News top managers in Moscow

By Vestnik Kavkaza

On June 19 1961 in Moscow the 15th General Assembly of the Organization of News Agencies in Asia and the Pacific started. OANA was established on the initiative of UNESCO to facilitate the exchange of information in the Asia-Pacific region. Today, the organization brings together the leaders of 44 news agencies from 35 countries. The South Caucasus is represented by delegates from Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. News executives meet once every three years. The decision to hold a commemorative assembly in the Russian capital was made in 2010 in Istanbul, where the ITAR -TASS news agency was elected chairman of the Assembly.

The Chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko noted the critical importance of OANA as the largest media organization. Member countries account for 2/3 of the total volume of global information flow. In her speech, the Chairwoman of the Federation Council did not fail to mention the Syrian issue. “The course consistently held by our country, and the initiative of the Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the prospect of political and diplomatic solution to the problem, for the prevention of casualties and human suffering. I want to appeal to you to promote the peaceful development of all events, including in Syria and at all other points where the situation is tense, particularly on the Korean peninsula,” she said.

The new president of OANA was elected the information agency ITAR-TASS. Its Director General Sergei Mikhailov stated that “in the current information flow, when only iron does not transmit any information, for any person, be it a politician, a senior manager or a simple ordinary citizen, it is important to understand what information is true and what is not. Therefore, with the seemingly huge volume of information, the question of verification of the information and the stamp of what has actually happened and where and how it actually happened, it is very important. With the technology of the internet and social networks we have to consider these factors in our work, while remaining a reliable source of information. TASS, as always, will hold and carry high the flag that if TASS wrote about something then the event did happen.”

Speaking about importance of the forum, Dmitry Zhuk, Director General of the Belarusian Telegraph Agency, told Vestnik Kavkaza: “Today, the countries of Asia and the Pacific show rapid growth. There are a lot of interesting things there. In many ways, our people and our business do not know about it. Therefore, this sort of events allow us to open a window into that part of the world. And one more little fact, we do not know this, but this region has up to two thirds of all information flow. These figures speak for themselves. Partnerships between agencies, to which these events strongly contribute,form that live thread, the permanent binding element, which allows information to fuel our society.”

Appraising the level of relations between the Belarusian and Caucasian media, Zhuk said: “We have a great relationship with the media from this region. We have a long-standing partnership agreement with the Trend which operates in the region, with AzerTA. We keep very intimate relationships with Armenian colleagues, with various information portals from Georgia. These are absolutely normal, civilized and very progressive media. And I would not single them out separately, they are part of global news content.”

Answering the question on how much demand there is in Belarus for information on the South Caucasus, Dmitry Zhuk noted: “There is a demand for two reasons. First, the memory of the Soviet Union, the single community is still strong and powerful. And Russian language contributes to this, as it consolidates the information space. And second, we have very active trade with all these countries.”

Maxim Minchev, Director General of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, told Vestnik Kavkaza that as “there are agency representatives from all over the world and representatives of agencies of regions that are now almost every day in the news, it is a very good opportunity to establish new contacts, exchange business cards, which in itself means that the contacts will continue, to exchange experiences. There are interesting agencies, ranging from global giants like ITAR -TASS and Xinhua, and interesting small agencies, which also have their place in our global business, like from the Arab countries. Everything that is happening in world politics is associated with Syria, and then the representatives of all the countries_ from Syria 's neighbors, the opposing sides, Iran, Saudi Arabia and so on.”
 
According to Minchev, the Bulgarian telegraph agency has excellent relations with all the countries of the Caucasus: “With Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and of course, Russia. Moreover, not only the contacts that we ordinary agencies are keeping with each other in order to share information and photos, but practical, interesting links. Because we communicate quite often, we often meet. Straight from Moscow, in just three weeks, all my friends will come to Sofia, where I will be holding a World Congress
, which will unite more than 20 or even 30 agencies from around the world. Just three months ago, we were in Sochi, there were all the countries of the Black Sea region. You know, I'm a supporter of having not simply official and protocol contacts. This is, in my opinion, in the past. Now we need to, especially at a time when there are comprehensive and unique changes in our profession, the media infrastructure is changing and we do not know what will happen in five years with our journalistic profession, it is very important indeed to have such contacts and such professional exchanges, and for this these forums are very important. The Caucasus has always been an interesting place with both good and bad news. I remember a lot from the Caucasus, military information, as well as what is happening in connection with the Olympics, due to energy projects and so on. It seems to me that the Caucasus has its important place in the world news, and we in Bulgaria have traditionally had a strong interest in the region.”