Fifteen representatives from media organisations within the SAARC region recommended that there should be a common platform and a web portal to increase cooperation among news agencies of SAARC.
The representatives, attending the three-day seminar in Paro, said it would allow sharing of accurate and authentic information and news within SAARC. It is also expected to support objective reporting on SAARC related issues.
“For example in Bhutan, most of the news are very local, so even if we report something on SAARC region, it is very erratic or very infrequent. We have very less frequency of all the news and coverage,” said Dawa Penjor of the Department of Information and Media.
Each SAARC country will be represented by at least one of its news agencies on this common platform. “At the moment there are no contacts of news agencies among themselves. Like our news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan, we get very little news about Bhutan. In Bhutan you never get to know what is happening in Pakistan or Sri Lanka rather you get better news on the USA,” said Omar Liaqat of Pakistan.
Ajit Kumar Sarkar of the National News Agency of Bangladesh shared the same opinion. “We are facing some problem getting news from other agencies and there are magnificent development taking place in SAARC countries. So I think this should be focused but there is no exchange arrangement.”
But Bhutan currently does not have a news agency. A news agency is which supply news reports to newspapers, magazines and broadcasters.
