MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. TASS Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief Mikhail Petrov has called on member agencies of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) to consolidate efforts to elaborate common ethical standards for the mass media.

Speaking at the 53rd meeting of the OANA Executive Board, he noted that practically all media outlets have their own editorial standards. "I am sure that we have similar approaches to the work with information. So, I suggest that as part of our discussions we agree upon common approaches, recommendations for the mass media. This way, we will be able to share positive experience and, maybe, help each other avoid some mistakes," he said.

According to Petrov, OANA, as an organization accounting for two thirds of information flows in the world, can be a platform to promote such ethical standards.

He said that in the present-day situation, news agencies are facing many challenges, including unverified and false information, attempts to manipulate information around various conflicts. In this context, of special importance are joint efforts by news agencies to consolidate information verification standards and their balanced approaches.

"We have a significant feature that differs us from social media and messengers, which also inform the audience one way or another, namely, that we are acting within certain standards, traditional media rules and are fully responsible for the information we offer. This approach is a kind of a seal of quality for our audience," the TASS editor-in-chief stressed.

The Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) was set up at the UNESCO initiative in 1961. Its mission is to promote alternative points of view on global developments and the idea of multi-polar world. It incorporates more than 40 news agencies from 35 countries and is the world’s biggest media organization, with its member states accounting for two thirds of the global information flow. The 19th OANA General Assembly will be held in the early summer of 2025 and will be hosted by TASS.