OIC to revive Islamic news agency
The world's largest Islamic grouping will revive two Saudi Arabia-based news organizations to counter Western media's "skewered view'' of Islam, a Malaysian official said Wednesday.
The 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, will restart the International Islamic News Agency and the Islamic States Broadcasting Organization - both set up in the 1970s, Malaysia's deputy Information Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamid said.
Malaysia is the current chairman of the OIC.
"We want to revive it,'' Zahid said, adding the Saudi information minister has asked Malaysia to head the task.
It wasn't clear how long or why the two organisations - which will provide text and video - have been dormant. Zahid didn't provide details.
"The negative view of Islamic countries must change. The foreign media often has a bias against us,'' he said.
"They have a skewered view.''
No starting date or costs were provided.
Muslim nations, including Malaysia, have said media coverage by Western news organisations, particularly in the Middle East, is lopsided and portrays a negative view of Islam.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, after a tour of Lebanon, recently complained images and stories displayed a bias toward Israel.
Zahid said Malaysia has offered to set up a center for journalists from Islamic countries, which will be funded by the OIC, the world's largest political grouping of Muslim nations.
Separately, a news network under the 118-nation Nonaligned Movement will launch a Spanish news service, Malaysia's Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said.
Zainuddin said he met representatives from Cuba and Venezuela recently, and four Spanish-language journalists from South America will soon be based at the NAM News Network headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. - AP
The 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, will restart the International Islamic News Agency and the Islamic States Broadcasting Organization - both set up in the 1970s, Malaysia's deputy Information Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamid said.
Malaysia is the current chairman of the OIC.
"We want to revive it,'' Zahid said, adding the Saudi information minister has asked Malaysia to head the task.
It wasn't clear how long or why the two organisations - which will provide text and video - have been dormant. Zahid didn't provide details.
"The negative view of Islamic countries must change. The foreign media often has a bias against us,'' he said.
"They have a skewered view.''
No starting date or costs were provided.
Muslim nations, including Malaysia, have said media coverage by Western news organisations, particularly in the Middle East, is lopsided and portrays a negative view of Islam.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, after a tour of Lebanon, recently complained images and stories displayed a bias toward Israel.
Zahid said Malaysia has offered to set up a center for journalists from Islamic countries, which will be funded by the OIC, the world's largest political grouping of Muslim nations.
Separately, a news network under the 118-nation Nonaligned Movement will launch a Spanish news service, Malaysia's Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said.
Zainuddin said he met representatives from Cuba and Venezuela recently, and four Spanish-language journalists from South America will soon be based at the NAM News Network headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. - AP
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