NAM countries to start news agency<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Ministers from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of developing
\nnations will meet on Monday to discuss a proposed news agency to
\ncounter what officials called "discriminatory and distorted"
\nWestern reporting.<\/p>\n
The possibility of setting up a Kuala Lumpur-based NAM News
\nNetwork (NNN) to be run by Malaysia's national Bernama news
\nagency will top the agenda for the two-day ministerial meeting of
\nNAM information ministers.<\/p>\n
The NNN, to be operational by 2007, would be an Internet-based
\nnews outlet, using contributions from agencies and selected
\nnewspapers of member countries, according to a draft document
\ndiscussed by senior officials at the weekend.<\/p>\n
"While developing countries have been complaining in the past
\nof Western media domination, the NNN is a platform for us to
\nmuster our strength and present our perspective to the world,"
\nthe draft said.<\/p>\n
"There is no way that news agencies in the developing world
\ncan ever compete with their Western counterparts, let alone to
\neffectively counter negative reports about their countries on
\ntheir own."<\/p>\n
The NNN would help counter "the dissemination of
\ndiscriminatory and distorted information of events taking place
\nin developing countries" by the Western media, said the document,
\nwhich was distributed to the press.<\/p>\n
Information ministry secretary general Siti Balkish Mohamed
\nShariff pledged Malaysia's commitment to the future agency,
\nsaying: "We are willing to steer it, pay for it and make sure
\nthat it lasts."<\/p>\n
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will open the
\nconference on Monday, which will bring together delegates from
\nover 80 member states including Afghanistan, Indonesia, Myanmar,
\nNorth Korea and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
Security will be tight with more than 250 police deployed for
\nthe event.<\/p>\n
Malaysia is the current chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement,
\na grouping of more than 100 mainly developing nations formed
\nduring the Cold War as an alternative to the Western and Eastern
\npower blocs.<\/p>\n
In recent years the grouping has turned its attention to
\nsocial issues as it struggles to maintain its relevance in the
\nmodern world.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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