REJA created

Twenty-one Romanian environmental journalists from print and electronic media formed the Romanian Environmental Journalists Association during a meeting in Bucharest last September, according to Alexandru R. Savulescu who helped establish the group.

REJA hopes to improve the professional education of environmental journalists, the circulation of information, and the freedom of the press.

"We want this organization to be representative of environmental journalists as a whole, whether they work for state or private, pro-government or pro-opposition media," says Savulescu.

The US-based Independent Journalism Foundation and the newly opened Bucharest Center for Independent Journalism offered to provide an e-mail connection for REJA. This will help Romanian journalists get information quickly and at no cost. REJA also hopes to create an an electronic newsletter.

The major obstacle facing REJA is proposed legislation that would severely restrict journalists' access to information, according to Savulescu. This is the reason why all five Romanian delegates at last November's congress of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists agreed to call the congress' attention to the draft laws (see page 19 for more on the IFEJ congress). Under the legislation, journalists could be imprisoned for up to eight years for criticizing government officials.

Contact:
Alexandru R. Savulescu
Romanian Environmental Journalists Association
REC Local Office Romania
(temporary)

THE BULLETIN * WINTER 1994