Dubai: The list of Mohammad Yousuf, chairman of the UAE Journalists' Association, won the body's elections that were held at Dubai Municipality's Club on Thursday evening.
Yousuf won 128 votes, the General Assembly majority, to be re-elected for the fourth consecutive term. The elections were held in a calm, democratic atmosphere in which the previous president of the council, now presided by Yousuf, resigned after reading and approving the administrative and financial reports and presenting the council's achievements in media.
The final results came as follows: Yousuf 128 votes, Hussain Al Manai 121, Rashid Al Za'abi 114, Mona Abu Samra 110, Mustafa Al Zarouni 108, Saleh Al Nuaimi 106, Ebrahim Al Hasawi 100, Sami Al Riyami 98, Mohammad Eisa 95, Ali Al Hanouri 46 (reserve count as he is the only member of UAE journalists who participated in the elections on his own).
A total of 142 out of 219 members eligible to vote to renew their annual membership have attended the meeting. Yousuf expressed his satisfaction in the cooperation and spirit among the members during the meeting and the elections.
Missions
In an exclusive interview with Gulf News Yousuf said: "The new elected council has numerous missions and challenges to face in the coming period. One of the grand missions is the formation of the national committee for Emiratisation in charge of the Emiratisation of the press sector."
"Members of the Journalists Association, The National Media Council, the editors-in-chief Board Council of various media and press organisations are part of this committee. Dh2 million were granted by the council for the committee's 2009 budget. The National Media Council donated half of this amount, the Journalists Association donated a million for an immediate start. We hope that all media organisations will donate Dh250,000 to this committee," Yusuf told Gulf News.
"The committee will engage the mass communication graduates in a six-month training on media and press organisations for Dh5,000 monthly, after which they can start an actual job."
Yousuf also reiterated the association's stance regarding some articles of the new media draft law, which was passed by the Federal National Council in January 2009.
He said: "We wish to get in new discussions with the concerned authorities to clarify the issues."
Yousuf earlier said that the association had some reservations about the media draft law, which included the right to revoke a newspaper's license if an offence is repeated, and because it did not mention the fact that journalists cannot be jailed for reasons related to their duties.
— With inputs from Alia Al Theeb, Deputy UAE Editor
Two new committees created
Mohammad Yousuf announced the creation of two important committees to have roles in two of the press platforms in the upcoming period.
The first is the National Committee for Press Ethics which will ensure all national Arabic- and English-language newspapers abide by the Press' Charter, signed by the editors-in-chief of all newspapers and the National Media Council. Habib Al Sayegh, journalist and editor-in-chief of Al Khaleej newspaper, is presiding over this committee and Dr Ebrahim Rashid, journalist and professor at Abu Dhabi University, is the deputy director.
The second is The Amendment Committee to the assembly's system.
This committee will study members' suggestions and input relevant to the matter. Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Gulf News editor-in-chief, is presiding over this committee and Mohammad Al Hamadi from Al Itihad newspaper is the deputy director.
Website
The UAE Journalists Association will soon launch the new look of its website www.uaejournals.com The website will be updated regularly with various activities of the association, names of members and contact details.
