Useful Recollections I. [antikvár]

Preface The idea of this book was born in June 1985 when several occasions induced us to think about history. Forty years after the victory over fascism had just been celebrated, and the United Nations gathered in San Francisco to mark the 40th anniversary of its foundation. Our own organization, the lOJ, began to prepare for its 40 th anniversary, which was one of the main points discussed at the Presidium meeting held in Quito at the time. In fact, it was at Quito airport, just before leaving Ecuador, that the lOJ President and Secretary General hit upon the idea of carrying out a joint exercise into the history not only of the lOJ but of the international movement of journalists in general. As we started putting this idea into practice at the beginning of1986, it soon turned out that the history was much richer that we could ever have imagined at Quito airport. fVe found ourselves in a virtually forgotten gold mine and were inspired by a spirit of discovery. At the same time, we became increasingly frustrated because the snowballing of more and more exciting facts was about to bury the practical task ofputting a book together. What you have before you, therefore, is only a beginning - in two respects. Firstly, it is volume one, to be followed soon by volume two - on the history of the last 40 years and at same time the history of the lOJ. Secondly, even these two volumes constitute only the first excursion into the history of the international movement of journalists. More homework remains to be done and more volumes to be written on this topic. Ours should be seen as an open invitation to all who possess some knowledge and who are interested in learning more about the international aspects of journalism. However sketchy and incomplete, the present book is the first of its kind and as such contains much material left dormant for decades. Many of its discoveries are highly relevant even today and, indeed, deserve to be included in the obligatory reading of all those active in the international movement of journalists. This is especially true of the 1928 ILO study on conditions of work and life of journalists, dealing with this new profession of "brain" or "intellectuaV'workers in a sharper and more solid manner than much being written about journalists today. Another equally topical but largely overlooked effort was the International Tribunal of Honour for Journalists, set up by the predecessor of the 10J in The Hague in 1931. Excerpts from authentic documents of the above - mentioned are reproduced as appendices. Consequently, these recollections are certainly useful for the present - day profession of journalism even if they cover only the pre-war period, because this historical background is necessary for an understanding of the post-war developments. Therefore it seems to us justified to mark the 40th anniversary of the lOJ with an exercise in history which ends at -rather than begins with - the founding of the lOJ. June 8,1986, Prague jifi Kubka, Kaarle Nordenstreng