Hanoi (VNA) – The VietnamNews Agency (VNA) is one of the most active members in modernising the websiteof the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA), and is an example toother agencies, according to President of the organization Aslan Aslanov.

He made the remarks in a recent interview with VNAreporters on the occasion of the 44th Executive BoardMeeting of OANA, which will be hosted by the VNA in Hanoi on April 18-20, underthe theme “For aprofessional and innovative journalism”.

The following is the full text of theinterview.

Reporter: We all know that innovation in the press isconstant, and each news agency needs to keep up with modern trends and improveproduct quality. However, these efforts should not be made by only member newsagencies. What measures should OANA take to support the agencies in innovationand help them share results of their innovations?

Mr. Aslan Aslanov: Letme first of all express gratitude to the Government of Vietnam and DirectorGeneral of Vietnam's VNA Nguyen Duc Loi on behalf of the members of theorganization for hosting the 44th Executive Board Meeting of the Organizationof Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA). The two leading agencies in the region,VNA and AZERTAC enjoy very efficient relations of partnership both in bilateralformat and within OANA. I am very grateful to your team for this reliablepartnership. I am confident that our meeting will be held at a high level.

Iagree with you that OANA and other media organizations should assistwith the development of member agencies so that they keep upwith modern changes and are ready to address challenges on time.

AsOANA chair, AZERTAC has put forward a package of proposals in this regard. Weheld broad discussions on the issue at the Executive Board meeting in Tehrantoo. A large part of these proposals is related to the transformation ofOANA into a more modern organization. We made a proposal to establish apermanent general secretariat to ensure more flexible management of theorganization. The list of proposals also includes the establishment ofa Training Academy, and the organization of workshops andtrainings on a regular basis by using the potential of member agencies'professionals.

The exchange of experience is the conditionfor the spread of innovations. When there is no experience and exchange ofviews, the implementation of innovations is delayed, and in general it isimpossible to keep up with time. OANA’s improvement will thereforebenefit each agency, and this should be our common job. Of course, each ofus should do our best to make OANA a more useful organization for each memberagency. There is still much work ahead.

Reporter: Modernization of OANA’swebsite aims to further spread its news. What progress has been made inupgrading the website?

Mr. Aslan Aslanov:  OANA’swebsite is a mirror of the organization. It is a constantly updatedplatform in which the advanced web-technologies were applied.It creates additional opportunities for each member agency to expandits readership.

Asthe chair of the organization, we first of all paid attention to the web accesson mobile devices taking into account the mobile technologies trends. Wecreated a mobile version of the website and updated a player so thatvideos can be easily watched on mobile devices, etc. Also theaccessibility of the site's news on Twitter was ensured. We made someinnovations to increase the functionality of the website, as a result ofwhich the number of visits from mobile devices increased by 47 percent in 2018.

Whenwe assumed the presidency of OANA, only 7-8 member agencieswere posting their news on the website. By contacting each memberagency and by sending them letters, we urged them to be more active.Most of them responded positively, which increased the number of newsagencies constantly posting their news on the website to 24. The memberagencies have posted over 500,000 news stories on OANA's website so far.

Ofcourse, if all the members are active, the number of news will increasefurther. VNA is one of the most active members in this regard. The activity ofyour agency is an example to other agencies.

Reporter: The 44th OANA ExecutiveBoard Meeting will announce the winners of the organization’s "ExcellenceAward" contest. AZERTAC bids with a knowledge website for children atportal.azertag.az. How was the website built and what benefits has itgenerated?

Mr.Aslan Aslanov: "OANAExcellence Award" can be regarded as a factor stimulating the activitiesof member agencies in the terms of innovations. This is already the 3rdcontest of its kind. Twelve agencies presented their projects this time,including the VNA, which also bids with a project based on theapplication of innovations.

AZERTAC'snews portal for children is an education-oriented project stemming fromthe existing conditions created by internet technologies, that is, arequirement of time. However, it is a fact that along with its lots ofbenefits, the Internet has negative effects too.

Childrenare more likely exposed to the risk of being influenced by maliciousfactors in the era of mobile technologies. To protect them from theserisks is becoming increasingly difficult. We therefore decided to producenews for children through a dedicated platform. 

Currently,both schoolchildren and parents show great interest in this portal. Because thecontent we post there is unique. Children also share their thoughts here andcommunicate with each other virtually. We publish their poems, paintings, andother creative works that are the product of children's imagination, and holdcontests and quizzes.

Thecreative team of the portal holds meetings at schools and kindergartens, andorganizes master classes for them. I believe that this helps us contributeto raising awareness of children, who are the future of society, increasetheir knowledge, and protect them from the risks caused by mobiletechnologies.-VNA