South Sudan establishes news agency

By James Gatdet Dak

October 29, 2009 (JUBA) – A government’s electronic and print news agency will soon be established in Southern Sudan, says the official spokesperson.

Paul Mayom Akech has told the press that a News Agency of Southern Sudan (NASS) is a substitute for the Khartoum-based Sudan News Agency (SUNA) and will carry stories from the rural and remote areas not normally covered by the mainstream press.

In the Friday’s cabinet meeting chaired by the semi-autonomous region’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit, it passed the proposed structures of the would-be NASS

The Agency will support news and information programming at public and private domestic media outlets throughout Southern Sudan and convey news about Southern Sudan to the international press.

NASS will initially be developed within the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, utilizing the skills of staff trained through the ministry’s capacity building initiatives.

Mayom also added that a Public Information Center (PIC) will be established as a venue to disseminate information about the government activities and policies to the general public as well as a resource and documentation center for researchers and academics.

The cabinet also resolved to establish a Printing Press in Juba that will print newspapers, school textbooks and government documents, etc.

The official spokesperson, minister of Information and Broadcasting further added that the multi-purpose printing press facility will consolidate Southern Sudan’s commitment to freedom of the press.

(ST)