Kolkata, Jun 5 : United News of India (UNI) , a multilingual news agency in India, founded in December 1961 as an English news agency, started its URDU service on this day 26 years ago.
UNI became one of the multilingual news service in the world after URDU service was launched by then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao on June 5, 1992 and remained the first and only news agency in the world to supply news in Urdu.
URDU service started its journey with only five subscribers and today it is serving more than 400 national Uddu dailies.
The service caters to newspapers, radio and television stations and government offices. Its ever expanding networks covers Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra , Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir.
UNI launched its Urdu news website in the presence of then Union Ministers Oscar Fernandes, K Rahman Khan, Srikant Jena and Manish Tewari on August 12, 2013.
United News of India’s Editor-in chief Ashok Upadhyay recently said here that news for journalists should always be factual and unaffected by individual opinion or analysis.
Mr Upadhyay, who was addressing the Conference of Urdu Editors here, said, ‘When a journalist’s views influence or affect a news piece in any manner, it becomes dangerous for journalism and adversely affects the society.’
The Editor-in-Chief UNI emphasised on increasing the purview of Urdu journalism and language to other languages because the beauty of the country is hidden in it.
He felt that Hindi is incomplete without Urdu as many Urdu words decorate Hindi poems.
Mr Upadhyay said Hindi and Urdu are related to each other and this strength is hidden in the very existence of secularism, love and brotherhood.
He said a newspaper’s editor should not make unnecessary changes in a news and present it with full truthfulness. There should not be any personal comments or ideas in the news, and instead of analysing it, it should be left to the readers.
Mr Upadhyay said, “I am not hesitant to say that there is no tampering with reports in agencies, especially UNI and Univarta. Apart from one or two incidents, in the 57-year-long history of UNI, our agency has managed to keep itself neutral.”
Referring to the UNI Urdu service, he said, “We are proud of Urdu service. We will extend it further to the regional level. Many improvements have been made since the beginning of the UNI Urdu service and we are continuously improving its quality.”
UNI.
