ISAIA TSAOUSIDOU NEW PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF THE ASSOCIATION OF EUROPEAN JOURNALISTS

The elections for the International Board of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) were held online on Monday 15/2/2021. Ms. Isaia Tsaousidou was elected new President, with a long career in European news journalism, who is also the President of the Greek Section of AEJ.

By an absolute majority, her European colleagues from all the sections elected her as the new international President for a two-year term.

The newly elected international President, after thanking her colleagues for their trust in her person, stated:

“This year the Association of European Journalists has reached 59 years of existence and activity. So I think it’s time to rethink our goals and our activities, as Europe, the world and journalism have changed. We live in the world of instant journalism, where the reliability of the sources is not checked and the importance of the news lasts as long as pressing the remote control or the keyboard to switch TV channels or web pages. Populism, misinformation and fake news seem to be the main problems that our societies have to face. It is therefore urgent AEJ to take new action in a rapidly evolving environment. It is time to see Europe as our common home that will do better for us and future generations. Let us all work together for all, if we want to bring about these changes. No one is left over. We will all move forward together to make the vision of our founders come true.”

This is the first time a Greek woman has been elected to this position. Also, two other members of the Greek Section of AEJ were elected to the Audit Committee, Mr. Lambros Rodis and to the Arbitration Committee, Mr. Panagiotis Sfaelos. It is worth noting that in the past the well-known journalist and columnist Mr. Athanasios Papandropoulos, one of the co-founders of the Greek Section, successfully served as President of the international Association of European Journalists for six years.

The composition of the new board of AEJ is the following:

President: Isaia Tsaousidou (Greece)

Vice-presidents:

Javier F. Arribas (Spain)

Tibor Macak (Slovakia)

Simone Rapple (Ireland)

Secretary General: Edward Steen (Austria)

Treasurer: Luigi Cobisi (Italy)

Special Representative for Media Freedom:  William Horsley (UK)

Brussels Representative: Javier Jimenez-Moratalla (Spain)

Fake News Representative: Irina Nedeva (Bulgaria)

Audit Committee:

Javier Martín Domínguez (Spain)

Lampros Rodis (Greece)

Tim Ryan (Ireland)

Hasan Kahvecioglu (Cyprus)

David Worsfold (UK)

Conciliation and Arbitration Committee:

Brindusa Armanca (Romania)

Nurer Zaman Bhuiyan (Finnland)

Eileen Dunne (Ireland)

Giuseppe Jacobini (Italy)

Pedro Gonzales Martinez (Spain)

Panagiotis Sfaelos (Greece)

Since its establishment in 1962 in San Remo, AEJ has done a great job for press freedom in Europe and for the protection of journalists from persecution. AEJ promotes media independence by supporting journalists in their work of informing the citizens accurately and objectively. AEJ has sections in many member states of the Council of Europe with significant contribution to the protection of the fundamental right to freedom of expression, which is central to any democratic polity. According to AEJ’s statutes, impartial and independent journalism is fundamental to the democratic accountability of governments.

The Greek Section of AEJ wishes good luck to the newly elected President and the new Board of Directors in their work, in order to have independent and democratic media in Europe.