The 2008 Congress/General Assembly of the Association of European Jounalists (AEJ), organised by Otmar Lahodynsky, AEJ Austria President, in the Austrian city of Linz, became one of the best AEJ Congresses of the last years. The 80 delegates were offered an insight into the preparations and programme of Linz 2009 European Capital of Europe. A tour of this ancient city on the Danube resulted in a completely fresh perspective of the city.
The General Assembly started with a message of greeting of the Austrian Minister for European and International Affairs Ursula Plassnik (click for text). During he meeting a new international board (see below) and other officials as members of the Executive Committee, the Arbitration Committee and the Audit Committee, were eleted. On the afternoon of the 22nd, during a four hour meeting, the flagship project of the AEJ a€?Media Freedom in Europaa€™ was on the agenda with reports by the AEJ sections about the situation in their country and very lively discussions. The meeting was prepared and chaired by William Horsley, AEJ Media Freedom Represented. Guest of honour was Mr. Matthias Traimer, chairman of the Council of Europe Media Steering Committee.
For more information about this meeting see the column FOCUS ON on the homepage. For full textes of William Horsleysa€™ Annual Report on the AEJ and Media Freedom and the Country Reports visit www.aej-uk.org
The delegates showed their thanks and appreciation to the sponsors who supported this annual AEJ event: Linz 209 Kulturhauptstadt Europas; Land OberA¶sterreich; IV Industriellenvereinigung OberA¶sterreich; Bundespressedienst A–sterreich; EPAMEDIA, Public Space Advertising; SchA¤rdinger (milkand cheese) and Brau Union.