MAAT CENTER STARTS A PROGRAM TO COUNT THE NUMBER OF JOUURNALISTS WHO ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THE SYNDICATE AND TO DEAL WITH THEIR PROBLEMS

25/06/2006

Maat Center starts a new program aims at counting the number of the journalists who are not members of the Syndicate in Egypt and dealing with the causes of not having a membership in the Press Syndicate up till now and their work for years without legal umbrella ,insurance protection , or social warrantee . The work program is headed by some journalists who are not Syndicate members and who are deprived of their rights to have the identity of" journalist" officially for having this identity requires illogical conditions imposed by the standards and conditions of the registration at the Syndicate Tables . Some of these standards are having a work contract between the journalist and the news paper to which he works and having a notification letter from the administration of the news paper asking the Syndicate to register him .

Some journalists who are not Syndicate members called for forming a coalition aims at pushing the press bodies to keep their rights therein regardless of gaining the membership of the Syndicate .In a symposium organized by the center under the title "The Situation Of The Journalists Who Are Not Syndicate Members ", these journalists called for their rights to have a fair salary and to confront their blackmailing experienced by news papers' administration in which many dangerous phenomena have been prevailed , such as bribe and sex ,as they described ,in order to gain the membership . Also some news papers' administrations exploited these journalists so as to achieve unlawful profits through advertisements and through involving the young journalists in insulting and abusing cases .

Mr.Magdi El Masarawy ,the first Chairman of Boards in El Karama news paper , described the bad conditions of journalists who are not members in the Syndicate as these bad conditions come amongst a general atmosphere in which the political climate marked by being very bad to the extent that we witness the constitution which served Socialism after July Demonstration now turned by 180 degree to serve Capitalism .Also El Masarawy announced his support for the demands of the journalists who are not members in the Syndicate to be registered under fair condition and professional standards and avoiding the political standards to protect the journalists while evaluating their performance .

Ibraheem Mansour ,a member in the Press Syndicate asserted that the registration in the Syndicate's tables is subject to a law issued at 1970 without any amendments up till now in spite of the fact that  many other laws have been developed to allow the emergence of independent and party news papers . He pointed out that the Press have been affected by the prevailing political conditions which reflected on the journalists in general . Mr. Mansoor also called for issuing a law that protect freedom of opinion and expression so as to prevent the publishing imprisonment of all civilians rather than journalists . He added that if freedom of publishing news papers have been achieved , it will put an end to the crises of the journalists' rights .

Waleed El Darmaly , a journalist who is not a member in the Syndicate

,  reviewed his own experience with the abuse and insult case in the event of publishing

 a photo of the assassinated ex-president El Sadate in El Medan news papers assuring

that the editor- in –chief  Mr. Saeed Abdel khaleq   deserted him was keen to make

 him involved in the case ,but some judicial organizations and El Sadat family defended him

 This was because he is not a member in the Syndicate and he was unable to defend his case

 but he was charged of assuming the identity of a journalist and he felt how it is easy

to lose his work and his future and to become exposed to imprisonment just for being

 the scapegoat . El Darmaly added that he worked for El Arabi El Naseri  news paper for five years without earning a single penny at the time when the appointments in the news papers goes to those who have mediations and the members of the party who have no relation with press work . El Daramly concluded his speech by assuring the fact that the Syndicate card does not create a journalist but it only protects him from being accused of assuming the identity of a journalist .

Huda Abo Bakr ,the journalist who is not a member in the Syndicate and who worked in Sout El Oma-The Nation's Voice- news paper assured that her being accused of abusing the Judiciary and sending the case to the Criminal Court made her feel the great difference between having the Syndicate membership and not having it in spite of the fact that her main interest is just to accomplish her job . Huda added that the situation of freedom of expression and opinion in Egypt is in a very miserable condition in comparison to other countries which put an end to penalties that deprive people from freedom and that this fact make her pessimistic.

Mr.Gamal Abdel aziz , the Director of The Arab Network For Human Rights' Information ,defined the Press Syndicate ,from his own point of view ,as" the best company that secure the best privileges for its owners "

He added that the Press Syndicate is the only syndicate whose members are not necessarily practicing the career in spite of the fact that there is a real contract between the journalist and the reader  .Gamal called for the current administration of the Syndicate to defend the rights of journalists who are not members in the Syndicate ,to accelerate in registering them and to amend the bill under which journalists can become members of the Syndicate and to do all this before the ending of the latest round .He pointed to his repeated call for multi-syndicate as there are 8000 journalists who are not members in the Syndicate and at the same time the Syndicate's table have hundreds of journalists who does not really practice the career but they have the cards by means of mediation to facilitate their works in other fields or to serve as a social prestige to the extent that you can find a membership card with drivers ,secretaries and  other personalities who are not a honor to the media work .

Mr. Ayman Oqeel ,the Director  of the center , called for the Judicial organizations to play an important role to protect the journalists who are not members of the Syndicate as a respond to the case of Rasha Rabea ,the journalist who is not a member in the Syndicate , who affirmed the plagiarism of some topics she wrote in one of the national papers and who was involved in false accusations . Mr. Oqeel declared the center's readiness to adopt the problems of the journalists who are not members in the Syndicate and he added that he is preparing a program aiming at counting their number to support their rights in regular fair salary and legal insurance umbrella and this would happen through a series of discussions  and  symposiums that would be held by the center within the coming few days .