By Fortune Abang/Hadiza Mohammed
Abuja:. The Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Ali Muhammad Ali, has assured the Palestinian envoy to Nigeria, Abdullah Shawesh, of the Agency’s commitment to objective reportage of news from his country.
Ali gave the assurance on Friday in Abuja during a courtesy visit by the Palestinian Ambassador to the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
According to him, NAN will always report all sides of a story as it is duty-bound to do so in line with international best practices.
(R-L) Mr Ali Muhammad Ali, Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Abdullah Shawesh, on Friday in Abuja. (NAN)
“We always say there are two sides of stories, not even two; there is your side, there is my side and there is also the truth.
“Now, on the conflict in Gaza which has raged for years, we shall be fair to all sides.
“Where there is iniquity, we want to expose it and whatever information is made available, we will authenticate it and go ahead to report it. We are not tilted to any particular inclination.
“We align with the truth and it is the truth we believe in as an agency.”
The managing director said that the mission statement of the agency was to report factually without bias and prejudice, and tell the rest of the world about Nigeria and Africa.
“We equally have a mandate to report Africa to the rest of the rest of the world.
“The role of the media is to expose corruption, iniquity and injustice; you will always find a willing partner in NAN ready to expose such.
“The media tradition is always on the side of the underdog.
“It has never been in doubt for the media and for an agency like ours that we pride ourselves in authentic reporting factually, without prejudice to anyone.
“We are duty bound to report accurately what is going on in Palestine and the whole of the Middle East,” he added.
Earlier, Shawesh said he was at the agency not to seek support, but to ensure balanced reporting of the event on all sides.
“I am not here to seek any support, this is my message to everyone.
“It is very fair, legitimate and human to listen, then you can align yourself.
“Once you listen to us and listen to the other side, you can decide by yourself where you are going to put your shoes, complicity, silence, neutrality, is good, but sometimes listen to us.
“Open your heart, open your ears, open your cameras and listen to us,” Shawesh added. (NAN) (www.nannews.com.ng) /Flowerbudnews
