TEHRAN – The Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) meeting opens today in Tehran with speeches by Iranian Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hosseini and OANA Secretary General Ahmad Mukhlis Yusuf, who is also the president of Indonesia’s ANTARA news agency.

The OANA 31st Executive Board Meeting (EBM) and the 25th Editorial-Technical Experts Group (ETEG) Meeting is being hosted by the Mehr News Agency.
The conference, whose theme is “A Quest for Global Media Balancing”, is being held to close the gaps between in the world media.
Iranian deputy foreign minister and deputy culture minister, a number of advisors to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, some Iranian parliamentarians, ambassadors from OANA member countries, senior editors of Iranian news agencies, and correspondents from international news agencies are among the participants of the event.
More than 40 representatives from 18 governmental and non-governmental news agencies from Asia-Pacific states are participating in the conference.
Some media experts and political officials are of the opinion that the union of Asian news agencies is a prelude to the destruction of the monopoly of the Western media over the coverage of world events.
Ali Asghar Mahaki, the managing director of the mass-circulation newspaper Hamshahri, says the conference presents a logical approach to challenge the Western media monopolization.
Mahaki says the flow of information over the past few decades has always been unbalanced and one-sided in favor of the West and against developing countries.
The managing director of the Afghan news agency AVA, Seyyed Isa Hosseini Mazari, says the meeting provides an opportunity for greater cooperation between the authentic news agencies of the Asia-Pacific region in opposition to the Western media.
Mohammad Reza Jamali, a senior editor from Hamshahri, says unfortunately Asia-Pacific countries are not playing the main role in the dissemination of news. If the Asia-Pacific media outlets cooperate efficiently, they can end the West’s media monopoly, he added.
Mohammad Hossein Sufi, the deputy director of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, said the meeting will create a new line of thinking toward the media and will lead to unity among Asia-Pacific media outlets.
MP Ahmad-Reza Dastgheib of the Majlis Cultural Committee said, “The only way to end the imperialistic powers’ monopoly over the flow of information is the convergence of media outlets.”
------------The promotion of media science
Iranian scholar Hushang Abbaszadeh believes that the OANA meeting should not be treated like a ceremonial event and should provide a great opportunity for the promotion of media science in Iran.
“I must admit, as far as I know, the foreign participants are professional news agencies and Iranian media outlets can benefit from their knowledge and experience,” said Abbaszadeh, who is a sociology professor at Allamah Tabatabaii University.