National Journalists' Day must be 'national agenda' - Annuar

The National Journalists’ Day (Hawana) celebration must be made a national agenda in recognition of the role played by journalists and media practitioners in the country, Annuar Musa said today.

The communications and multimedia minister gave his assurance that as long as he was still serving the government, Hawana will be given the highest priority and attention.

“The government and the ministry must give due recognition to the status of the Hawana celebration.

“This means the nation must accord this recognition and the cabinet has now agreed to this. We thank Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob for the recognition given,” he said at the closing ceremony of the National Media Forum, held in conjunction with Hawana 2022 in Malacca.

Hawana 2022, carrying the theme “People's Voice, National Aspiration” is celebrated today by media practitioners, and will be officiated by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob this evening.

In addition, Annuar wants the Communications and Multimedia Ministry to pay more attention to all matters discussed and formulated in today’s and future Hawana forums.

He said this was important to resolve issues, including grievances faced by journalists and media practitioners that the public is mostly unaware of.

“I understand we have quite a number of journalists associations, some active and some not, so we want to ensure there is a proper umbrella body so that representation is solid,” he said.

Annuar also wants major towns and cities to seize the opportunity of bidding to host the next Hawana celebration as it will be a prestigious annual event.

- Bernama