More newsrooms represented on new IGM executive council

A new Executive Council was appointed during the annual general meeting of the Institute of Journalists (IGM), held on Friday. The council will serve for a term of two years.

For the first time, the council will have members from six local newsrooms, meaning there now is the greatest ever representation of Maltese media on the IGM. Also for the first time, IGM will have three women in the Council, making this the largest female representation ever held by the Institute’s Council in its 30 years of existence.

In the absence of a nomination for the office of President, it was agreed that one of the members elected to the council should be selected president at the first meeting of the Council when the respective posts are assigned.

Nigel Mifsud will continue to hold office as General Secretary while Mario Schiavone will continue to hold office as treasurer. The other appointed members are Claire Caruana, Sylvana Debono, Christine Amaira, Neil Camilleri, Julian Bonnici, Charles Camenzuli and Domenic Aquilina. The President of the Malta Sport Journalists Association Sandro Micallef will be a non-voting member in the council.

At the annual general meeting, the new IGM logo, as well as logos of other commissions within IĠM that work autonomously, were unveiled: the Commission for Ethics in Journalism and the Commission which will help in the organisation of the Malta Journalism Awards.

Members unanimously approved several amendments to the statute, bringing it in line with the requirements of the Voluntary Organisations Commission.

Key among them: the increase from 7 to 9 members on the IGM Council, the change in nomenclature from Chairperson to President, the abolition of proxy vote in cases of general meetings and the decision to hold annual general meetings rather than one every two years as approved in 2016.

Another addition is the appointment of two reviewers to better scrutinise IGM finances, with members Mario Xuereb and Victor Vella being appointed as the Institute's first two reviewers.

The annual general meeting approved the notion that IGM explore in detail the requirements for the Institute to become a trade union, as encouraged by the International

and European Federations of Journalists, including by consulting with its members, local media houses and its legal advisor.

By a unanimous vote, the general meeting thanked the members who completed their work in the Council: Chairman Yannick Pace, and members Mario Xuereb and Roderick Agius.