The Australian Journalists Association (AJA) was an Australian trade union for

journalists A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

from 1910–1992. In 1913 the Australian Journalists' Association merged with the Australian Writers' and Artists' Union. This union had been formed in 1910, launched on 9 September of that year in the

Sydney Trades Hall The Sydney Trades Hall is a heritage-listed trade union building located at 4-10 Goulburn Street in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John Smedle ...

Harold Mercer Harold may refer to: People * Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Harold (surname), surname in the English language * András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold" Arts a ...

(1882–1952), also known as Harold St Aubyn, a prolific writer who was involved in the creation of 28 new unions in total. On 18 May 1992 it amalgamated with Actors' Equity and the Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees' Association to create the

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), also sometimes referred to as the Alliance, is the Australian trade union and professional organisation which covers the media, entertainment, sports and arts industries. Its Musicians section c ...

. The AJA section is now known as MEAA Media.

New AJA

In 2022 a new Australian Journalists Association appeared, which was not part of the MEAA. It forged a sponsorship arrangement with the

Kennedy Foundation The Kennedy Awards, also known as the NRMA Kennedy Awards, are Australian awards for journalism based in Sydney, New South Wales, run by the Kennedy Foundation, and named in honour of Indigenous Australian journalist Les Kennedy, who died in ...

to provide to acquire naming rights to the Kennedy Awards, the richest media awards program in Australia. However this organisation was dubbed a "fake union", with ties to

TNT Radio Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

(an internet radio outlet whose focus is fringe topics and conspiracy theories, including anti-vaccination misinformation), which had also provided to the Kennedy Awards. This new AJA had appropriated the name, but was in fact created by Journalists First Inc., a small group of conservative political operatives based in Queensland. It was one of a group of Red Unions (labelled "fake unions", as they were set up with political motives to divide the union movement, attracting members by their anti-vaccine mandate stance). It was not run by journalists and had no standing in industrial tribunals. In May 2022 the Kennedy Foundation cut its ties with this AJA, in a move welcomed by the MEAA.

References

{{reflist Defunct trade unions of Australia Australian journalism organisations Journalists' trade unions Trade unions established in 1910 Trade unions disestablished in 1992 1910 establishments in Australia 1992 disestablishments in Australia