Journalists boycott negotiations’ meetings as differences remain unresolved

Journalists boycott negotiations’ meetings as differences remain unresolved

 Striking journalists from the Masaya newspaper decided to boycott a meeting with the Editor-in-chief Hassan al-Rashidi. They believe that the meeting was an attempt to make them withdraw from their requests in which they demanded that they be appointed back to the paper.

Rashidi expressed his willingness earlier to negotiate with his striking colleagues in an effort to convince them to abandon the memorandum they submitted to the Journalists Syndicate. The strikers have filed complaints condemning the attacks by Rashidi’s supporters and also calling for an investigation into his actions.

Journalists Mona Said and Abeer Hamdi went to the negotiations and were surprised by his advice. He allegedly encouraged them to leave the national press, claiming they "held no future for budding journalists" and added that the future was with the private press.

 
He said he spoke from experience, referring to the beginning of his career.

In a related issue, Masaya journalists held a meeting yesterday evening, where they decided to organize a series of escalatory protests opposing the Shura Council and the Supreme Council of the Press in an attempt to pressure them to find a fair compromise for the crisis, which began when the merger decision was issued by the Shura Council last May. The protests were also aimed at moving the Committee of the Journalists Syndicate to refer Rashidi and his supporters to the Syndicate’s Commission of Inquiry.