The Macau Portuguese and English Press Association (AIPIM) is now an associate member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), becoming the first Macau journalists’ association to join the largest international journalists’ organization in the world.
The secretariat of IFJ stated that AIPIM has been accepted as an associate member of the federation during a meeting of IFJ’s Executive Committee, held on November in Tunis, Tunisia, on November 18 and 19.
“AIPIM warmly welcomes this decision with a sense of duty and responsibility. Joining IFJ has been an objective of our members over the years,” said AIPIM president José Carlos Matias.
“Becoming a member of IFJ is especially meaningful not only for AIPIM members but for the whole of Macau’s journalistic community.”
Speaking to the Times, the president noted that the milestone is what the association has been striving for as it aims to strengthen its sense of responsibility and duty.
According to him, full membership in the IFJ would allow the local association to have a closer level of contact with international networks and to strengthen its role in standing for core values such as freedom of the press, access to information, right to information, journalists’ rights and ethical values.
“We will learn more on how to better the journalists’ rights and this could pave a way in the future for international accreditation,” said Matias.
For now, the association is awaiting the next step in the process of formalizing the membership.
Matias noted that AIPIM now has an additional role since it is a member of an international federation. He expanded on this, saying that going forward AIPIM will have “more responsibility and we’ll have to improve in many ways and try to have a more active role and we would like to be more representative and welcome more members together.”
Meanwhile AIPIM is launching its “AIPIM Training Series,” entailing a series of workshops and training programs for journalists focusing on enhancing their skills and knowledge of pressing issues and challenges facing contemporary journalism.
Its first round of training sessions will address ethical challenges faced by journalists and will be held by a member of the global news management of Agence France-Presse, Eric Wishart, on November 25. On December 9, Portuguese scholar and former journalist Joaquim Fidalgo will address the same topics. LV
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