Congress addresses challenges of women journalists, including pay parity and workplace harassment

Muscat – Journalists from all over the world unanimously called for the safety of their colleagues during war, armed conflict, pandemics and political unrest at the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) congress held in Muscat.

The four-day 31st world congress of IFJ concluded at Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday with new resolutions and targets.

According to Kena-did Ibrahim Houssein, editor of Journal La Nation of Djibouti, the biggest challenge journalists face is security. “Journalists are threatened and are often killed. We have witnessed the problems that journalists in Afghanistan and Ukraine encounter. Here at the meet, we are trying our best to come up with solutions for such journalists. We are also working on plans to free our colleagues who are in jail, some on death row.”

Several journalists attending the congress pointed out the direct influence of political parties on news and ‘truth’.

Ali Marzrooei, an op-ed writer for a monthly Iranian magazine, said, “The biggest challenge for the media these days is actual freedom. Everyone says the media is free, but it is not free at all. The main influence is of government agencies and corporates. It is the same globally. However, I feel these influences are much stronger in our part of the world and in Asian countries. There are direct and indirect threats to journalists and media houses, and political influences are growing day by day.”

Indira Priyadarshini Nawagamuwa, a journalist from Sri Lanka, noted that being a journalist is easy but being an investigative journalist is not. “There is a lot of influence from political parties and businesses because no one wants their dirt and corruption exposed. Media houses suppress the truth.”

The congress also addressed the challenges of women journalists, including pay parity, workplace harassment and the problems faced during the pandemic.

Indrani Sarkar, news editor of news agency Hindustan Samachar from India, said, “Being the national coordinator of IFJ in National Union of Journalists India, I would like to stress on gender issues. At the Woman Journalist Gender Council meeting, we discussed several issues encountered by women journalists across the globe, including workplace sexual harassment, workplace discrimination and salary parity. These don’t happen just in India but worldwide.”

She informed that at the meeting, figures of the last three years were gathered following which an action plan was adopted for the next three years to guarantee gender equality in the media.

Indrani said it is “high time” reporters are quipped with the skills needed for digital platforms. “We want the IFJ to support India in organising training programmes for journalists in social media, which is the need of the hour. These days anyone with a smart phone is a journalist, but this trend is dangerous for society as news becomes very opinionated.”

More than 350 journalists from all over the world attended the event.