The International Organization of Journalists (IOJ, French: Organisation internationale des journalistes) was an international press workers' organization based in Prague, Czechoslovakia. During the Cold War, it was one of dozen front organizations launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was controlled in Prague by the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party and with many KGB agents on board was a "long hand" of Moscow.
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In a 2009 interview with the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, the Finnish professor Kaarle Nordenstreng who was the chairman of the IOJ 1976–1990, acknowledged that they took orders from the Kremlin but maintained that their operations were far from straightforwardly following the Kremlin.
History
The International Organization of Journalists was formed at a congress held in Copenhagen in June 1946. At this meeting the International Federation of Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists of the Allied and Free Countries merged into the new organization and for a time the new organization was broadly representative of the journalists of the world. However, by 1950 the IOJ had become dominated by communists and the non-communist member organizations had withdrawn. These would re-launch the International Federation of Journalists in 1952.
Organization
The highest decision making body of the IOJ was the Congress, which was supposed to meet every four years. Individual members of the IOJ and delegations representing groups that had less than 20 members had a voice, but no vote in the deliberation. The Congress elected the Executive Committee, whose members could be nominated either by member federations, or by the Congress itself. The Executive Committee was supposed to meet once a year. The IOJ Bureau was also elected by the Congress and consisted of the President, Secretary-General and a number of Vice-Presidents and met as requited. Members of the Bureau were ex-officio members of the Executive Committee. The General Secretariat handled day-to-day administration of the IOJ and was headed by the General Secretary under the direction of the Bureau.
Originally headquartered in London, the IOJ moved to Opletalova 5, Prague II in June 1947. By 1966 its address was Vinohradska 3, Prague 1. In 1978 it had moved again to Parizska 9, 11001 Prague 1.
Congresses
The IOJ held the following Congresses:
Members
In October 1955 the International Organization of Journalists claimed to have 60,000 members in 51 countries: "national organizations" in 14 countries - Albania, Bulgaria, People's Republic of China, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union and North Vietnam; "national groups" in Mexico and Ceylon. It apparently had individual members in 33 further countries.
In 1957, representatives of the French Journalists Union (an affiliated of the CGT), the Association of Polish Journalists, the All-China Journalists Association were mentioned as officers of the IOJ.
In 1970 it declared that it had 150,000 members.
In 1978 the following organizations were affiliated with IOJ:
In addition to these, there were also "organizations, committees, groups or individuals" who were members in the following states: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma, Kampuchea, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, West Germany, East Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, North Korea, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, the USSR, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Togo, Trindiad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, the United States, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zaire.
Publications
The IOJ published a monthly The Democratic Journalist in English, French, Spanish, German and Russian. Other publications included Interpressgrafik, Journalists' affairs and Afrique mass media.