UPDATE: IĠM failed to notify some of its members to renew membership before AGM

Only on Saturday it emerged to some of its members that the Institute of Maltese Journalists had already held its annual general meeting on 24 May

Updated on 4 June

In a Facebook posting on Saturday afternoon, the IĠM informed about its council members for the upcoming term – who had been elected eight days earlier.

NEWZ.mt initially reported that several individuals who thought they’re still IĠM members, including NEWZ.mt owner Michael Kaden, had not received any invitation to the meeting.

This would have meant that these members would have been deprived of their voting rights in the AGM.

Contrary to what an earlier version of this article suggested, the issue had nothing to do with unrelated email server problems.

It appears that the IĠM administration itself failed to inform some of its members about when and how to renew their membership.

The renewal would have been required in order to stay a paid-up member with voting rights in the AGM.

“It is quite incredible that I never received anything about membership renewal, although I proactively asked for it in a conversation with IĠM president Matthew Xuereb during a workshop on 2 March”, NEWZ.mt editor Michael Kaden said.

“I mentioned that my first year of membership had already expired, but I was told that I’m still a member and not to worry as everyone would be informed about required payments. This never happened in my case”, he added.

Kaden said that while he fully supported the institute’s recent initiatives, this was yet another administrative failure within the NGO that is currently aspiring to become a trade union which aims to represent the whole sector in negotiations with the government.

“I didn’t sign up for an on/off relationship but for an ongoing membership in the IĠM and I particularly asked the president about its renewal months ago. After this episode, I am definitely not going to apply for membership again”, he said.

Kaden recommended that the NGO resolve these administrative problems quickly, adding they would only lead to a loss of members and reputation, and thus damage the entire media sector.

Cover Image: Artistic interpretation of the IĠM logo