Journalists as board members

Journalists and the members of the media in our country pin their hopes on two bodies which cater for their professional needs: the Ministry of Information and the Supreme Information Council.

While the council enacts general laws, the ministry serves as the government body overseeing all official activity at the domestic and foreign levels. The ministry also runs the country’s radio and television stations.

The journalists look forward to having a society that works to promote the profession, acts as a coordinating body and improves working conditions. At present, journalists find themselves ruled by three separate systems — the labor and workmen’s law, the press and publication law and the press establishment law. Job security remains a source of deep concern for them.

I think it is time that the council which has been operating for some two decades now and whose members reflect the country’s domestic and foreign policy seriously consider adding two new members from the media to its board — one to represent the print media and the other radio and television.

The planning and carrying out of information policy cannot take place in the absence of the people who execute the policy. I think the presence of these proposed members would make the council more representative since it is the journalists who do the work and who are aware of the obstacles they face.

Unfortunately, it is not only the council which needs to include members from the same field of activity to its board. Many institutions and committees lack the presence of people closely associated with the field they are supposed to oversee.

Look, for example, at the General Organization for Social Insurance. How many of its board members are drawn from the working class? None, as far as I know.

The same applies to such institutions as the electricity board and those oversee education. Where are the simple consumers and teachers? Again, absent from where their input is most needed. We must realize that there can be no separation of legislation and planning from practical application.