News Agencies Should Act More Responsibly - OANA President

By Jamaluddin Muhammad BANGKOK, Dec 14 (Bernama) – News agencies should act more responsibily as the world moved towards more tumultuous times, said Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) president Kemal Ozturk. He noted, this was imperative as humanity faced growing financial and social problems, more wars, conflicts, terror attacks and natural disasters. While one one hand news agencies tried to cope with radical changes in the media industry and new phenomena like social media, Kemal said that on the other, they should strive to maintain responsible and reliable reporting. Although it was a great tool to gather and disseminate news, the director-general of Turkish news agency Anadolu said social media was not without its innate problems. "It's a minefield where there are lot of hoaxes, fake identities, false stories, slanders, disinformation, and unethical and graphic pictures of indecency. "People hardly stick to media ethics and guidelines on social platforms," he said, citing the undignified pictures and videos of ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi being shot, lynched and his bloodied body dragged along, which were captured by cell phones and uploaded to the social media and then televised over international media networks for days. He was speaking at OANA's 50th anniversary celebration at a hotel here. Kemal said, while the Anadolu Agency refused to carry those grisly pictures, its intention was never to encourage a news blackout or censorship. "Although renowned icons of Western news media chose to spread distressing and graphic pictures of gore, it would be a significant message to the world media if the call to uphold media ethics comes from news agencies in this region," he added. Meanwhile, Thai Foreign Minister Dr Surapong Tovichakchaikul, who earlier opened the anniversary celebration, said OANA needed to take stock of its past accomplishments, progress and challenges faced in charting the course of its future development as it celebrated its 50th anniversary. "This is most timely when political and economic poles are shifting to this region. More importantly, in this age of globalisation, prompt access to accurate information has assumed paramount importance," he said. OANA, which comprises 44 news agencies from 35 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, was set up in this capital, 50 years ago. Dr Surapong said it had become the leading organisation for facilitating freer flow of news and information in the region while increasing understanding between its nations and peoples. Thirty one participants from news agencies including Kyodo (Japan), Xinhua (China), Itar-Tass (Russia), Anadolu (Turkey), Kuwait News Agency, Qatar News Agency, AzerTAc (Azerbaijan), Vietnam News Agency, Thai News Agency and Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) attended the two-day meeting, beginning Wednesday. Bernama was represented by General Manager Hasnul Hassan. -- BERNAMA Malaysia