When We Try to Take Photos in Parliament, Sometimes We Hear: "Take Photos of Each Other!"

Constantin GRIGORITA
freelance photojournalist, member of the Independent Press Association (API)
 

I was first accredited to Parliament as an Infotag News Agency journalist during 2006-2009. Later, I was accredited as a journalist of the newspaper "Timpul de Dimineata" (2009-2011). Since 2011 I am accredited as a member of the Independent Press Association (API).

As a photojournalist, during the first three years of accreditation to Parliament I was free to move within the space for journalists in the meeting room of Parliament, from where I could take photos. The situation has changed dramatically since 2009, when more and more restrictions were imposed on us, until we ended up squeezed into a "fold".

Current working conditions for the media at Parliament prevent us from doing our job professionally. Everybody has good working conditions here - MPs, their assistants, technical staff, the security officers - everybody but the journalists. Every step we take is restricted: "You cannot shoot there!", "You cannot shoot beyond that line!", "Don't follow the MPs!". I even heard them saying: "Take pictures of each other!"

We have to resort to various professional tricks to find out what is really happening in the meeting room of Parliament - for example, to take advantage of the good mood of some MPs or of the press service officers, who sometimes help us to capture some genuine images for the public.
 
In general, I believe that in order to change things, we, the media should be united, even at the risk of coming up against the will of our employers, and boycott the events of those political players who do not want the media to have free access to the plenary meetings of Parliament. Clearly, no MP wants to be caught at a compromising moment, but our goal is not to disparage anyone, but to bring citizens accurate truthful information about the work of Parliament.

NOTE: the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) holds awareness raising events under the slogan "We Want Access into Parliament!" on all days when Parliament holds plenary meetings. The Campaign aims to ensure free access of the media to Parliament meetings, so that the media can freely perform their duties.