaired by William Horsley and supported by the section. The 100-odd
journalists present voted more than 3:1 in favour of the motion. The
high-profile speakers at this lively and well-informed session included
Miklós Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Media Freedom, and Oleg
Panfilov from Several meetings in recent months have led to closer association with outside bodies. Most notably, our contact with Miklos Haraszti at the OSCE has resulted in his collaboration in the AEJ Media Freedom Survey, due out in November, and his presence at the 2007 congress in Dublin on 8-11 November. To mark Germany's EU Presidency in the first half of 2007, the Embassy in London extended regular invitations to our members, including a ministerial level pre-Presidency briefing in December 2006. After our meeting with Ambassador Bustani, a number of us attended a memorable Brazil Day party at his residence on 6 September. The section enjoys warm relations with the European Parliament's office in London. In particular, we much appreciate its making available an elegant room at its Georgian house in Westminster for our regular meetings. We have also established closer relations with the European Commission's London office. The Commission generously hosted our meeting with Commissioner Frattini in February. It produced an excellent turnout including several new faces from national newspaper titles. The section's AGM in January agreed that action was urgently needed to make the website, www.aej-uk.org, more useful for members and more informative for the public. Updating the website in something closer to real time was the top priority. We decided to take the operation inhouse, and David Barker undertook the work of preparing a scheme for revision. In August, the Secretary completed a new version in plain text that can be updated as events happen. |
|
See also AGM minutes 2007, Chairman's report for 2007 and
Secretary's report to the UK
section's AGM Since our 2006 report, our lunchtime meetings have been with the following guests: Geoff Hoon MP, then UK Minister for Europe Miklos Haraszti, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Eva Joly, adviser to the Norwegian Government on combatting corruption Franco Frattini, European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs (a special briefing arranged with the Commission's London office) Richard Lambert, Director General of the Confederation of British
Industry Christopher Johnson, former UK adviser, Association for the Monetary
Union of Europe Gérard Grunberg, Research Director at the Institute of Political
Studies, Paris Sir Jeremy Greenstock, former UK Special Envoy to Iraq Richard Thomas, UK Information Commissioner José Maurício Bustani, Brazil's Ambassador to the UK Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of
Britain Meetings scheduled for the rest of this year
include: Yiğit Alpogan,
Turkey's
Ambassador to the UK Sir Francis Jacobs, Advocate General at the European Court, 1988-2006 Fatih Birol, Chief Economist at the International Energy Agency The following officers were elected for 2007 by the section's annual general meeting in January: Chairman : William Horsley Secretary : Celia Hampton Treasurer : Mike Springate Our lunchtime meetings take place in central London. Members of other sections who would like to attend when visiting London will be very welcome indeed. To cover cost and enable us to be self-supporting, we charge a fee of £20. Please contact the Secretary who will tell you what is coming up or, if you wish, add you to our regular circulation list. Celia Hampton, Secretary London, 26 September 2007 |
|
|
|
|