ANTARA News Agency established partnership with the Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on news exchange and technical cooperation.
The signing of the MoU was conducted virtually on Thursday (Jan 27) by President Director of ANTARA Meidyatama Suryodiningrat and CEO of NAMPA Linus Sitomiso Chata and witnessed by Indonesian Ambassador to Namibia Wisnu Edi Pratignyo.
According to Suryodiningrat, or better known as Dimas, renewal of the cooperation, first established in 1998, should be able to expand the knowledge bridge between the people of Indonesia and Namibia.
“There are many things to learn from each other. I think, while we have very limited knowledge about each other’s people, our mutual experiences in handling the COVID crisis is one of the areas in which we can exchange best practices for both our people,” Dimas affirmed.
The exchange of media products during the COVID-19 pandemic, with emphasis on accelerating digital transformation in the process of gathering and disseminating news, is viewed as being important, as Indonesia only has limited information regarding developments pertaining to COVID-19 in Africa, in general, including in Namibia.
“We often hear about the American continent, the European continent, and other Asian countries, but actually, news concerning Africa and development of this pandemic has been very limited,” he noted.
In addition, the area of cooperation that can be further strengthened by the two news agencies is how to deal with “new media” or changing media consumption habits among members of the public.
This is since Indonesia, with the largest digital media consumer population in the world, is flooded with various types of information, several of which are unverified, lies, or hoaxes.
“Those are areas in which we can share our mutual experiences, and I think Indonesia, taking into account the size of the country, is a bit of a laboratory in areas in this new media,” Dimas pointed out.
Meanwhile, Chata accentuated the importance of cooperation between NAMPA and ANTARA as the information contained in the news supports the social and economic development of a nation to prepare for a better future.
“To this end, I am pleased to see that our two institutions were able to sign a fresh news exchange and technical cooperation agreement, with the primary aim being to continue mending and guiding our news exchange relationship on the basis of equality and reciprocal advantages,” Linus stated.
Furthermore, Linus remarked that the news collaboration would facilitate an increase in the quick and free flow of news as well as help understand the cultural diversity between the people of Namibia and Indonesia.
“The MoU will also ensure that the world gets to hear stories from our respective countries and community without having the third party to do that on our behalf. We have the technology, the capability, and we can access one another,” he stated while referring to the Western media that tends to report bad news about Africa.
Through the MoU, ANTARA will disseminate news about Namibia in Indonesia, while NAMPA will broadcast news about Indonesia in Namibia.
The scope of the MoU encompasses the exchange of news in the form of text, images, and videos between the two parties as well as the provision of mutual technical support and knowledge sharing.
Source: Antara News