(PINA/IFEX) – Press institutes and journalism training organisations have formed a Council of Asia-Pacific Press Institutes to help strengthen journalism training and news media development in the region. Charter members are: the Press Institute of Bangladesh, the Press Institute of India, the Korean Press Institute, the Press Institute of Mongolia, the Nepal Press Institute, the […]
(PINA/IFEX) – Press institutes and journalism training organisations have
formed a Council of Asia-Pacific Press Institutes to help strengthen
journalism training and news media development in the region.
Charter members are: the Press Institute of Bangladesh, the Press Institute
of India, the Korean Press Institute, the Press Institute of Mongolia, the
Nepal Press Institute, the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), the
Pakistan Press Foundation, and the Philippine Press Institute.
The council was formed at a meeting in Manila (capital city of the
Philippines), hosted by the Philippine Press Institute. Its founders plan to
invite other similar national and regional news media organisations to join.
The council’s main objectives include:
and
Council members decided to further develop the use of their NetCenter for
Media Institutes of Asia and the Pacific web site
(http://www.pressasia.org/PFA/). This was set up through the Asian Press
Institutes project of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and launched on World Press Freedom Day,
3 May 1998. It is coordinated by the Press Foundation of Asia and hosted by
the online edition of the Philippine daily newspaper “BusinessWorld.”
Elected to be the council’s first executive are:
Chair: Philippine Press Institute, represented by Ermin Garcia, executive
director;
Vice-chair: Nepal Press Institute, represented by Gokul Pokhrel,
president;
Executive member: Press Institute of India, represented by Ajit
Bhattacharjea, executive director;
Executive member: Korean Press Institute, represented by Dr Koo-Hyun Lee, a
senior executive; and
Executive member: Pacific Islands News Association, represented by Peter
Lomas, coordinator, PINA Pacific Journalism Development Centre.
The Manila meeting was chaired by Garcia. Discussion leaders were Mike
Marasigan, of the Philippine Press Institute (The Press in the 21st
Century); Bhattacharjea (The Relevance of Press Institutes); Pokhrel (The
Training of Journalists); Lomas (Funding the Institutes); and Garcia (An
Asia-Pacific Council).
Participants were also told of the work of the International Freedom of
Expression Exchange (IFEX) by IFEX members PINA and Pakistan Press
Foundation, which was represented by IFEX council convenor Owais Aslam Ali.
The meeting was organised through the support of the Asian Media Project of
the Konrad Adenauer Foundation of Germany. As well as the Konrad Adenauer
Foundation, representatives from “Nihon Shinbun Kyokai”, of Japan, and
UNESCO also took part.
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation funded earlier meetings of Asian Press
Institutes, in Manila, hosted by the Press Foundation of Asia (1996), and
Ulaanbaatar, hosted by the Press Institute of Mongolia (1997).
They followed a meeting organised by UNESCO in Kathmandu in 1992, and hosted
by the Nepal Press Institute. This began cooperation between some of the
member institutes and journalism training organisations.
