January 10 is Not Working Journalists Day Let it be “Journalists ‘Day”

Gursel Eser – GJC Vice President of Finance

January 10 January, the day on which the “law No. 212”, adopted on January 4, 1961 and providing some rights and legal guarantees to press employees, was published in the Official Gazette, is celebrated as “Working Journalists’ Day”.

The regulation in question includes provisions that define the social and legal rights of journalists, such as the writing of employment contracts, the type of work and the amount of wages in contracts.

9 newspaper owners who did not want to accept the responsibilities imposed on them by this law at that time (Akşam, Cumhuriyet, Dünya, Hürriyet, Milliyet, Tercüman, Vatan, Yeni İstanbul, and Yeni Sabah) signed a joint statement claiming that law 212 and law 195 on the formation of a press advertising institution would have professional drawbacks and announced that they had closed their newspapers for 3 days.

After this development in the history of the Press, journalists decided to publish a newspaper that they called “the press” throughout the boycott. The Press newspaper began publication on January 11 and continued to publish regularly during the three-day boycott.

Working Journalists Day came into being as a result of this event, and January 10 began to be celebrated as “Working Journalists Day”.

After the military intervention in 1971, the name of the day of celebration was changed to ”January 10 Working Journalists Day” after the restoration of some rights of journalists in the country.

But while I care that this day is an important achievement in the name of creating consciousness in journalists, meeting in joy, I object not to the meaning and importance of the day, but to the naming of this day.

We celebrate this day as” Working Journalists Day”. And what about journalists who don’t work, can’t work, are fired, are they forced to decommission their profession because of their chronic illness, aren’t these our friends journalists?

What should we say about our digital newspapers today and all our unemployed journalist colleagues who have been laid off for this reason?

From here, I call on all professional organizations; let’s celebrate January 10 as just “Journalists ‘ Day” by removing the phrase “employee”. After this I’ll do that. Happy “January 10 Journalists’ Day.”

DON’T JOURNALISTS WEAR OUT?

I’ve been a journalist since 1995. My professional life, which I started in Diyarbakir, continued in various provinces and institutions. I also worked in professional organizations. The only guarantee left in the hands of journalists, the “right to wear”, was brought before us every term. Sometimes this right has been completely abolished, and sometimes scythe. During my professional life, I have encountered this problem 3 times and I have fought as much as I can to avoid touching the share of wear in all of them. Every time it came up, all journalists, we made great efforts to ensure that this right was not touched. Finally, I want to briefly convey what happened, where our rights came from.

In 1977, due to the weight, attrition of journalists ‘ working conditions and the exposure of printing workers to chemicals, journalists and printing workers were granted the right to titular service by an article added to the Social Insurance Law No. 506.

This right, which is recognized by adding 90 days to the insurance period for each year, allowed journalists and printing press employees to retire early, but was also limited to an early retirement of no more than 5 years.

In 2008, these rights of journalists and printing press employees were stripped by the regulation made in the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510.

After nearly 5 years of struggle, in 2013, the titular service hike was reinstated under the name” actual service time hike ” and to cover only journalists. (In this reinstatement, journalists paid the premium amounts themselves.) While the rights recognized in Law No. 506 were reduced and restored, the “actual service period increase” was subject to the requirement to carry a press card. This, in turn, led to injustice for many press workers.

Yes, dear readers, This is the latest situation with the “share of attrition.” I’m calling from here now; either remove this ‘share of attrition’ completely, or don’t play on it every time you think about it. The grace you have bestowed on us is not necessary for us journalists, you have brought to the state of not asking for the “share of attrition”, which is raised every year and does not remain in the palm of your hand to the scythe. Because we journalists don’t work in any risky business. We are not journalists who serve in war, earthquakes, epidemics and the treacherous coup attempt of July 15! During the treacherous coup attempt, we are not journalists who took to the streets with all citizens at the cost of their lives, their studios were raided, and they did not stop broadcasting despite the raid!