AEJ UK Chairman Annual Report on 2024 for February 2025 Members Meeting

The international AEJ Congress and General Assembly in October in Rome brought relief from sharp internal arguments and leadership failings which had looked almost irreparable. Instead, a "miracle" compromise was reached, a new interim Board was appointed by consensus for one year, and the AEJ looks to be on the path to recovery and a much better condition. I have resumed my former responsibilities as the AEJ's Special Representative for media freedom matters, while David Worsfold continues as a member of the important Audit Committee. Pat Humphreys, who served with distinction as international AEJ Treasurer for the past two years, has stepped down. Under the timetable agreed in Rome, a regular Congress and General Assembly are to be held - possibly in Brussels - in October 2025 - where normal processes will resume with a Board elected in the normal way again, on accordance with the AEJ's Statutes.  

Coordinated and serious efforts are now under way to resolve long-standing core problems including the AEJ’s loss of access to its own bank account in early 2024, which inevitably caused severe problems for all the national sections.  
The AEJ is thus able to continue playing a full part in the multiple ongoing actions of our own association and many press freedom organisations to resist oppressive interference in legitimate journalism and to counter the destructive forces at work on social media platforms and promoted by illiberal political leaders in many parts of Europe. 2025 will see the 10th anniversary of the Council of Europe's ground-breaking Platform for the Safety of Journalists, which has logged nearly 1500 individual media freedom alerts. On March 5th AEJ embers will be welcome to attend the launch in London (and Brussels) of the 2025 Annual Report and Assessment on media freedom in Europe, co-written by the Platform partners. The AEJ works closely with the European Federation of Journalists, IPI, RSF and other leading press freedom organisations to pressure European governments to remedy attacks and threats against independent media. That concerted coalition of non-government and media voices has also prompted the Council of Europe to organised the major 'Journalists Matter' campaign (2023-2027), which is now in its second year. 

Our fruitful partnership with Regent’s University sadly ended after the university’s management closed the door on the use of its meeting rooms to host events hosted by external organisations. We have benefited hugely for five years from the friendly cooperation we’ve enjoyed thanks to faculty members Leslie Viney and Elif Toker. It has enlivened our lunchtime meetings to have Regent’s international students attending most of our events there, together with our members and other UK-based journalists. 

Happily, we have been able to forge an agreement with the European Parliament's Liaison Office in Europe House (in Smith’s Square) to hold a number of annual meetings there in the coming year, subject to one of their meeting spaces being available. 

We continue to encourage younger journalists or journalism students to attend our meetings and become AEJ members at a discounted rate. Members are urged to support this commitment dynamically and in practical ways, in consultation with myself and our Secretary and Treasurer . 

The burden of organising 8 or more AEJ UK meetings with prominent public figures and expert insiders has become difficult for the very small team of UK Section officers to maintain without a significant injection of new blood and energy from others.. The enthusiasm of many members is heartening; several members and other meeting participants have ensured that written reports and commentaries on all our meetings are posted - with audio recordings - on the UK website. And it is encouraging that our recent meetings have been very well attended. 

But the UK Section must take stock of this critical situation soon if the UK Section is to continue to thrive in future years.