Not content with simply buying influence in world media, which could take a while, the Organization of the Islamic Conference has decided to reconstitute two of its news outlets, which will no doubt bring you the human interest stories behind the effigy burnings, showcase the latest fashion in niqabs, and, yes, blame Israel and the West for all the world’s problems. One question remains: Will they lure away the in-house talent at Hizballah’s al-Manar? From AP:
KUALA LUMPUR – The world’s largest Islamic grouping would revive two Saudi Arabia-based news organisations to counter Western media’s “skewered view” of Islam, a Malaysian official said on Wednesday.
The 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, would restart the International Islamic News Agency and the Islamic States Broadcasting Organization — both set up in the 1970s, Malaysia’s deputy Information Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamid said.
Malaysia is the current chairman of the OIC.
“We want to revive it,” Zahid said, adding the Saudi information minister has asked Malaysia to head the task.
It wasn’t clear how long or why the two organizations — which would provide text and video — have been dormant. Zahid didn’t provide details.
“The negative view of Islamic countries must change. The foreign media often has a bias against us,” he said. “They have a skewered view.”
No starting date or costs were provided.
Muslim nations, including Malaysia, have said media coverage by Western news organizations, particularly in the Middle East, is lopsided and portrays a negative view of Islam.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, after a tour of Lebanon, recently complained images and stories displayed a bias toward Israel.
Zahid said Malaysia has offered to set up a center for journalists from Islamic countries, which would be funded by the OIC, the world’s largest political grouping of Muslim nations.