Better insurance coverage for pressmen,
especially for those sent to work in dangerous areas will be among the key
recommendations that would be brought to high-level Asean meetings in a move to
improve the safety of journalists in the region.
The idea pitched by Malaysia during the
recently concluded Asean Workshop on Capacity Building to Improve
Safety of Journalists in Hanoi received favourable feedback from representatives of each
participating member state.
All representatives unanimously agreed
that there was a need to find a mechanism to ensure that life and accident
insurance as well as just and special compensation for media workers sent for
dangerous coverage would be well taken care of in the future by each member
state.
Additionally, the inaugural meeting also
agreed upon Malaysia's suggestion that Asean should cooperate with the United
Nations in organising and facilitating courses, especially practical training
on media workers safety.
Malaysia was represented by Malaysian
National News Agency (Bernama) reporter Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil and RTM's English
News Editor Mohamad Nun.
Vietnam's Deputy Director General of
Department of International Cooperation, Trieu Minh Long during the workshop's
closing speech said that all recommendations would first be presented at the
Asean Sub Committee on Information meeting in Kuala Lumpur end of this month,
before tabling it at the Asean Senior Officials Responsible for Information
(SOMRI) meeting next year.
He stressed that Vietnam as the host
country for the workshop would do its best to ensure that all recommendations
would not just be on paper but instead proceed to implementation.
Other recommendations submitted during
the two-day workshop included conducting exchange programmes among journalists
in the member states as well as to chart a standard security protocol manual
for media practitioners in Asean.
— Bernama
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