The 16th OANA General Assembly November 18, 2016, Baku, Azerbaijan Republic

Co-organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and AZERTAC, plenary sessions of the 16th General Assembly of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) have been held in Baku.
The General Assembly was preceded by the 40th meeting of the OANA Executive Board.
Addressing the event, OANA president, Director General of TASS news agency Sergey Mikhaylov on behalf of the participants thanked President Ilham Aliyev, president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva and AZERTAC Director General Aslan Aslanov for the excellent organization of the events which Baku hosted during three days.
Sergey Mikhaylov highlighted the history of the establishment of OANA which includes 44 news agencies from 35 countries.
The participants then approved the agenda of the 16th General Assembly and heard a financial report of the organization.
The 16th General Assembly then continued with plenary sessions.
The event moderator, OANA Secretary General, First Deputy Director General of Russia's Tass news agency Mikhail Gusman noted that more than 80 heads and representataives of 40 news agencies attended the meeting of the supreme body of the organization.
The OANA 16th Assembly's agenda then was put to a vote and approved.
Addressing the event, OANA president, Director General of TASS news agency Sergey Mikhaylov hailed the development of information technologies in recent years. He also pointed to the establishment of the committee of ethics of OANA, saying this was important amid growing cases of journalists facing violence in some countries.
Hailing OANA's active cooperation with a number of regional and international organizations, Sergey Mikhaylov noted that a special award was instituted to recognize the efforts of those who contribute to the development of journalism.
The event then featured a ceremony to award winners of "OANA Excellence Award"-employee of Korean Yonhap agency Tae Sung Chung and a representative of Russia's TASS agency Andrey Lebedev.
The events heard and approved reports of financial, technical and ethics committees of OANA.
AZERTAC' s Director General Aslan Aslanov was elected as a new president of OANA.
Heads of Russia's TASS, China's Xinhua, Korea's Yonhap and Turkey's Anadolu agencies were elected as OANA vice-presidents.
Heads of Iran's IRNA, Bahrain's BNA, Vietnam's VNA, Lebanon's NNA, Australia's AAP, Japan's Kyodo, India's PTI, Malaysia's Bernama agencies were elected as members of OANA Executive Board.
Speaking at the event, newly elected OANA president Aslan Aslanov thanked for support and confidence put in him and the agency. He hailed fruitful discussions featured at five sessions of the News Agencies World Congress which ended in Baku yesterday.
The General Assembly featured the 41st Executive Board meeting following the new president's speech.
AZERTAC Special Correspondent in Germany Vugar Seyidov was elected as OANA Secretary General.
Azerbaijan's AZERTAC, Russia's TASS, Iran's Mehr, Mongolia's Montsame, Indonesia's Antara, Kazakhstan's Kazinform, Kuwaiti KUNA were elected as members of the organization's technical committee.
As a result of voting AZERTAC, Vietnamese WAM, Japan's Kyodo, Australian AAP agencies were elected as OANA ethics committee members.
Yonhap agency of the Republic of Korea put forward its bid to host the 17th OANA General Assembly, which was approved by voting. Yonhap agency will chair OANA in 2019-2022.
Bahrain was elected as host of the 42nd Executive Board meeting that will take place in March, 2017.
In his remarks, president of Yonhap agency Park No-Hwang hailed TASS's successful presidency of the organization. He expressed his confidence that AZERTAC will excellently chair the organization in 2016-2019.
In his closing remarks, Mikhail Gusman, on behalf of the participants, expressed his gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation for excellent organization of both the 5th News Agencies Word Congress and the 16th General Assembly of OANA. He wished AZERTAC success in its activities both in News Agencies World Congress and OANA presidency.

OANA Executive Board membership

The OANA Secretariat have received requests for OANA Executive Board membership from Bahrain News Agency(BNA), National News Agency (NNA), Anadolu Agency (AA), Xinhua News Agency and Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

15/11/2016

OANA Presidency 2019-2022

Yonhap News Agency has just announced its candidacy to hold the OANA Presidency for term 2019-2022.

12/10/2016

16th OANA General Assembly

Dear OANA members!

We kindly remind you that the 16th OANA General Assembly will be held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on November 15-19, 2016.

We are convinced that the event will be an excellent platform to discuss the challenges of the new millennium, the development of the Asia-Pacific news industry, key problems of traditional and new media and current media trends.

The 16th General Assembly registration details and proposals on the event’s program will be sent to you later.

Looking forward to seeing you in Baku.

01/09/2016

Yonhap wins OANA Award

Yonhap News Agency, the main newswire in South Korea, has been awarded the first Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencys (OANA) 2015 Award for Excellence in News Agency Quality.

In 2014 Yonhap developed the OpenAPI Platform to help its member media companies, which were facing difficulties at the time, catch up with rapid technological advances and find new business opportunities together.

The platform may drive the standardization in news data format and Subject Code by the IPTC standard in the Korean media industry, allowing the news to be easily circulated. The OpenAPI Platform supports the full lifecycle of news content by providing various APIs -- "Contribution API, TopicSet API, Tagging API, Transforming API, Search API, Distribution API and Relay API."

Yonhap will also develop and provide the Editorial API to its member media firms, which they can use if their editorial systems fail to run. Through this kind of process, Yonhap expects the relationship between Yonhap and its member media companies to further deepen, and the OpenAPI platform to become a strategic system that creates many business opportunities for everyone involved.

The OANA Board, that also serves as the Jury for the Award, decided to give the award to Yonhap News Agency for its outstanding achievements in technological advances and new business opportunities.

At the previous meeting in Kuala Lumpur in February 2015, TASS put forward the idea of introducing the OANA Award for Excellence in News Agency Quality. It will be conferred annually upon OANA’s individual journalists and teams of employees for exceptional achievements and better news services. The award’s prime goal is not just to promote competition among news services but to serve as an extra incentive and platform for the effective cooperation. It is to motivate members enhance the editorial standards and recognize their contribution for good journalism and news production.

23/11/2015

The 39th OANA Executive Board Meeting and Technical Committee meeting 16-17 of November, 2015, Seoul, Republic of Korea

The 39th OANA Executive Board meeting and Technical Committee meeting were held with support of the Yonhap News Agency in its Seoul headquarters from November 16 to 17.

The event brought together heads of about 48 representatives from 22 news agencies: Yonhap (South Korea), TASS (Russia), Azertaj (Azerbaijan), Anadolu Agency (Turkey), Press Association (United Kingdom), Reuters (United Kingdom), Xinhua (China), Kyodo (Japan), AAP (Australia), Bahrain News Agency, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Mehr News Agency (Iran), Antara (Indonesia), Bernama (Malaysia), Emirates News Agency (U.A.E), MONTSAME News Agency (Mongolia), Kazinform (Kazakstan), Vietnam News Agency (Vietnam), ATA (Albania) and other.

Stepping up of activities of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) is among the priorities of the 39th OANA Executive Board meeting in Seoul, OANA President and TASS Director General Sergei Mikhaylov said at the opening ceremony on Monday.

"We are determined to step up OANA activities and enhance its role as the main inter-state mass media association in the Asia-Pacific region and to build up ties with other regional media organizations," Mikhaylov said. "In part, we are about to sign a memorandum of cooperation with the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA). We have restored cooperation with the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN). Also, we have been establishing contacts with the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) and the Latin American Union of News Agencies. We do hope it will be mutually beneficial and fruitful cooperation," said the OANA President.

"The mobile era is changing the way people consume news," Yonhap President & CEO Park No-hwang said at the opening ceremony. "This meeting is a forum for us to discuss ways to remain forerunners in media through cooperation." "OANA opens wide opportunities for comprehensive cooperation among the member agencies," he added.

President of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) and Chief Executive Officer of British Press Association Clive Marshall, highlighted an agreement on cooperation between EANA and OANA, saying, "it opens wide opportunities for cooperation among the member agencies."

This meeting had as its central theme 'News Agencies in front of New Opportunities and Challenges amid the Boom in Mobile Communication', where it was recognized the need to strengthen cooperation as a way to survive and grow in the digital era.

Participants also spoke for increasing competitiveness and professionalism of its news agencies through the exchange of experiences as well as human and material resources. The issue of cooperation was widely approached as recognizing it as the way to overcome the challenges these media face, affected by the international economic crisis and being forced to assimilate the pace of the shift from traditional to digital platforms.

The 39th Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) Executive Board Meeting has adopted Seoul Declaration. The declaration envisages expanding cooperation to maintain credibility of the member news agencies, especially in the age of mobile media. In the declaration, OANA condemned the recent terrorist acts and reaffirmed the commitment to report such facts accurately without fear or bias.

Vice Foreign Minister of Republic of Korea Lim Sung-nam, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Republic of Korea Kim Jong-deok, Mayor of Seoul City Park Won-soon joined the OANA EBM meeting and delivered their congratulatory remarks.

Press Photo Exhibition with the participation of all the participants was held at the sideline of the 39th OANA Executive Board Meeting at the headquarters of Yonhap News Agency in Seoul.

The next OANA Board meeting as well as FANA-OANA joint meeting have been slated for spring 2016 in Bahrain.

The association is scheduled to hold the General Assembly in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku in November 2016.

23/11/2015

OANA accounts on Facebook and Google+

OANA is glad to announce that oananews.org is now represented in social networks. In accordance with the decisions of the OANA Technical Committee, presiding agency TASS has launched the accounts on Facebook and Google+. OANA pages on Facebook and Google+ are OANA business cards which represent it in social media. The purpose of the project is to cover OANA activities in social media, as well as present other specific materials provided by OANA Members. An information and news content which are presented in the accounts are to be taken from oananews.org.

Please find the links to our accounts on Facebook and Google+

The following are the approaches to our work in social networks:

1. Administration and moderation of the project come within duties of the presiding agency.
2. News reposted on social networks will be taken from top 5 news on oananews.org (they contain the textual information and a photo)
3. The news will be reposted from all agencies, not more than five articles per day from each agency.
4. An official OANA language is English. All posts and comments should be made in English. Posts which are made in different languages will be deleted.
5. All posts should respond the rules and regulations of each social network.

We kindly ask all OANA Members to share an information about OANA accounts on Facebook and Google+ on their own social networks accounts. We look forward for your cooperation and collaboration under OANA social networking activity.

OANA Award for Excellence in News Agency Quality is officially started

OANA is glad to announce a yearly “Award for Excellence in News Agency Quality”! The award is designed to further experience exchange between OANA members and to improve the quality of making news. Contributions submitted can address editorial, commercial, financial, technical etc matters. The award is open for all categories of employees at member news agencies. EBM members have the authority to decide the winner. The winner will be awarded and invited to the General Assembly or EBM. The winner's achievement will be shared with all OANA members. All the details about the award you can find in Statutes. The award which will define the winner of 2014 is officially started.

38th OANA Executive Board meeting and Technical Committee meeting 14th February 2015 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The 38th OANA Executive Board meeting and Technical Committee meeting hosted by the Malaysian National News Agency Bernama with the theme “The Advent of Social Media and the Challenges Confronting News Agencies” was concluded successfully on the 14th February 2015.

The event was attended by 32 delegates from 15 member news agencies – Bernama (Malaysia), TASS (Russia), AAP (Australia), Azertaj (Azerbaijan), Kyodo (Japan), MONTSAME News Agency (Mongolia), Yonhap (South Korea), Mehr News Agency (Iran), Antara (Indonesia), Emirates News Agency (U.A.E), Kazinform (Kazakstan), Vietnam News Agency (Vietnam), Anadolu Agency (Turkey), Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) and Bahrain News Agency.

Members are well aware of the changing media landscape and the necessity to adopt the social media in keeping up with the race to reach out to the audience. OANA expressed its view to have its own Facebook and Google+ account that not only provides access to a whole new generation of audience but greater visibility to the grouping itself. While members agreed that adding the social media to their array of information outlets is necessary, there should be no compromise in the journalistic ethics, code of conduct and the veracity of the information provided by the news agencies.

At the meeting a OANA Code of practice and editorial guidelines was adopted.

The KL meeting also rolled out the excellence award acknowledging the contributions of member news agencies. It is to motivate members enhance the editorial standards and recognize their contribution for good journalism.

The discussions at the 38th OANA Executive Board Meeting clearly indicated that the news agency grouping is moving ahead in extending its outreach beyond the Asia Pacific Region through collaboration with the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA).

As members have pointed out that OANA should also extend its collaboration with Latin America news agencies, it could well be the beginning of a transformation for OANA from a regional to a global news agency platform.

Three cooperation agreements were signed between member news agencies, namely Bernama and Anadolu, Bernama and VNA, and Anadolu and MONTSAME that provided a legal framework for bilateral exchange of contents and mutually beneficial arrangements.

At the same meeting, South Korea’s News Agency Yonhap offered to host the next meeting, the 39th Executive Board Meeting, in Seoul, South Korea in Nov 2015.

Website technical support

Dear OANA members!
The news portal www.oananews.org was operating with disruptions between January 1, 2015 and January 20, 2015 due to instabilities of the Drupal CMS and certain weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
TASS specialists have now upgraded the system and enhanced the OANA portal’s information security.
The portal performance have now been restored to normal.

Anadolu Agency appoints new Director General

Dear Colleagues!
Please be kindly informed that Mr. Senol Kazanci is appointed as the new Chairman of the Board and Director General of Anadolu Agency. Mr. Senol Kazanci held positions of the head of corporate communications department at the Turkish Presidency and of an advisor of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He replaces former director general Kemal Ozturk, who resigned from his post on Dec. 1, 2014.

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