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Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad Najd visited the Lebanese Press Publishers Union, at its headquarters in Hazmiyeh, met with Captain Joseph Al-Qusifi and the members of the Council of Trade Unions, and discussed with them the information and media problems in light of the suffocating crisis in Lebanon and the world.
Captain Al-Qussefi began the meeting with a welcoming word, in which he said:
Your excellence
We welcome you, dear guest, in the difficult and complicated circumstances that the country is going through. While the “Crown” pandemic has paralyzed the cycle of social and economic life, and has reduced the production movement to a minimum, the pandemic that afflicted the Lebanese press and media in its various forms is more severe and worse and heralds disasters that can lead to the fall of this sector, or at least its transformation into a Shalil sector, Marginal has no effect or active presence.
In the middle of the workshop that I started to organize to organize the media sector, the Lebanese Press Editors’ Union Association invited him, on his visit to the Ministry of Information, to congratulate him on the occasion of assuming his duties in his head, to leave a fingerprint that indicates that your passage in it will not be transit, expressing your readiness for all sincere cooperation and that in order to save the sector, which suffers problems and faces challenges.
However, the main crossroads for this cooperation is to speed up the approval of the bill that modifies the law that establishes the Editors’ Union, which has been in the inclusion of the cabinet since
The year 2017, which is a very important project because it allows media workers in the audiovisual and electronic press sectors to join the union, expand its base, renew its cells and allow it to better immunize those who join the. So, does it take Aladdin’s “flashlight” to get sesame out of the bottle?
Will this debt be so high that it will open the closed doors for this project? Your excellence
We want to refer you to the following:
Why is the media law sewn into the negligence of the interested parties and the interested parties, as if it were a secret of secrets? In short, we are not concerned with anything related to what is cooked at the press and media level, without having an association and an opinion. The people of Mecca know their reefs better.
Where is the state of media problems? Are you determined to move from the official media to the public media? While waiting for the promised modern legislation, where is the role of the state in providing the necessary attention and care for the public and private media sector, similar to other national productive sectors, and for decades it has left one of the pillars of prosperity , an attractive pole for investments and an economic support for thousands of families?
Based on the above, we demand a national fund to support the press and finance mutual funds and pension funds for journalists, which will be established from the public and private sectors, according to a special system.
Developed by experts and specialists, and its assistance is not conditional and is restricted inconsistently with the profession’s message of freedom and democracy.
The Editors Syndicate confirms their refusal to bring any colleague and colleague in case any of them pursue a publication violation, except before the Publications Court, and that judges, not the judicial police, investigate them. The union also calls on the labor court to speed up the settlement of cases brought by colleagues who spend at their institutions, in a spirit of justice rather than justice on solutions. He called newspaper departments and other institutions that were closed to pay what was owed to them. In addition to paying the back wages of workers in troubled institutions and failing to deduct high percentages from their monthly pensions.
Your excellence
We renew your welcome and are committed to achieving achievements that meet the aspirations of journalists and media professionals who will not be satisfied with a law or project that does not achieve what they aspire to, and does not consolidate their authority and role in shaping regulatory policies for this sector.
The union can only be in the first line of defense of freedom of the press and of the media, and together with the people of the profession, take some of them, seeking their unity, as the poet says:
Fingers count five
But she is on the handle of a sword. “
Minister Abdul Samad replied with a word that said:
“I thank you for your invitation, dear colleagues. We especially consider that the role of the Press Editors Union is essential because it preserves and guarantees the rights of media professionals and all its affiliates. Unfortunately, under current law, it cannot cover all media professionals, and this requires amendments to the laws that take this into account. “
And he continued: “Captain Al-Qussefi spoke in his speech about Sesame that came out of the bottle. And that the bill related to the Editors’ Union, which is in the Council of Ministers, has made our amendments and, of course We will take the opinion of the union and the opinion of those involved in this sector, to see if these amendments are compatible with the union’s demands that all media professionals described in the media law must belong, and of course , I am not referring to the current law, which we are in the process of amending, which is a law currently proposed in the Parliamentary Administration and Justice Committee that clearly and explicitly defines who the media is.Or the journalist, and light How each one complies with the requirements of the right to join the union, which must be a unified union and includes all means under one roof.
She said: The proposed law that Captain Al-Qussefi spoke about is being discussed today in light of a noticeable change in media work around the world. It is imperative that we have a media law in Lebanon that accompanies this global development and at the same time makes us think about the roles that private and public media can play in our time. Neither
I refer to the public media, the official and government media. Public media are the ones that satisfy all the needs and requirements of people, and that constitutes a link of communication and communication between the state and people, and it is necessary that the law takes note of this matter.
I must thank all concerned, the Administration and Justice Committee and the Parliamentary Committee on Information and Communications with which we cooperate to express our observations on the proposed law to keep pace with all the developments that took place and which accompanies the plan. strategic prepared by the Ministry of Information and is in the process of being presented to the Cabinet soon to express their observations and concepts within the law. That we are working to be a single law.
As for the media professionals and the decisions against him, we confirm that the media is not criminal and that his rights are protected and that he has freedom of opinion and expression protected in the constitution, and therefore we have our suggestions on this topic in terms of the nature of the sanctions imposed on the media person, as well as the investigation of the prison sentence that should not be found. It is in an expanded framework, taking into account some of the controls that protect the state, its prestige and its pillars.
With regard to the material rights of media professionals, by demanding their word as captain, we work not only on the legal rights of the media professional, but also on the financial side, which is an urgent need for the stability of media professionals. media, especially in light of the crisis that the media sector has reached, which is reflected directly in the media and its livelihood, and here we have a concept of how to preserve your rights. We call for the creation of a mutual support fund for media professionals to protect their rights through a pension system. This should be a carefully detailed mechanism, taking into account what the Lebanese state is going through in a major financial crisis. And we have to search
This issue is taken with care so that all rights holders take their rights and without causing any harm to anyone or the state treasury. This topic is one of our priorities.
Regarding financial guarantees and arbitrary dismissals, we will take them into consideration, and we will coordinate with the Ministry of Labor for those who work in the media sector, and we hope to achieve all these demands with the cooperation and efforts of all, especially Because this problem is at the service of society, and we consider that the media is a supreme message that must be defended.
Minister Abdel Samad concluded by thanking him for hosting the union, and looked forward to the progress of the media sector “because I consider him to be the front of the country, whether in Lebanon or the world.” Being all of us responsible for this responsibility and cooperating is a force. “
A retreat was then held between Minister Abdel Samad and the Council of Trade Unions, in which the following projects were discussed:
1- A bill establishing the Lebanese Press Editors’ Union (journalists) and the proposed amendments to it.
2- The holders of the plan of the Minister of Information for new and modern media.
3- The media bill, which is being studied by parliamentary committees.
4- Due and late annual union rights.
The atmosphere of the meeting was positive and fruitful, and a series of meetings was agreed between the Ministry and the Union, to continue the investigation on the issues raised until reaching its conclusion.
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