” Journalism is a Public Service!  Wake up!  stand up!  Protect the media Industry!” – FMETU 8th Delegates Conference:

The Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions, FMETU held its 8th delegates’ convention online on October 30. The programme was supported by the International Federation of Journalists, IFJ, through the “IFJ-Union to Union, 2021 programme”.

The FMETU convention theme this year was, “Journalism is a Public Service!  Wake up!  Stand up!  protect the Media Industry!”.

A unique feature of the convention was an enactment of constitutional changes aimed at increasing the representation of Youth and women in the Executive Committee. A primary objective was to make it mandatory for a woman journalist to hold one of the key posts of Chairperson, General Secretary, or Treasurer.

Jeremy

Sabina

The chief guests at the convention were, Jeremy Dear, Deputy General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, Sabina Inderjit, Vice President of IFJ, and Vice President of the Indian Journalists’ Union (IJU).  Umesh Prokwell, represented Jane Worthington, Director, Asia-Pacific Region, IFJ.

The convention focused on the topic “Journalists’ Responsibilities in the context of the Pandora Papers and the COVID 19 Pandemic”. The keynote address was delivered by Jeremy Dear.

The Minister of Labor and the Commissioner-General of Labor,  expressed their congratulations for the convention and pledged their support to FMETU.

Professor Mahim Mendis of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations,   eminent political commentator,  Prof. Sumanasiri Liyanage, Sylvester Jayakody, General Secretary of the Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and general Workers’ Union (CMU), and Chief Executive Officer of the Sri Lanka Press Institute, Kumar Lopez,  also addressed to the gathering.

A highlight of the convention was the ceremonial launch of the FMETU trilingual website, www.fmetu.org

After the conclusion of the first session, discussions on the internal affairs of the FMETU were held.

An Executive Council of 25 members was elected to represent all member organizations for the next two years.

FMETU looks forward to continuing its service to the media fraternity in Sri Lanka with fresh vigor to protect the rights of journalists and enhance professional journalism with responsibility.