Paulina Quintao – The Timorese government, through the State Secretariat for Social Communication (SEKOMS) will establish a national news agency in 2015 to contribute to the nation's development.

Secretary of State (SE) for Social Communication Nelio Isaac Sarmento said preparation for the news agency had begun, with SEKOMS looking to other similar institution in other nations, in particularly in Indonesia, for guidance on how to best implement and run the agency.

"We have started workshops and we have heard the experiences of Portugal and Indonesia in establishing their news agencies," he said at Dili's Hotel Timor.

SE Sarmento said Timor-Leste could learn from the problems encountered by those nations. He said the news agency would not only provide information to Timor-Leste residents but would also promote investment in the nation.

The news agency would allow the international community, including Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) member states, to see the reality of life in Timor-Leste.

Citizens of ASEAN nations as well as CPLP members Guinea-Bissau and Angola do not have much knowledge about Timor-Leste, SE Sarmento said.

Indonesia News Agency executive director Rahmat Nasution Dahlan said Timor-Leste deserved a national news agency.

"Soon, Timor-Leste will be admitted to ASEAN and will take its place in the international community, therefore all people in the world should be able to find out information about Timor-Leste's development in all sectors," he said.

He thanked the Timor-Leste government for inviting him to share the experiences of his nation and said Indonesia was ready to co-operate with its neighbour. Those who worked within the nation in newsgathering roles needed to be professional journalists, he said.

Timor Post proprietor and senior journalist Rosa Garcia said while Timor-Leste did need a national news agency, now was not the right time. "We need to have a meeting and discuss that agency's objectives and prepare human resources," she said.

She said the establishment of a national news agency may threaten the existence of other, independent news organizations as they will lose staff to the new entity. "The government has the budget to pay journalists a higher salary (than they would receive at a commercial outlet)," she said.

Source: http://www.thediliweekly.com/en/news/news/12651-in-2015-government-to-establish-news-agency