OANA working sessions start in Tehran

TEHRAN. KAZINFORM - Managing Director of Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Zia Hashemi, President of OANA Aslan Aslanov and members of this Asian media organization are present in the sessions which have been underway in Tehran since the opening ceremony of OANA 43rd meeting earlier this morning, IRNA reports.

The today specialist working sessions are to agree on the Tehran meeting agenda, brief on the approvals of the 42nd meeting of the Executive Board of OANA in Beirut, Lebanon, and discuss time and venue for the future meeting to be held in South Korea and hosted by Yonhap news Agency.

In his address to morning's opening session, Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Abbas Salehi urged adoption of new methods and approaches not to lag behind modern science and technology in the field of news dissemination.

'Drafting and adopting updated and effective programs by OANA member countries is an inevitable and serious duty and having short-term, medium-term and long-term plans which are feasible to be implemented can speed up the process of strengthening OANA and make it more harmonious,' said the minister.

Another speaker of the inaugural session was Managing Director of Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Zia Hashemi who criticized Western media for being formed in the context of the colonial history and urged the need to end information despotism in the world.

'Dominance over media and news agencies has provided the big powers with a huge extraordinary might for a long time, in a way that they have been able to use the news and information leverage to take measures to change beliefs and attitudes and to engineer domestic and foreign public opinions. These powers' exploitation of media has resulted in the emergence of a phenomenon which can be called 'Information Despotism,' Hashemi said.

The third speaker of the morning session was OANA cheif Aslan Aslanov who said the regional media body needs an educational academy to equip its member states with the latest innovation and technical knowledge in face of new challenges.

OANA was founded in 1961 with the goal of facilitating information dissemination in the region, supported by the United Nations cultural entity, the UNESCO.

The organization covering two thirds of the world population has now 44 members from 35 countries of Asia and Oceania.

Iran, as a long-standing member, was the rotating president in 1997-2000.