We have seen the future and it is in New Zealand – 18 hours ahead of central time in the United States!
The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) 2015 Congress is being held in Hamilton, New Zealand where we are learning a lot about this small, two island, South Pacific nation that is home to 30 million sheep, seven million dairy cows, and Richard O’Brien (aka Riff Raff of Rocky Horror Picture Show fame).
The congress began yesterday October 14 in New Zealand time, with the delegates session that included an important change in the organization’s constitution, according to IFAJ president Markus Rediger of Switzerland.
“We decided three years ago to open up our organization to be more global, to be more relevant to our members, especially agricultural journalists in countries that are less developed because communication is important for the development of agriculture,” said Rediger, who adds that the constitution has now been changed to accept into the federation countries where the media is controlled by the government. “We changed and we say now that if the guild of journalists are in favor of freedom of the press, we accept them…it’s an encouragement for them because they already suffer under their government.”
IFAJ is pleased to welcome some new country members at this year’s Congress including Turkey, Croatia, Iran, Congo, and Somalia, just to name a few.
Listen to Chuck’s interview with Markus here: Interview with Markus Rediger, IFAJ president