12 January 2005

Guild sends financial aid to journalists affected by tsunamis

TNG Canada/CWA

The Guild is sending thousands of dollars to the Canadian Red Cross and the International Federation of Journalists, which has set up a special relief fund to aid media members caught up in the Asian tsunami disaster.

The Canadian Media Guild, TNG Canada's largest Local, is giving $6,000 to the Red Cross and another $6,000 to the IFJ.

"We wanted to reach out as a community of media employees to others in our field to help them rebuild their operations, and to deal with the loss of so many colleagues," says Lise Lareau, president of the CMG.

The executive committee of TNG Canada/CWA voted unanimously today to make a $2,000 donation.

The Ottawa Newspaper Guild has donated $500, says President Lois Kirkup.

The IFJ set up its Asia Disaster Relief Fund after reports that up to 200 journalists and media staff were reported lost or missing in Indonesia after the Boxing Day disaster. One newspaper in Aceh lost 100 staff members and its shoreline printing works and offices were washed away.

The IFJ has been soliciting donations from unions around the world after hearing of the large number of journalists and news organizations in dire circumstances.

“After only a few days, unions and associations of journalists have displayed extraordinary solidarity and generosity in their response to the plight of colleagues around the Indian Ocean,” says Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary, in a news release posted on the IFJ web site.

"Offers of help and donations have been received from a dozen countries," says the release, and "18,000 Euro has already been sent on from the IFJ Emergency Assistance Fund to colleagues in Indonesia where up to 200 journalists and media staff have been reported lost or missing. The Serambi Indonesia, one of Aceh’s leading daily newspapers, lost around 100 staff and its shoreline printing works and offices were washed away. It has restarted publication."

“Journalists’ unions are, like other groups in civil society, joining the general relief effort, but they are also thinking of the special needs of the media staff,” says White.

The IFJ says it has also written to United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan "calling on him to ensure that the reconstruction effort in the region also leads to media reform."