Gianni Merlo plays down sociopolitical factors as a hindrance for journalists

Gianni Merlo plays down sociopolitical factors as a hindrance for journalists

"Yes he can be independent and I am one of them," the AIPS President was quoted as saying on the sidelines of the ongoing 'AIPS Executive Committee / Jury Meet' here on Wednesday.

 

Doha, Qatar- The AIPS President Gianni Merlo on Wednesday stressed that despite the sociopolitical or geographical roadblocks, a journalist can still be independent or vociferous in his writing.

"Yes, if he wants. Yes he can be independent and I am one of them," said Merlo. He was speaking to Qatar Sports Press Committee's Anam Arsalan on the sidelines of the 'AIPS Executive Committee / Jury Meet', here on Wednesday.

"In many countries they live in a difficult situation, but this doesn't mean we are judging anybody. We are only judging [the entries] from the journalistic point of view; it's not the politics that is moving us. For example, today we saw an article that sent to jail the president the country's football federation. The journalist even got sued for it, but he won."

"So, we know how to judge and everybody here is free minded. The problem is that there are a lot of journalists, who are doing a good job [and that makes our job difficult]."

He also pointed out that regulation match reports have become redundant today. "Match report... who cares, now you have television , you can see the entire match there. The future of journalism are the contents of your article that are opinions or points or colour pieces that are completely new and you have to write them with photos and everything, so it is a different thing." 

"See most often the reader knows the result before he reads the newspaper also in most cases the result is written write at the top of the article so the reader is looking for an opinion," he added.

Earlier, the AIPS President even spoke about the criteria adopted for selecting the best entries. "Here we are choosing the journalists that are going to the semi-finals, so nobody is a loser. So it is only a criteria; the criteria of journalism and so on... and we are very satisfied as the level of the entries is very good. No one is not accepted, it is only that if there is somebody that has more meaning, doesn't mean that the other journalist is less. It depends on the articles that he has decided to submit. It may be possible that the journalist may not have submitted his best piece."

The primary objective of the Meet is to shortlist the candidates for the 'AIPS Sport Media Awards' scheduled for Lausanne, Switzerland, in January 2019.  (Courtesy: QSPC)