ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Kao Kim Hourn believes in the power of media so he makes it a point there is a media engagement session with him at the start of the year. I attended this media engagement session for the second time last Thursday, February 6. He also hosted this kind of event for the members of the media last year.
There were about twenty Jakarta-based journalists who attended last Thursday. Some faces were familiar as I have seen them in previous ASEAN events and some were new. I was glad to have met a fellow Filipina yesterday working for Bloomberg here in Jakarta.
Power of Media
Ever since I started covering ASEAN events, the Community Relations Division of ASEAN has made it a point to have good relations with the media. They are very aware media is a big help in their goal to disseminate information about what ASEAN does and the initiatives it undertakes. Media helps in making the technicalities of multilateral relations easily understandable.
Bilateral relations between countries are complicated enough. Multilateral relations need to consider the dynamics among member-states including external relations. And not everybody is aware of what ASEAN does as a regional bloc. I had to familiarize myself with the ASEAN Member-States, other organizations under the ASEAN, and the external partners. Then there are agreements that are very technical that I can’t even fully grasp.
So, I fully understand how ASEAN is not easily relatable to ordinary citizens whose concern is their daily lives. They get interested with news that directly impact them, but not vague concepts and technicalities that the ASEAN handle.
Media Responsibility
Because of this important role of media, it is imperative for its members to be responsible and credible in bringing out information. In an organization like the ASEAN where terminologies and phrases matter, it is a huge responsibility.
I had been a little bit intimidated at first especially when the reports were technical in nature like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). But I learned to stand my ground when it came to the editing of my report, when necessary. There were things that can easily be let go of, but there were statements that needed to be guarded well.
I have big respect to journalists whose work had been consistently accurate and intentional in delivering the news as it is.
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Learning about accuracy news for the people to know
Magandang kaganapan at Pagpupulong Po iyan Ms wend