BERNAMA SHOULD EXPAND GLOBALLY, SAYS FORMER GENERAL MANAGER

KUALA LUMPUR, JULY 16 (Bernama) -- Former Bernama general manager Ahmad
Mustapha Md Hassan sees vast opportunities for the national news agency to
expand globally in the future.

Ahmad Mustapha, who started Bernama's commercial ventures when he helmed the
news agency in the 1980's, said it should consider going into new media business
such as Internet tv and blogs.

"Bernama should also have reporters all around the world and operate on a
global scale like Al-Jazeera, CNN and other world-renowned news and television
agencies," he said after delivering a talk at Wisma Bernama on his experiences
running Bernama as as well being press secretary to former prime minister Tun
Abdul Razak Hussein and the then deputy prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Ahmad Mustapha said this was in line with the idea brought up by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in 1997 to
balance up the news reported around the world.

"It was Unesco at that time which was interested in the new media and for
regional news agencies to come out from the influence of the three main news
agencies such as AP, AFP and Reuters which control 80 per cent of the flow of
world news.

Ahmad Mustapha said the idea also came about because at that time these
foreign news agencies only reported on controversial issues and disasters
in Third World countries, ignoring development issues.

He said Uneco helped Bernama in its operations and set up a regional
organisation to organise workshops, editorial discussions and helped upgrade the
reporting standard of news agencies in Asia-Pacific.

"We were also lucky at that time as the regional advisor of Communication of
Unesco S.M.Ali was based in Kuala Lumpur. He was a great help in funding
workshops, seminars so that Bernama would able to carry out its work to the
satisfaction of most news agencies."

Ahmad Mustapha said Bernama at that time also encouraged other regional news
agencies to be business-minded and did not just confine itself to news reporting
alone.

By doing so, Bernama in particular could generate more income and further
expand its activities without depending too much on government funds.

"From the beginning when I came in (to Bernama), we depended on the
government and received 80 per cent of the funding...I managed bit by bit to
reduce dependence on the government...I was happy to be there and change the
whole idea of a new media," he added.
-- BERNAMA