People's Daily Offers News-Exchange Cooperation with Antara News Agency

Jakarta (Antara) - The People's Daily, one of the major media outlets in China, had offered a news-exchange cooperation program with the Indonesian News Agency, Antara. The proposal was delivered by the People's Daily's Vice Chief Editor, Chen Jun Hong, on his visit to the Antara News Agency's office here on Thursday, by addressing the importance of people-to-people understanding between the two countries. "The news exchange between media should be enhanced given the world's need of quick, yet qualified news from all over the world," Chen said. In line with the cooperation proposal from the People's Daily, Antara News Agency's Managing Director Saiful Hadi said the news-exchange program will support what he called "press diplomacy." "Antara already had a few cooperation programs with other media outlets around the world, and we believe that those will enhance the understanding among countries through what we called the press diplomacy," Saiful explained. Saiful added that Antara News Agency is the member of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agency (OANA) and has news-exchange cooperation programs with some other news agencies, namely Agence France Presse (AFP), Reuters, Xin Hua (China), Iranian Mehr News Agency, and others. Therefore, Saiful stressed that Antara was keen to establish the news-exchange cooperation program with the People's Daily. Both the People's Daily and Antara News Agency had agreed to hold further discussions about the details of the cooperation in the future. Chen, who came to Antara's office with six colleagues, also complimented the press freedom in Indonesia, particularly after the New Order under former President Soeharto ended. Saiful Hadi said Indonesia is a free country for the press, "Media can criticize the government and even our president, and they cannot sue them, unless it violated the law." However, Saiful said, Antara, which is considered as the national news agency and received about 40 percent funding from the state, will never do what other Indonesian media do. "We will always act as a state news agency," he stressed. (*) reporting by azi fitriyanti