KUALA LUMPUR, 18 April 2006 — Developing countries yesterday started an Internet-based news service, pooling their media resources to provide an alternative to what officials said was unfair coverage by the Western media.
Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama will host the “NAM News Network,” a joint effort of the 114 member countries of the Nonaligned Movement.
“We can be the balance to counter the manipulation of the Western media and to confront their influence on us,” Cuba’s ambassador to Malaysia, Pedro Monzon Barata, was quoted as saying by Bernama.
He said NNN could reduce dependency of developing countries for news coverage on the Western-controlled media, which he said often painted a negative picture.
The Nonaligned Movement is a group of nations that tried to stay neutral during the Cold War. It includes mostly poor countries but also thriving economies like Singapore, Malaysia and India.
The content for the NNN website will be provided by the national news agencies of NAM’s member countries as well as a few other developing countries such as China, whose news agency Xinhua has a wide global presence. It is expected to be formally inaugurated in June.
A French, Spanish and Arabic news service are also being planned to cater to North African, Middle Eastern and Latin American countries.
Bernama General Manager Syed Jamil Jaafar said NNN will make the voice of NAM countries heard in the global arena. “For too long, we in the developing countries have been lamenting that we have not been getting fair coverage from the international media,” he said. “We complain of biased reporting. We bemoan lopsided coverage of our affairs. We complain but our complaints often fall on deaf ears.”
