Não posso jogar pelo seguro desta vez

This is a rather personal post but since you all have been great buddies for a while now I feel I have to share this with you.

As some of you already know, I am a full-time journalist back in Romania. It's the profession I love and I've been working with passion in this field for 13 years now.

I currently work in a state-owned media company, part of a team that keeps the company's news website going. In fact, I helped set up the website a few months back year but this is a new position I accepted to take, I've been in this company since... the year 2001.

Being a state-owned company, it is subject to political pressure, even though all politicians deny trying to put pressure on us. But they do. We stood firm so far though.

The government changed in Romania a couple of months ago, the left-wing coalition took over, and then they changed our board of directors and also appointed a new CEO.

Fact: we published strong accusations about the new prime minister, backed up by solid proof, of course. He didn't resign yet.

But my editor-in-chief and his deputy chickened out at the beginning of this week and left on vacation. Why? Because the company can't kick you out while you are on legal holiday, that's the law. They will probably resign on their return from holiday though as they will probably find new employment until then...

I could have left too and easily take up my former position outside the website team, but I didn't. My colleagues were totally scared after the bosses left, especially six of them who will see their contracts expire in a couple of weeks. And I decided to stick around, encourage and defend them and try to see their contracts extended.

But the new administration seems to have the intention of limiting our freedom to publish relevant information on the website and that's something I can not accept. And the team won't take that either.

The new manager of our department will have a meeting with us tomorrow, a decisive meeting it seems. They have sent us a list of "rules" today, and that list has a few dubious entries that could pave the way for censorship. 

You might have noticed that I tend to play it safe when it comes to sports betting, I rarely take big risks on my betting slips. I won't do that tomorrow though.

As Winston Churchill once said, 'we shall fight them on the beaches'!

Wish me luck

Good luck Johnny!! I admire you for not giving up on your principles.

You deserve a big thumbs up and a pat on the back...at the very least!!

good luck johhny,  give it to them!

The very best of luck to you.  I hope it goes well and the way you want it to but I'm pretty sure that won't happen based on what you have said above.

Good luck and "stick to your guns".

blue

Never go down without a fight Johnny! You have all my best wishes for the luck you need. You really can't lose even if you can't stay in that job... you have chosen to stick to your principles and that makes you a winner all the way!

katt

Go for it!!...We're all behind you

I appreciate the passion you have for what you do Johnny. I believe in ya man! I'm proud of you for fighting for what you believe in. Many don't have that strength. Go Johnny!

Thanks for sharing the story with us Johnny, it's really inspiring. That should be an example how a person should stick to its principles and fight for them. Good luck!

Thanks for your support guys and gals, it means a lot to me.

I have to say that the meeting went pretty well. We received two promises:
1. that the expiring contracts will be extended as soon as some administrative clarifications will be sorted out (long story).
2. the list of "rules" was debated with the manager and she agreed to approve our amendments, which will make it a lot more difficult for them to exercise censorship. However, she is now aware of the fact that we will go public if they try to go beyond the moral and ethical rules of the profession.

We also got her to admit that this website is the best new product the company has launched in years.

It looks like we recorded a slight victory today. The battle might not be over but I guess I'll have my spare time back now, at least for a while.

Well done Johnny.  Sounds like a bit of  a victory for now.

blue

Good job Johnny! Like I said before, no matter what, you are a winner for standing up for your principles and not slinking out on holiday when push came to shove.

katt

That's good news Johnny. I'm glad things worked out. It would've made life difficult.

Really good news! Those small steps forward should be encouraging for you. Keep fighting for what's right.

We scored another small victory yesterday: the manager called and asked for something to be published, we explained that we can not since it would be manipulative to say the least and eventually she agreed and we did not publish that.

Well done Johnny.  All these small victories add up to one large victory.

blue

Excellent Johnny! The war is won one battle at a time!

katt

That's great. This is prove that nothing can't be accomplished without taking some risks. News like these Johnny are really good and refreshing.