Luanda - Angolan journalism entered, this Friday, a new stage, with the beginning of the attribution of professional licence.
The first awarding ceremony took place in Luanda and was symbolically given to journalists Siona Casimiro, Rui Ramos and Maria Luísa Fançony, for the long years dedicated to the profession.
The event, according to the chairperson of the Portfolio and Ethics Commission, the body responsible for accrediting media professionals in Angola, Luísa Rogério, represents an important milestone in a profession whose performance influences the normal functioning of other social activities.
Luisa Rogério said that the card is not only an identification document, but a commitment of the professional to the ethics and deontology code that regulates the profession.
According to her, journalism is a transversal activity in the life of society because it reinforces the plurality of ideas and freedom of expression, pillars of the democratic state and the rule of law.
The minister of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Media, Manuel Homem, praised the event, stressing that the award of the card would solve the problem of organising journalists' activities in Angola.
For his part, the secretary-general of the Union of Angolan Journalists, Teixeira Cândido, said that the event meant the culmination of a long process for journalists to have their functional self-regulation.
The union leader said it was an important step for the profession to be respected and given credibility, changing the profile of the professional, who is now obliged to comply with the deontology under penalty of being sanctioned.
The ceremony to grant the first professional licences involved the attribution of the document to 50 professionals who exercise the activity from the period before independence until 1985, and was attended by managers of public and private media bodies, journalists and representatives of socio-professional institutions.
The Portfolio and Ethics Committee can renew, suspend or revoke, under the law, the professional portfolio, as well as assess, judge or sanction the violation of legislation.
Under the Statute of Journalists, to gain access to this profession one must have a degree in media or journalism or have more than five years in the profession.
