Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) president highlighted fake news as a serious issue currently, as it largely impacts news agencies, but OANA member agencies exult in a long-standing history and experience, some almost century-old.

"Hence, until the time news agencies and the principles of journalism are existent, the society can feel safe, as despite fake news being rampant, we are able to fight back with accurate and reliable news," OANA President Aslan Aslanov stated during the 44th Executive Board Meeting of OANA in Hanoi, Friday.

Aslanov believes the high level of trust laid on OANA news agencies is owing to the firm and steady adherence to the principles of identification and fact-checking of news prior to them being published.

"Hence, OANA is truly a team of the most reliable news producers," he affirmed.

Furthermore, Aslanov drew focus to the rising dependence of news agencies on technology and the necessity to apply the latest innovations to win an audience and maintaining efficient flow of information among partner media organizations.

In the meantime, Vietnam News Agency Deputy General Director Le Quoc Minh called on the need to revert to the core values of journalism and professionalism in order to get back the audience’s trust in mainstream news.

Minh highlighted the need for journalists to conduct careful verification of information, particularly in the face of rampant circulation of fake news, enhancing the quality of their products, boosting work ethics, and honing skills to employ novel technologies in the work process.

Lee Dong-min from the Yonhap News of the Republic of Korea pointed out that fake news had become a major issue in her country.

In a bid to tackle fake news, Yonhap News had established a fact-checking team in March 2018, primarily tasked with choosing three or four news weekly and conducting comprehensive fact-checking, particularly in case of statements made by influential people.

Dong-min believes fake news tend to become viral on social media partly owing to the lack of a reputed institution or media for verifying the information.

Hence, taking responsibility as a member of the media, news agencies should look for solutions to ensure timely flagging, checking, evaluation, and rectification of false news, she stated.

Kyodo News of Japan noted in its country report that to authenticate information being circulated on the web and tweaking for news coverage, the “D-Watch team” was set up in 2012 to monitor various websites and social media and update the News Centre on it.

Moreover, the D-Watch team conducts close monitoring of information on websites and social media in the face of a major accident or a serious natural calamity.

Kyodo News noted that in addition to monitoring information on websites and social media, the D-Watch team is currently applying an AI-assisted system termed “FASTALERT” for accruing information published by witnesses on social media.

In his address at the opening ceremony, Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister, Vu Duc Dam, remarked that in recent years, on account of several forms of communication enabled by modern technologies in addition to swift and extensive circulation of faked news, OANA has served as a direct channel to furnish information to news organizations and partners to check facts to aid in boosting the public's trust in mainstream media.

OANA was established in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 22, 1961, as an initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Currently, OANA brings together 44 news agencies from 35 countries, including ANTARA News Agency. OANA members are accountable for the circulation of two-thirds of the information worldwide.

The organization holds its triennial general assembly for the selection of an Executive Board, with 13 member news agencies. (ANTARA)

Lecturer at Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) Jenderal Sudirman University Purwokerto Ahmad Sabiq called to further streamline the management of simultaneous elections to prevent recurrence of incidents as in the 2019 election.

"There is a pressing need to improve the management side of the election. What is achievable is how the voting process facilitates voters and does not make it tough for the organizers," according to the lecturer in the Political Party and Electoral System theory course in Purwokerto, Banyumas District, Central Java, Saturday.

In a conversation with ANTARA, he recalled the several polling group organizers (KPPS) officers who tailed away as the organizers of the voting on Apr 17.

Sabiq opined that "advance voting" was one of the voting processes that facilitates voters and simplified tasks for organizers.

He elaborated that in "advance voting," the voters could sign up to vote on the previous day, especially for people facing technical obstacles to exercise their voting rights on the "D" day of voting.

"This 'advance voting' will protect the rights of voters and reduce the buildup of voters on the 'D' day of voting," he remarked.

In addition to "advance voting," Sabiq said he could opt for "electronic voting," or voting by utilizing information technology.

He believes "electronic voting" will facilitate the calculation process and save time and energy as well as increase the efficiency of the process.

Sabiq highlighted the need for making preparations for offering the alternatives, especially "electronic voting," while organizing simultaneous elections and their stage-wise implementation to prevent a relapse of events that had occurred during the 2019 election.

Clarifying matters pertaining to the simultaneous 2024 election being possibly organized in two or three stages, Sabiq called on the need for a comprehensive study owing to problems relating merely to technical implementation arising in the 2019 election.

The 2019 election was organized on Apr 17 for the election of the president and vice president as well as the members of the Indonesian Parliament, the Regional Representative Council (DPD RI), provincial and district/city parliament.

The simultaneous election in 2024 will be held to not only elect the president and vice president along with members of the parliament, but also to choose governors and deputy governors and district heads/mayors and deputy district heads/deputy mayor. (ANTARA)

The Borobudur Temple Tourism Park in Magelang, Central Java, will introduce a special route for foreign tourists visiting the world cultural heritage temple.

The General Manager of Borobudur Temple Tourism Park I Gusti Putu Ngurah Sedana in Magelang, Saturday said the special route was meant to ensure tourists received the best service. "Visitors do not want disturbances or obstacles while entering the temple. They want to safely and comfortably get to the temple," he said.

According to him, the special routes for foreign tourists were immediately realized, because the months of July, August, September and October usually saw the most number of foreign tourists.

He said that with the best service, when they returned to their country, they could speak about their safe, comfortable and enjoyable experience at the Borobudur Temple, so that more tourists visit the largest Buddhist temple in the world.

"From Maingate, tourists can head straight to the temple and get out via an electric car and back to the parking lot," he said.

According to him the route for foreign tourists has been changed in such a way that tourists who come feel comfortable. (ANTARA)

Europe on Screen (EoS), the European film festival, was officially opened by Charge de Affairs of the European Union Delegation to Indonesia, Charles-Michel Geurts, Thursday evening (04/18/2019) in Jakarta. Europe On Screen is held in several cities in Indonesia from 18 to 30 April 2019. In his remarks, Charles-Michel Geurts said the film took part in the economy and creative industries in Europe and also in Indonesia.

"Films are also about economic improvement, very important economic sectors in terms of the creative industry in Europe, we are talking about 5 million companies, we are talking about 7 billion jobs, we are talking about the contribution for EU gross domestic product of above 4 percents. And the same goes for Indonesia, according to Bekraf, Indonesian Creative industry agency, in 2016 the creative economy represented just over 7% of the GDP of Indonesia," said Charles-Michel Geurts.

Charles-Michel Geurts further added that cinemas are developing fast in Indonesia, making 1700 Cinemas in Indonesia which are slated to grow to some 7,500 in the next decade as representing the wealth of opportunity for Indonesia film making industry.

Europe on Screen (EoS) is the longest-running international film festival in Indonesia. Held the first time in 1990 under the name of “European Film Festival”, followed by the second edition in 1999, since 2003 the festival became an annual event under the current name of Europe on Screen. The festival primarily screens the high-quality film from European Union (EU) countries and other participating European countries with representatives in Indonesia. Jakarta is the anchor city of the festival, with 90% of the screenings and events are held in the city. The program comprises of film screenings, and other film-related events such as workshops, discussions, competitions, exhibitions, open-air screenings, and many others. (VOI/AHM)