Yesterday’s incident at the Presidential Palace, involving media staff who turned up to cover Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit, proves the government needs to finally sort out a proper space for journalists.
A proper space isn’t a luxury. It isn’t somewhere for the government to enforce its own line, either. It’s simply somewhere journalists can actually do their job properly.
If Cyprus had a press liaison, the kind of setup journalists get at the White House and elsewhere, this problem would have been sorted years ago. But no. Cypriot journalists are stuck with a Union of Journalists that couldn’t care less whether they have anywhere decent to work from.
Konstantinos Letymbiotis, for what it’s worth, backs the idea of setting up a space like this. And yet, despite his support, nothing has actually happened.
If a proper space existed, our colleague would have had a bottle of water in her hand. Instead, she was told that water was “for the guests.”
Journalists aren’t second-class citizens. Sure, we can be a bit odd sometimes…
ΑΠΙΜ
