Reform of access to the profession, which maintains the examination of eligibility and will be based on the possession of a degree at least first level. A profound revision of the path for registration on the list of publicists, providing for the possibility of creating a new single register of the "Order of Journalism". New rules on exams; overcoming professional exclusivity; the request to the legislator to revise the legislation on the functioning of the Disciplinary Boards. These are the salient points of the guidelines for the reform, approved by a large majority by the National Council of the Order of Journalists and presented this morning at the headquarters of the Cnog in Rome by representatives of the category.
"A reform that puts at the center the right of citizens to be properly informed in a dramatic moment for the profession, attacked by the announcements of the abrogation of our professional order, by the threats to the survival of the small publishing sector represented by the elimination of the Fund for pluralism, from the proliferation of fake news », immediately stated the president of the Cnog, Carlo Verna.
"Today, more than ever," he continued, "we need a body like the Order of Journalists to certify the dissemination of information verified and guaranteed according to ethical principles. At the heart of the reform are precisely the ethical function of the Order and the right of citizens to be properly informed, together with access to the profession, with the training and updating of journalists, aware of the role of journalism as a power of control democratic. Those looking for disintermediation, those who want to eliminate us - concluded the president of the Cnog - wants the citizens to arrive only the voice of those who scream louder.
With Verna at the press conference were also present the other summits of the National Council of the Order, the presidents of the regional orders, the representatives of the other institutions of the category. From Paris, where he is to attend the Congress of the French journalists' union, the FNSI secretary general, Raffaele Lorusso, has sent a message to President Verna. "In assuring the support of the union to the reform proposal approved by the Cnog - writes Lorusso - I reiterate the need to give life to a public demonstration of the whole category in a short time to reject the political attacks on freedom of expression, the right of citizens to be informed and to the 21 article of the Constitution ".
The relaunch of the profession and of work, continues the message of the secretary of the FNSI, "passes through a common battle for the defense of the fundamental values of our Constitution and of the fundamental function of the press for the holding of liberal democracy. This is another reason why, together with our French colleagues, we are working on a European initiative which will soon enable us to define the content of the European Copyright Directive. We want to ensure that the payment of the rights for the use of journalistic work by the 'over the top' does not turn into a mere profit for companies, but is aimed at supporting regular employment ».
The communion of intent among the institutions of the category was also reiterated by the president of Casagit, Daniele Cerrato, present together with the vice presidents and regional trustees, and by the president of the Fnsi, Giuseppe Giulietti. "There is no dissent between the Fnsi and the Order on these issues. Only compact - he said - we can face threats to the profession. All together we must make an effort to make people understand that we do not do a corporate battle, but we fight for the right of citizens to be informed. Those who govern attack the Order precisely when this calls for new and more effective tools to defend quality information, to counteract fake news, to expel the 'bad apples'. They want to abolish the Order when it is needed most. They want to abolish critical thinking and those who ask questions. "
For this reason, Giulietti concluded, "we must respond with a great national initiative that sees together journalists and organizations in the category together, but also citizens, associations, those who live in dark and forgotten worlds. Because it is for them that our work is needed. And we must ask for a meeting with the President of the Republic, who more than once in a short time has felt the duty to intervene to reiterate the role of free journalism and freedom of the press ".
The secretary of the National Council of the Order, Guido D'Ubaldo, observed that the reform is "the proof that we have been speaking. We have done everything possible, trying to put everyone together: representatives of the institutions of the category, national councilors of the Order and regional presidents. We did it after 55 years. "
The reform proposal, sent by President Verna to the Department for Information and Publishing of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, will now also be passed on to the Minister of Justice and to Parliament. "We will ask that a comparison table be opened on the guidelines and we will ask to be summoned to that table together with representatives of all the bodies of the category", concluded the vice-president of the CNG, Elisabetta Cosci.
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