Anci-Fnsi Protocol, entrust press offices to professionals

Anci-Fnsi Protocol, entrust press offices to professionals. Statements by Decaro and Lorusso.

Promote information that is useful for concretely implementing the provisions of Law no. 150 of 2000, recognizing the press office as the central structure for the creation of an appropriate information circuit towards local communities and the media.

With these objectives in mind, Antonio Decaro, President of the National Association of Italian Municipalities and Mayor of Bari, and Raffaele Lorusso, Secretary General of the National Press Federation, have signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of ANCI and FNSI to jointly implement a shared awareness-raising program in the local area. This will ensure that each local government, including jointly formed entities, includes a press office within its organizational structure to communicate with citizens and provide information to the media, in accordance with the provisions of Law 150 of 2000.

Among the commitments set forth in the agreement, ANCI and FNSI have committed to developing a training and refresher program, evaluating, together with the relevant authorities, the possibility of using European Social Fund resources and other EU resources for training and job placement for journalists. This morning's meeting was also attended by Bepi Martellotta, president of Assostampa Puglia.

The protocol states that press office personnel assigned to journalistic functions must hold the professional status of professional journalist or freelance journalist and must therefore be registered in the appropriate register of professional journalists (professional or freelance journalists) at the time of assignment. Registration in the register is not mandatory for the position of spokesperson for the institution's governing bodies, given the purpose, also identified by Law 150/2000, of managing political-institutional relations with the media and the resulting requirement of a close bond of trust associated with this function.

The protocol, which will have a renewable three-year duration, also commits the parties to set up a monitoring commission to verify and implement the activities and to schedule a series of training seminars in the territories which will also be valid for the purposes of the mandatory professional training of journalists.

According to the president of the ANCI, Antonio DeCaro, For a local public administration, constant communication with the media is an essential prerequisite for proper and transparent contact with citizens. In an era of information overload and difficulty distinguishing between reliable and unreliable news, it is important that the press office function be entrusted to qualified, well-trained professional journalists at every level of public administration. This is why Anci - he said - has decided to renew the protocol with the FNSI and to invite the Municipalities to equip themselves with a structure that we consider indispensable both for public administrations - I am thinking of the small municipalities which, through this agreement, will also be able to avail themselves of press offices under joint management - and for citizens who, through the press or the new communication tools with which the PA interacts, can always be informed about administrative activity."

For the general secretary of the Fnsi, Raffaele Lorusso "the renewal of the protocol between Anthere and The Fnsi represents a further step toward fully regulating the activities of press offices in municipalities large and small. Local administrations will have access to a framework of rules for the proper classification of journalists in press offices, applying the profiles defined in the public employment contract. The objective - continued Lorusso - The agreement aims to allow all municipalities to establish press offices, including consortiums, offering new career opportunities for journalists. The agreement also incorporates the principles of the agreement signed between Aran, public administration trade unions, and the National Federation of Italian Journalists (FNSI), which came into force last April. This will guarantee journalists professional autonomy and provide them with access to Casagit healthcare.", concluded the secretary general of the Fnsi.