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News agency to counter Islamophobia |
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Saturday, 02 June 2007 |
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — To dispel the constant negative image painted by some parties and to give a better view of Islam, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) plans to revive the International Islamic News Agency and Malaysia is expected to play a key role in its restructuring.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said the time was right to revive the Jeddah-based agency to disseminate information regarding Muslims to counter the Islamophobia that is gripping the world.
"News from the Islamic world is not reported in the mainstream media, only sensational news is reported. Even if it is reported, it is somewhere in the corner (of the paper), not a main news," said Syed Hamid, who was attending the 34th Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) in the Pakistani capital.
The International Islamic News Agency, or IINA, is an organ of the OIC established in 1972 to highlight news from the Muslim society in major languages like Arabic, English and French. However, the agency had not been able to penetrate the non-Muslim media to promote its views on Islamic affairs.
IINA director Abdul Wahab Kashif said, "The West does not take our stories because they are not interested in Islam. They are more interested in sensational news and unusual things," he said, adding IINA needed proper funding to operate effectively.
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