HANOI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The 44th Meeting of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) Executive Board officially took place here on Friday, centering discussions on topics including fake news and fact-checking.
Addressing the meeting's opening ceremony, Vietnamese deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that in recent years, in the wake of numerous forms of communications based on modern technologies as well as fast and wide dissemination of fake news, the OANA serves as not only a channel to provide information to news organizations and partners, but also a fact checker to help bolster the trust of the public in traditional press.
According to him, pursuing a more professional and innovative approach to journalism will lend news organizations the strength to captivate audience and bolster the public's confidence, especially when fake news are doing damage to the image of the press.
In his speech at the meeting, OANA President Aslan Aslanov, who is also chairman of the board of AZERTAC (state news agency of Azerbaijan), said that as online media and social networks are expanding and a dangerous trend such as fake news is growing, "we must make continuous efforts in order to address these challenges and maintain the accuracy, objectivity and impartiality of news."
He called for OANA members to immediately apply innovations, continue to modernize their organizations and create more flexible news exchange mechanisms.
Themed "For Professional and Innovative Journalism," the meeting was attended by about 40 delegates from China's Xinhua News Agency, Russia's ITAR-TASS, Japan's Kyodo, South Korea's Yonhap, among others.
A photo exhibition of 11 news agencies, including Xinhua, was held on the sidelines of the meeting.
At the meeting's closing ceremony, the Executive Board announced the OANA Award for Excellence in News Agency Quality. Xinhua News Agency and Vietnam News Agency shared the first prize.
Founded in 1961 in Bangkok, the OANA, which groups 44 news agencies from 35 countries, aims to increase and facilitate a free flow of news and information and also to promote the availability of news information to people of the world.
