Association of Asia-Pacific News Agencies signs Istanbul declaration
Istanbul, October 23, AZERTAC
Members of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) have today signed the Istanbul declaration at the ogranizaiton’s 51st Executive Board meeting.
"Disinformation in the digital era is widely disseminated through modern and traditional media. It gives the audience a distorted and misleading picture of the developments," the declaration said, urging news agencies to meet their professional duty to fight disinformation and provide their audience with "comprehensive and balanced information."
Mentioning that the OANA encourages regional and international cooperation among news agencies to fight disinformation, it said the organization also encouraged the promotion of media literacy to help people distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources of news and to let them know the importance of critical thinking and fact-checking.
“Regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip, OANA is deeply concerned about the situation resulting from the tension between Israel and Palestine. The organization called for the protection of journalists in that region and urged all institutions and organizations to take the highest measures to ensure the safety of journalists,” the document said.
Prior to the 51st OANA Executive Board Meeting, a conference themed “Cooperation among News Agencies on Fighting Disinformation” was held. AZERTAC Chairman of Board Vugar Aliyev also attended the conference.
The Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) was established on the initiative of UNESCO in 1961 with the aim of facilitating the exchange of information between the news agencies of the region. OANA member-agencies provide two-thirds of all information flow in the world.
Other news in this section
