Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 291
Location: Toronto, Canada
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IAIJ Post-Pandemic!
By Maurice Ali, President/CEO IAIJ
Maurice Ali
It has now been two years dealing with the global Covid 19 pandemic and only now do we seem to be returning to normalcy. Here at the International Association of Independent Journalists Inc. (IAIJ) we are almost ready to reopen our physical offices and bring our staff back. Most of this work was done by myself such as upgrading our workstations and laptops, but we are ready. During the pandemic we operated remotely and many of our staff have left Toronto but some are still nearby to our offices to help out. Our director in England still maintains her office in London. There will also be a few new faces at IAIJ. So our organization will be back to normal as it was pre-pandemic.
IAIJ has now been around for over 14 years and like all organizations we have found our purpose and strength as a journalist organization. We are not a news agency as we quickly became known for journalist advocacy at the highest international levels giving two speeches at the WSIS+10 Review Meeting in 2015 and finally having citizen journalists (known in the final document) recognized as legitimate media workers internationally (possibly for the first time). IAIJ was an important part of that and one of our most important achievements! IAIJ then achieved “Consultative Status” at the United Nations a year later allowing us access to member nations and a voice at the UN. These achievements put IAIJ in a very rare and unique position internationally in terms of advocacy. As an international association we remain as neutral as possible to the nations of the world in order to keep the lines of communication open when needed. As you have seen, our advocacy is not political or region or nationality specific, we only advocate when it includes all of humanity.
Our advocacy is for transparency through journalism especially through citizen journalists which can be all of humanity. However, given our status we are also good not-for-profit corporate citizens for all of humanity advocating when we can to improve the lives for all on earth! This would seem the obvious, the only reasonable and morally responsible thing to do for all our fellow global citizens! Expect continued advocacy in the coming years and especially journalist advocacy going forward as technology continues to evolve journalism and its reach.
IAIJ is now back better than ever post-pandemic!
IAIJ: JOURNALISTS IN ACTION AROUND THE WORLD! |
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