Structure of LJU
The main control organ of LJU is the congress. Every three years the congress takes place, during which the Board and the Chairman are elected. Between the congresses LJU is under the management of the Board. The board consists of the Chairman of LJU, chairmen of the departments and clubs and the representatives for every 20 members of the Union. From 1990 until May of 2003 the Chairman of LJU was Rimgaudas Eilunavičius. During the 13th congress (2003 12 06) Dainius Radzevičius was elected the Chairman.
According to the LJU regulations, the Board of LJU must gather at least 6 times per year. The Board is divided into different commissions, a part of people were delegated to several institutions: Press, Radio and Television Support Foundation, UNESCO National Commission, Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association, Association of Lithuanian Creators of Art, Commission of Radio and Television, Office of Status Bestowal for Creator of Art or Organization of Art Creators. Successful work of the representatives contributed to strengthening the positions of LJU.Seeking not only to delegate it’s representatives to different commissions and organizations, the Board of LJU took the initiative to strengthen the relations with institutions of self-regulation.
At present there are seven staff members of LJU: the chairman, the lawyer, the chief accountant, the assistant, the editor of the website, the chairman of LJU foundation and the editor of “Žurnalistų žinios“ („News of the Journalists”). LJU members database was arranged, systemized and is frequently updated onthe endeavor of LJU administration. Expanded and continuously improved website www.lzs.lt became sedate, committed to news and topicalities of journalism.
LJU organizes seminars and conferences annually according to the sponsorship received and the programmes provided by the departments and clubs. Some of them could be distinguished from others, especially the seminars covering the usage of human resources in the editorial office. one of the most active and stable supporters when organizing the seminars and trainings is The Foundation of Friedrich Ebert. The active practice of the Board of the past 3 years induced the birth of new LJU departments in Marijampolė and Rokiškis. The Club of Sports journalists and The Club of Press Photographers were established, some informal clubs were also born. Last year LJU was also expanded by television operators memberships.
On the 10th of June 2005, constituent assembly took place, resulting in establishment of National Association of Journalists Creators (NAJC). The establishment of this organization was influenced by new legislations, which obligated the organizations of creators of art to changeover to associations or to establish new associations. National Association of Journalists Creators unites all LJU members, who meet the requirements of creator of art status holder.
Both this and last year NAJC together with LJU are pursuing the programme “Profesionaliosios publicistinės žurnalistikos formavimas, skatinimas, vystymas” (“The Formation,Stimulation and Development of Professional Publicist Journalism”. In June 29th 2006 NAJC was initiated to Lithuanian Association of Creators of Art. The project pursued by LJU and Belarus Journalist Union was actualized and is still continued. The project is intended to aid the independent press in Belarus.
In November 18th 2006 Lithuanian Journalist Union (LJU) and The Association of National Regional and Urban Newspaper Publishers signed the first collective agreement. This is the first agreement of this kind between representatives of journalists and publishers. Previously some similar agreements were only signed between several separate editorial offices.This agreement defines the main points of cooperation between journalists and publishers: the rules of composing labour and authorship contracts, the organization of labour payment, cooperation between the employees and the employers and their representatives.
History of the Journalists Union
The Lithuanian Journalist Union was founded in 1922 and until the war it was the member of the International Federation of Journalists with the headquarters in Paris. In 1933, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Journalist Unions formed the Baltic Journalist Federation and co-operated quite profitably. With the onset of the Communist occupation in 1940, the Lithuanian Journalist Union was outlawed. Many well-known Lithuanian journalists were exiled to Siberia, while many others emigrated to the West. At that time the majority of newspapers were banned and journalists worked under the surveillance of the Communist party.
Repression in the Baltic states declined after Stalin's death. Exiles were allowed to return from Siberia. In 1957, the Lithuanian Journalist Union, a branch of the Soviet Union’s Journalist Union, set to work separately and many journalists officially joined. As Lithuania retrieved the free speech in 1989, the Lithuanian Journalist Union adopted a declaration on its separation from Moscow at its congress. By the spring of 1991, Lithuanian Journalist Union leaders attended the USSR Journalist Union congress, however, as guest observers, not as active participants.
International Relations
Having become independent, the Lithuanian Journalist Union struck up direct contacts with foreign colleagues. Full membership in the International Federation of Journalists came into effect in 1998, and marked a decisive step forward in the history of Lithuanian journalism. IFJ supported the Lithuanian Journalist Union during its hardest times in 1992. Such position of IFJ, especially concerning freedom of the press, has been a great contribution to the swift democratic changes in the life of Lithuanian society and the government. It is necessary to mention the active and beneficial Scandinavian Union's efforts in educating their Lithuanian colleagues.
The Lithuanian Journalist Union was rather disappointed with the activity of the Journalist Federation of Europe. It seemed that Lithuanian journalists were ignored by the Federation when Lithuania was not a member of the EU yet. In 1998 the Baltic Journalist Federation was reestablished, and the LJU has been actively cooperating with colleagues from Latvia and Estonia. Besides that, the LJU has maintained exemplary relations with colleagues from Russia and other post-Communist states by sharing its experience and expertise. In 1999, the LJU signed a cooperation agreement with the Belorussian Journalist Association (BAJ) for aiding the independent press in Belarus.
Denationalization of the media
The outstanding event in the life of every Lithuanian journalist was that newspapers, news agencies, radio or television stations regained its independence from the Communist Party and the state after ten years of control. The last two state-owned newspapers – the Russian “Echo Litvy” and the Polish “Kurier Wilenski” became independent in the summer of 1995. However, it should be noted that many journalists skeptically viewed the denationalization of the press, because the patronage of the state guaranteed at least minimal but regular wages, while the path of independence was quite risky (in many cases journalists became the shareholders of media).
Nevertheless, the LJU encouraged journalists and publishers to develop as an independent institutions. The LJU fought for the privatization law (1994) which provided independent publishers with favourable conditions to buy office spaces rented by the state, and thus ensured the future of the independent publishing. In the summer of 1996, the Law on the Provision of Public Information (Law on Media) was adopted. In article 17 it outlawed the state press, which only formalized the actual situation in the Lithuanian press, since no state publications were operating by the time. The sole exceptions were Lithuanian National Radio and Television (declared a public broadcasting outlet in the 1996 law), and the national news agency ELTA, where the state maintained control of 30 percent of shares.