The NUJ’s Dublin branch will support any member to ‘exercise a conscientious objection’ against working on this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel in May
Via The National Uunion of Journalist’s Dublin Broadcasting Branch
At a meeting held earlier this week (Monday) the branch condemned Israel’s continued attacks on journalists and on freedom of expression, noting the fact that since April its forces have shot and killed two journalists reporting from Gaza’s border and injured with live rounds at least 20 more.
The union expressed its support for the stance taken by RTÉ, enunciated by Director General Dee Forbes last September, that RTÉ would not bring any ‘sanction’ against anyone working for the station who declined to travel to Israel to cover the contest on conscientious grounds.
The Dublin Broadcasting Branch serves hundreds of journalists working for RTÉ, as well as other commercial broadcast organisations across the capital.
Monday’s resolution follows a pledge last April by the NUJ as a whole to support any journalist who refused on ethical grounds to cover the Giro d’Italia cycling competition. Last year the competition started in Israel, as a result of Israeli financial sponsorship.
The committment was made at the union’s Delegate Meeting during which the NUJ also condemned “the systematic harassment, beatings and arbitrary arrests of journalists” by the IDF.
Yesterday: Meanwhile, In Israel
if you’re covering the Eurovision, can you legitimately call yourself a journalist anyway?
RTE seem to be the problem here.
Complete disdain for it’s viewers and license payers by willing to send another turkey (and I don’t mean Dustin) to take part in this foul competition that is now all about everything, apart from the song.
https://www.facebook.com/events/370989903682910/?ti=icl
Blah-blah-blah from the NUJ which knows no-one on the Eurovision light entertainment show is one of their members.
If anyone is serious about an Irish boycott, get RTE to stop giving €0.5m of its money a year to the European Broadcasting Union *as a membership fee*. We pay for this show and other EBU rights at arms length on top of the membership fee.
That’s how you get something done about Israel in the Eurovision. No big for RTE to cancel its membership for a year. Other broadcasters come on board and retire all the time.
Bodger “The National Uunion”
If a journalist conscientiously objects, do they have to refer their client/employer to a colleague journalist who will do it?
Can atheist NUJ members decline to cover Vatican affairs on conscientious grounds?
There are those who say the voting was clearly hacked last year.. someone with a vested interest and the means to do it would be my guess..
Nooooooooo! We must save Úna Healey’s career before she HAS to do DWTS.