"The way you treat yourself the first time is how you will be treated in the future," one of my old colleagues, now a well-known journalist, liked to say. The rule applies not only to individual life, but also to public life.

Let's try to look at the "10 tasks" - the declaration of the newly created association of media workers "Mediasoyuz" - from this angle. On November 30, the head of "VID" Alexander Lyubimov, the general director of ITAR-TASS Vitaly Ignatenko and the president of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAT) Eduard Sagalaev decided to found it.

It is clear from the declaration that the issue is primarily about solving the problems of journalists. And the question immediately arises: why are top managers and owners involved in them? After all, it is precisely to this category that all the aforementioned persons belong, in whose multifaceted activities journalism itself does not occupy such a large place.

"Protection of journalists as employees from the tyranny of employers and media owners", "Achieving a nationwide tariff agreement with employers..." - the formulation of these tasks shows that "MediaUnion" is conceived, in essence, as a trade union of journalists. So, logically, its initiators will sooner or later meet at the negotiating table with themselves. By the way, as far as I know, neither "VID", nor ITAR-TASS, nor TV-6, the founder and chairman of the board of directors of which is Eduard Sagalaev, have any trade unions or collective agreements...

"Creating mechanisms to maintain high professional standards in the industry." Strictly speaking, such mechanisms already exist in the industry, at least in television - this is the Charter of Television and Radio Broadcasters, ceremoniously signed in mid-1999 by the heads of leading television channels. Deputy Minister of the Press Mikhail Seslavinsky was present, and incidentally, he also blessed "Mediasoyuz." It was assumed that a public council under the auspices of NAT would monitor the implementation of the charter. Where is this council? Does anyone still remember the charter? Why will Sagalaev succeed in "Mediasoyuz" that he failed to do in NAT? "A worthy representation of the corporation of Russian journalists in the international arena, in particular, with the aim of ending the widespread and constant foreign control over the activities of our journalists, biased assessments of our work, the harassment of our journalists as being universally or almost universally biased, unfree, uncivilized..." It is difficult to understand why foreign criticism of Russian journalism bothers Lyubimov, Ignatenko and Sagalaev, people who have achieved professional success by the highest standards. After all, the American press is also criticized all over the world for its primitivism and imposition of low-grade standards, but I do not remember a single American media union formed with the aim of counteracting this.

But who could really be "tired" of the endless noisy actions organized by the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation with the gathering of foreign correspondents - that is the Ministry of Press, and the presidential administration is probably tired of being reproached for Gusinsky at every turn... But why should a new public organization take on their problems? So, "Media Union" has laid down its hands. Decide how to treat it.

The author is the editor-in-chief of the media magazine SREDA

POLITICAL ECONOMY: Union of Directors