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The two-day conference which was held in Islamabad from May 13 to 14, deliberated upon issues and challenges being faced by the national news agencies and media organizations.
Fardin Pazouki, Director General, Foreign News Desk at the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said that Muslim and neighboring states should enhance their cooperation in the field of media to encounter propaganda against them.
He said in today’s world enemies of humanity and peace loving nations are busy in doing negative propaganda.
IRNA director added that it is the main objective of official news agencies to give correct information of the incidents and developments in world states instead of relying on controversial media.
Lebanon National News Agency Director, Laure Sleiman said all of us here today share a common belief in the power of media.
'Real change mostly starts here, today. We need to start seriously thinking together about the pressing need to boost media cooperation among us. The NNA looks forward to continuing and enhancing its engagement with regional and international media institutions to achieve common goals nurturing a more responsible and humanitarian digital media across the world,' Slemian underscored.
Director Video News Department, Bulgarian News Agency, Borianka Dimitrova stressed the need for agreements between regional media outlets to enhance information and news sharing.
She said objectivity and reliability were the two main pillars to promote media organizations in the current times; saying that her organization was following these principles and that was why it was becoming a leading news disseminating source.
She said the media laws in Bulgaria were actually protecting the media outlets from political and economic influence. She also highlighted the importance of exchange of top level visits to promote cooperation.
Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Head of English Department Muhammad Mazen Ayon said there was need for connectivity enhancement between national news agencies of the Muslims countries.
He stressed the need for exchanging media visits and signing agreements between the news agencies, adding that since Pakistan had also been facing problems of terrorism, so media of both the countries should cooperate in various fields of information.
Gumel Mekova, Chief Correspondent Azerbaijan State News Agency, said Azerbaijan wanted enhanced bilateral cooperation with regional states in all spheres.
She said although the media in her country was under government control, but being a democratic country it was free in disseminating news without any bias.
Mohammad Mehdi Rahimi, General Director of Domestic News, Mehr News Agency Iran said that his country was giving more importance to news from Pakistan as it was its neighbouring country and anything happening in Pakistan had impact in Iran.
Eliswan Azly from Indonesian news agency Antara desired expanded news and videos exchange with regional media as he stated that there were 113 channels in Indonesia and Antara needed footages from across the regional states.
He said Antara plans to disseminate news stories and video footages to newspapers and TV channels free of charge in next two years.
Michalis Psilos, Chief Executive Officer of Greek news agency ANA expressed the need for inking a news exchange agreement with regional and other media organizations of the world. He said Pakistan was a very important country and Greece wanted to promote bilateral relations with it.
Muhammad Usman of Sudan News Agency (SNA) felt the need for a prompt and efficient news exchange service.
News Editor Union of OIC News Agency, Saudi Arabia Elsadig Bashir commented that usually the journalists face negative attitude from government officials as they were not allowed to have direct access to the news sources, which normally resulted in misperception about a particular issue.
Pakistan’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb expressing her views urged media outlets to do self-introspection and accountability in order to enhance their credibility.
She said media in our region is mostly concentrated on politics and other areas are left behind. However, this trend is changing. She said media can play an important role in disseminating information about human development success stories.
National security Adviser of Pakistan Lt-Gen (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua said Pakistan believes in peaceful neighborhood but Afghanistan should not use its soil for activities against the immediate neighbors on the behest of others.
Federal Minister for Defence Khurram Dastagir Khan while addressing conference said Pakistan is peaceful country and our country is growing rapidly.
Acting Secretary Information and Broadcasting Shafqat Jalil said free and vibrant media is guarantor of people’s rights and protector of democracy.
Managing Director APP Masood Malik said that ICNA would help identify the technical and professional areas for strengthening collaboration, and chalk out a strategy to face challenges in the world of digital media.
Chairman Department of Media and Communication Studies, International Islamic University, Dr Zafar Iqbal said in modern times, the state’s responsibilities had increased manifold and it had to protect its citizens from misuse of social platforms.
Senior journalist, Ziauddin said the developed countries had strict regulations on use of social media as countries like Germany had passed laws to fine websites propagating hate material.
Former federal minister for information Javed Jabbar suggested that representatives of news agencies from across the world should form a federation and meet annually to share ideas, experiences and strategies to keep growing their role in the challenging age of digital media.
As many as 21 delegates from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia and UAE participated in the conference.
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