HR Issues

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is launching an emergency appeal to provide emergency financial support to more than 100 journalists and their families who were forced to flee the intense conflict in northern Pakistan in late May 2009. The specific objectives of this internal appeal are to enable the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and the Khyber Union of Journalists...

Journalists have launched a Europewide campaign to confront a growing economic and professional crisis in media which they say threatens to weaken democracy across the region. The annual meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), bringing together leaders of unions and associations from 25 European countries, ended their meeting in Varna, Bulgaria on May 17 with the adoption of a...

Leaders of journalists unions from around the world travelled to Baghdad at the weekend for a conference on support for media in Iraq— the first international meeting of any kind in the city since the war began six years ago. The Iraqi Journalism Summit 2009 was organised by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate and was warmly welcomed by Iraqi Prime...

Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has sent emergency funds to help the dozens of Swat valley journalists who have been forced to flee the area because of fighting between the Pakistani army and the Taliban. More than 30 journalists and their families have had to seek refuge in Peshawar and other cities since the army launched its offensive against Islamist militants in the Swat valley...

San Francisco may become the largest US city to lose its main daily newspaper after Hearst Corp threatened to sell or close the San Francisco Chronicle unless it can push through more job cuts, Bllomberg News has reported. The publisher, already trying to sell the Seattle Post- Intelligencer, said Tuesday that it would seek voluntary buyouts for a “significant” number of its 1,500 employees after...

The International Federation of Journalists has announced its support for Tunisian journalists currently on strike at Tunisian state Radio Television. The 150 journalists, cameramen and other technicians have been organising a sit-in since Monday in protest against the failure of management to provide them with proper full contracts in line with Tunisian labour legislation. "It is unacceptable...

Zimbabwe's Retrenchment Board has ruled against the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings' (ZBH) bid to retrench six of its journalists who were suspended in June 2008 on allegations of "acting in a manner inconsistent with the fulfillment of the implied conditions" of their contracts, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has reported. Monica Gavela, Patrice Makova, Garikai Chaunza...

Union workers at the Denver Post have voted to enter into formal discussions with the newspaper's owner to reopen contract talks in a bid to trim expenses at the ailing newspaper, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. Denver Post owner William Dean Singleton wants $2 million in wage and benefits givebacks from its union workers. That’s roughly 20-25 fulltime positions at the daily newspaper. The...

USA Today publisher Gannett Co has imposed one-week unpaid furloughs for most of its US employees, saying the move could help minimize the need for further layoffs amid a severe advertising downturn, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Wednesday. USA Today also declared a one-year freeze on wages effective February 1. Although Gannett is regarded by many analysts as one of the most financially...

The decision by troubled media company Mecom to sell its prize German assets is a golden opportunity to abandon reckless cutbacks and put quality journalism back on the media agenda, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has said. Mecom, a transnational giant based in Britain and funded by investment bankers, has bought up hundreds of newspaper titles across Europe over the past few years...