Journalists elected to the plenary of the Professional Journalists’ Portfolio Commission (CCPJ) reaffirm their initial commitment to maintain a journalist at the helm of the CCPJ, despite the deadlock over co-opting the commission’s president, as stated in a recent communiqué.
The 2008 CCPJ Organization and Functioning Regime stipulates that the body is composed of “eight individuals with at least 10 years of journalism experience, holding valid press credentials, equally designated by professional journalists and industry operators, along with a jurist of recognized merit co-opted to preside.” However, the elected journalists for the plenary oppose this latter requirement.
The eight journalists involved in the CCPJ plenary, comprising four full members and four alternates, assert that “a body regulating a professional class should be led by someone who knows, understands, and lives the profession they govern.”
They emphasize that amid current discussions with the government, the president of the commission should align with their concerns on this issue.
The impasse over the CCPJ presidency has lasted five months, with candidates Henrique Pires Teixeira, supported by communications companies, and Luísa Meireles, backed by professional journalists, in contention.
Despite disagreeing with the jurist presidency requirement, the elected journalists have put forward Luísa Meireles “to meet the legal requirement for a jurist.” Meireles, they note, “is a prominent figure in the profession and fulfills the legally imposed jurist qualification.”
“Holding a law degree, Luísa Meireles practiced as a lawyer for 10 years and has been a journalist for 35 years, initially at Expresso and currently as the news director at Lusa,” they stress.
Conversely, Henrique Pires Teixeira, who is supported by journalists from communication companies, maintained during plenary discussions that “the CCPJ president should be an outsider representing the citizen’s voice,” noting a divergence from the view that a journalist should lead the CCPJ.
Teixeira has previously served as president of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Press Association (API), which includes three of its board members as plenary journalists, also appointed by other employers.
They state, “We have nothing against Henrique Pires Teixeira and remain uninvolved in disputes between the Journalists Union and API. Our stance, not new, seeks continuity where past two terms had journalist-jurists as CCPJ presidents.”
The priority for journalist-elects is “to bolster the dignity of the CCPJ and resist interference attempts threatening its independence.”
They argue that, particularly following the government’s legislative changes, including redefining ‘journalistic acts’, Luísa Meireles’s extensive experience will be invaluable to the CCPJ.
In response to communications sector journalists’ views in a communiqué on the 18th, describing Meireles’s candidacy as “politically sensitive and highly controversial,” the plenary elects regard this as “damaging to the candidate’s reputation and her endorsers alike.”
