Letter from Radio Zamaneh‘s Interim Director to its staff following Mehdi Jami’s resignation as director:
There has been sufficient explanation about the decision of the Radio Zamaneh Board regarding the suggested position (editor-in-chief) to Mr. Mehdi Jami and his negative response. The attitude of the Board, Press Now as financier and the development guide of RZ, and of the RZ lawyer is clear and irreversible. Mr. Mehdi Jami is suspended from his duties and he is going to be fired. He will not come back to the organization. I have had talks with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about our decision.
As the RZ lawyer said, people in Zamaneh who disagree with this decision, or if they feel stronger personal affiliation with Mr. Jami than devotion to Radio Zamaneh continuation and developing further, are free to start a new media outlet for their own.
At the time of crisis management and restructuring of the organization, any further violation of the confidentiality of the internal affairs of Radio Zamaneh and bringing it into public that can damage public image of Zamaneh will not be tolerated. The only authorized person for contact with media is the head of the RZ Board Bijan Moshaver. In his absence, Mr. Joop Daalmeijer, member of the RZ Board, will be responsible for contacts with media.
The RZ Board has decided to appoint Mr. Hossein Alavi as an interim editor-in-chief. Besides Mr. Alavi’s direct responsibilities for the content side of Radio Zamaneh, he will make a quick scan of the functioning of the newsroom, evaluate skills of journalist within Zamaneh team, and help designing a profile for the vacancy of selecting the new editor-in-chief that is supposed to be appointed as permanent position. After consultation with his editorial colleagues Mr. Alavi will also assign an Editorial Council work and cooperate with him in the editorial office.
Furthermore, in order to create the possibility for all employees (staff and freelancers) of Zamaneh to contribute to the policy of Zamaneh, I will facilitate the composition of an Employee Council in close consultation with their representative, as soon as possible.
Zoran Djukanovic
Interim Director of Radio Zamaneh
