FANA’s annual conference, prospective analysis [Archives:2004/700/Reportage]
January 5 2004
 |
It's been 31 years on the establishment of the Arab Union for News Agencies “FANA”. Since 1965 the union's aim was to strengthen professional ties between all the agencies affiliated and to provide a broader scope for them to perform their job and publish news and Arab issues within their nations and to the external world as well, even if relatively. And for doing so, the union attempted connecting between its members through conducting regular conferences and meetings and regular assemblies.
FANA currently includes 19 members of news agencies from various Arab states and conducts its annual meeting for the general assembly, the highest body in the union, in the presence of the managers of all the member agencies. Whereas the general secretariat body meets twice a year in order to discuss the union's activities. 1974 is considered the actual start of the union's activities where it had conducted its second meeting in Baghdad and where it decreed to be functional.
The union since its establishment has succeeded in achieving a number of its objectives which had participated in progressing of the Arab work; one of the main achievements mentioned is the inauguration of a number of centers the most important of which is an Arab office for distribution and transmission of news to Europe through Vienna.
For training and awareness, FANA annually conducts seminars and workshops for the member agencies as well as it conducts round table sessions for the authentication of the credibility of news and the future of and challenges facing the Arab news agencies.
The union was able to win real cooperation of regional and international establishments such as the Arab League, Fredrich Ebert Stiftung the German association, Reuters News Agency, Thomson Establishment, American International Institute for training of journalists, Training Institute for Foreign Journalists in Virginia, the International Institute for Communication in America and many others.
The 31st annual meeting for FANA was conducted this time in Sana'a between the 6th and the 7th of last month. In the meeting, many issues and topics were discussed; in fact it was quite interesting that this conference was rather different than all the ones before due to the urgent crises and the rapid developments in the region. The participants gave their inputs regarding the needs and requirements of their respective agencies and the conditions of the Arab media and how it is important to keeping up with the developments and the advancements in a rapidly changing world.
Previous director of the union, Mr. Ahmed Jasim al-Hamar and head of the Qatari news agency in the conference confirmed that the union aims to elevate with the technical body in the Arab news agencies through the revolutionized technology, because in spite of the high- tech equipment and advancements in the world yet the Arab media which lack true competition and breaking news technologies. The official media especially is a transferring tool more than it is a continuous tool for awareness and the reason behind this is that it always follows the state's policy.
For the sake of advancing the Arab media, Mr. Jasim added, the media should open up politically and not to be confined to a certain policy or affiliation, this way it would become more objective and produce better quality information and analysis.
Transparency is another side of the success coin, because only through transparency would the news agency gain credibility and is able to reach higher and better standards in its work, he commented. Mr. al-Hamar said about the priorities of the Arab media in the current times that it should be to fight terrorism and work on spreading the dialogue of culture and to take efforts in distinguishing between destructive terrorism and the righteous fighting for freedom and resisting occupation.
Dr. Rabi Abdula'ati Obaid head of the Sudanese News Agency SUNA pointed in the conference that of the priorities that should be concentrated on in the present time is the role which the news agencies should play especially amongst the huge flood of information that is present in this century. And also to take adequate measures towards combating the media attack on the Arab world. Obaid confirmed that information and expertise exchange between the various media institutions in the Arab world is essential and it is the foundation stone to establishing a large scale Arab information center which would work on uniting the visions and complete coordination between the individual efforts facing the challenges and to pay more efforts in the dialogues between civilizations.
He added that there are many significant challenges facing the Arab news agencies and that the media and information message needs restructuring of its objectives and references.
Ibrahim al-Abid head of the Emirates News Agency said that the role of the news agencies is limited to presenting news and some reports and that this could be improved if efforts were made at two levels; the first is with regard to the improvement of the quality of newsletters and reports in accuracy, and adequate reference which gives better insight to the case and its background especially with regard to Islamic and Arab cultures. The other aspect or level is to care for the foreign languages newsletters and information produced because it could give a negative effect if not attended to.
He continued saying that the role of the Arab news agencies has retarded because of the significant changes in the media arena such as the technological advancement in the communication field. He sees also that news agencies are more credible when it comes to the information presented because it takes more time to ensure the accuracy of its news. Although the news agencies suffer from scarcity of resources because they have a limited market therefore they are not as popular as other media tools such as TV.
Head of the Yemeni news agency SABA current director of the Arab News Agencies Union Mr. Nasr Taha Mustafa sees that the Arab news agencies can not escape facing the truth. The truth of its current circumstances and the challenges of today, an issue which demands a united vision and endorsing the good relations between the Arab states and building bridges with various societies whether regional or international. For the present circumstances are unprecedented, especially regarding the gulf crises and Iraqi war. Mr. Mustafa sees also that the current concern is to be present actively on the international arena and to defend vigorously our identity and civilization, to protect fair peace, requirements of security and stability everywhere and to deepen the transparency is dealing with renovation, change in order to embark on competition and internationalism.
Mr. Mustafa confirmed also that the widening gap between the Arab and international news agencies is a result of weakness and contradiction between aspirations and efforts. Therefore it is of great significance to start working on rehabilitation and preparing the Arab news agencies for a stronger role internationally which goes in line with the international standards. The role must work parallelly in two lines; at local and regional levels supporting democracy and development in the Arab world, and then to venture into a wider dimension regarding international competition and to work on removing the negative image that some of the international media produces about the Islamic and Arab world.
Dr. Fareed Ayar, the general secretariat of FANA sees that the Arab news agencies are the activators of the union and that they should work together in endorsing the concepts of democracy and fighting terrorism. As for the media message and the extent of its unity he admitted that the Arab media messages are not united and they work individually according to their state's policies. He added that the books and publications regarding the Arab message remain pointless if no implementing is done, for example regarding the Palestinian case which is the concern of all Arab countries in fact is the main case, and even though the message is not united and there is no common stand towards it and towards many other issues.
And regarding the challenges that face the Arab news agencies and satellite channels he said that the main issue is to be liberated from the government's influence and to leave space for the other points of view. Of the challenges also is the lack of technological advancements and the lack of moral guidance. If credibility is lost then the media tool will definitely lose its value.
The news agencies have a vital role in regaining the glory of the Arab civilization that was long ago, because it could work as a guide and promoting tool to encourage the respectable intellectuals to work more towards reviving the glory. Striving towards promoting human rights and freedoms and to spread awareness among the people about what is going on and the real truths because their understanding influences their actions and behaviors.
The conference concluded with the common understanding of the challenges and obstacles facing the Arab media generally, such as the difficulty in availing accurate information and the slow linking between the event with the news, and how to work on facing them and enhancing the performance of the Arab news agencies.
The other issue about how the news agencies are closely related to the policies of the government was also admitted and common understanding of the need to broaden the scope and allow the other opinion to exist was also agreed upon. Another issue regarding going international was also agreed upon and points regarding how to move in this direction were decided as well as strategies regarding the joint campaigns especially in the present circumstances. Many hopes and dreams had arisen and the reality was also admitted , what will eventually turn up in the future of the Arab media, remains to be seen.
——
[archive-e:700-v:13-y:2004-d:2004-01-05-p:report]
