An Alliance of Language and Media Practitioners (LAMP) is born…
On January 19th a new alliance was signed into existence which will change the copywriting industry, amongst others, forever. The Alliance of Language and Media Practitioners (LAMP) is the result of months of discussions between the Professional Editors Group (PEG), the South African Translators Institute (SATI), the Writers’ Guild of SA (WGSA) and the South African Freelancers’ Association (SAFREA) – to join forces officially to support and publicize the rights, talents and general recognition of language and media practitioners.
The aims and objectives of LAMP are to:
- Establish regular communications and events based on common interests within the industry
- Streamline all industry specific public relations
- Research and publicise recommended rates of payment
- Lobby Government and industry players to standardize minimum rates in the media and language industry
- Pool resources and share expertise in training
Within LAMP the alliance parties will share resources and while each association will retain their autonomy, the partners will rotate leadership between the different associations, with Clive Lotter of SAFREA being selected as the initial convenor. Mr Lotter said: “This is a historic breakthrough for professionals in the media, language and creative industries. For the first time our organisations can present a united front to industry players when representing our members’ interests.”
By having an alliance of all the players in the writing, media and language industries it looks like some standardisation in quality levels and pricing can be expected, a welcome change in an environment which has seen very little cohesion over the past years.