Fatima Muhammad Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The Saudi Journalists Association (SJA) held its first meeting in Jeddah on Thursday with journalists in the Kingdom's western region. The association, which has its headquarters in Riyadh, has not yet established any regional offices and its board members promised reporters Saturday it would start increasing its presence across the country. The SJA was criticized by journalists who claimed the organization had not done enough for them. However, the SJA's secretary-general Abdullah Al-Jahlan responded: “As long as you journalists do not do anything for your association, we cannot do anything on our own." He urged journalists to register with the SJA and cooperate with it. Al-Jahlan said the organization has called for the implementation of a law stipulating all government bodies need to have spokespersons to cooperate with reporters. Journalists have been complaining that it is hard to obtain comments from government departments. Al-Jahlan also added that they are willing to contact any government body that has an uncooperative spokesman. A journalist who is facing a libel suit asked the SJA to help her because she is being asked to pay SR120,000 and her newspaper will not pay out. Al-Jahlan told the journalist the organization was willing to provide a lawyer for her. He also promised to help journalists who have been fired by their newspapers and said they specialize in handling such cases. Many journalists urged the association to exert more effort to protect them and ensure job security. They also called on the association to provide training for both media graduates and journalists who are already working in the field. Journalists also said there was a need to have younger members on the association's board of directors. A higher institute for journalism in Saudi has also been proposed. The SJA also said it has been considering honoring distinguished media professionals. However, Al-Jahlan said they still have to develop the criteria for such honors. He said: “Staying for a long time in the field is not enough. Some might stay in the field but not develop any skills while others could advance their skills quickly and do a lot for the profession."
