OANA emphasizes fast and accurate news services

ANKARA

With the rise of mobile media, news agencies need to lead the market through speed and accuracy, according to the Organization of Asia Pacific News Agencies.

"We will lead the media market with quick and accurate news services based on the understanding that the role of news agencies is ever growing due to the rise of mobile media," OANA said in a declaration issued Tuesday following a two-day executive meeting in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

OANA members will vitalize exchanges and bolster cooperation in various fields to keep credibility, and protect information sovereignty in the Asia-Pacific region, the statement said.

The members also underlined their commitment to reporting acts of terrorism "accurately and without fear or bias".

Anadolu Agency received an Excellence in News Agency Quality award from the organization on Monday for its coverage of Turkey's June and November general elections.

Deputy Director General Metin Mutanoglu said the agency's speed and reliability in providing the election results demonstrated the benefits of the digital era for news agencies.

"Now, with mobile internet services, readers or viewers access news websites anytime to browse real-time news and get the latest news, weather or traffic updates," he told the meeting.

He added: "One of the cornerstones of mobile applications in respect of journalism is the discipline of verification, and verification is often thought of as the process of checking the accuracy of facts -- the who, what, where, when and why of an event -- but the term can also refer to the assessment of the reliability of a source."

Mutanoglu said Anadolu Agency aimed to bring together citizen journalists and the agency’s global network of correspondents to tell their stories through the AA Social application.

AA Social is a crowd-sourced news application that makes sharing news a social experience.

"The mass of information now available and being shared online offers a fantastic arena for journalists to engage with online communities and pick up breaking news at the same time," Mutanoglu said.

The digital environment would mean journalists would have to sharpen their verification and fact-checking.

The agency plans to expand into the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions, Mutanoglu said, with new offices and more journalists.