About us
Slovene Association of Journalists was founded in 1905 and has since undergone many organizational changes. It has around 900 members, which is almost a half of all journalists in Slovenia. The Association is a full member of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
The aims and objectives of the association are:
– to develop and promote public interest reporting, both domestic and foreign,
– to defend the independence, autonomy and commitment of journalism,
– to promote high standards and ethics in public communication,
– to uphold and improve professionalism,
– to promote and maintain editorial autonomy,
– to ensure and encourage respect for human rights and the rule of law,
– to encourage the provision of professional education and training for journalists,
– to strengthen the craft of journalism and to promote for the public benefit high standards
in journalism,
– to improve and defend the social and working conditions for all journalists,
– to collaborate with national and international journalistic organizations,
– to establish and maintain close relations with media houses, relevant national and international institutions and governmental or non-governmental organizations in pursuit of these objectives,
– to encourage networking opportunities for members.
Principle activities of the association are:
– organizing workshops and trainings for journalists (investigation of corruption, legislative process, access to public records and data, freelance status, editing and proofreading, documentary photography and video etc.) and numerous regional professional debates on different topics;
– organizing annual Naprej/Forward Festival of Quality Media Content, which provides case studies from Slovenia and abroad, presenting prominent individuals and outstanding media from around the world. As part of the festival the Association confers the Watchdog Award for outstanding achievements in professional journalism;
– publishing various publications and guidelines for journalists in collaboration with national and international institutions and non-governmental organizations;
– closely collaborating with the Slovenian Union of Journalists in the joint management of the Journalists’ Ethics Council, which is functioning as a self-regulatory body of both journalistic organizations. The Council is completely independent in its process of examining the complaints lodged due to alleged violations of the Ethics Code. It consists of 9 journalists and 2 representatives of the public. All members of the Council are elected by assemblies of both organizations and are volunteers;
– maintaining a close dialogue with the government and its organizations regarding the existing media legislation and its reforms.