Elections media preparations in full swing: BNA director-general

Manama, Oct. 22 (BNA): Upon directives of Information Affairs Minister Ali bin Mohammed Al Romaihi, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) has prepared a fully-integrated comprehensive media coverage plan for Bahrain’s parliamentary and municipal elections on November 24, the sixth to be held in the prosperous era of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, BNA’s Director General Ahmed Mohammed Al Mannai, said. The agency will bring the major democratic event to the focus of local and international audiences to showcase Bahrain’s remarkable civilizational progress, he said, adding that within this frame, BNA has recently upgraded its website on the Internet as well as on various social media. All media channels affiliated to BNA are fully set to cover all the ballot activities and communicate them to the entire world, and in particular to Bahrainis abroad, on firsthand basis. Al Mannai said Bahrain News Agency dedicates all its human, technical and technological capabilities to follow up the national elections and has adopted a special working mechanism and plan for the elections’ coverage. "We have actually begun to broadcast election-geared news and reports bilingually in Arab and English," he said. "The news stories and reports published by the agency have been boosted with a special Infographic feature which includes statistics about candidates, and voters as well as locations of polling stations in a step that will contribute to boosting the informative content according to a new vision based on transparency and professionalism." He explained that Bahrain News Agency has long sought to use all the latest modern technologies to promote its visions in transmission of news. Al Mannai added that BNA would continue to distribute edited materials and important news about the elections to the various local and foreign media channels. In comments on personnel who would be deployed by the agency to cover the parliamentary and municipal elections , he said that working teams comprising editors, reporters and photographers from the agency will cover the election events at the various polling stations. "There will also be a team from BNA at the Media Centre set up to broadcast, transmit and follow up news of the election process and press conferences, conduct interviews and publish them and covetr the press Conference to be held by the Minister of Justice to announce the election results," he said.