DOHA (Qatar) Feb 20 (Bernama) -- Leaders of both sides must start the ball rolling before the media can play its part in bridging the chasm of misunderstanding between the United States and the Muslim World, said Bernama chairman Datuk Mohamed Annuar Zaini.

"The media is part and parcel of politics...it is an instrument that plays to the political tune and tone of the day. So the tone of friendship and trust between leaders determines media coverage," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the three-day US-Islamic World Forum currently underway in Doha.

He cited as example the deep mistrust of China, the Chinese people and all things Chinese that was sparked by the Communist insurgency in a Malaya on the verge of independence in the mid-1950s.

"The historic visit by the Prime Minister (Tun Abdul Razak Hussein) to China in 1974 saw the coming together of the leaders of the two nations which established official ties that have since bloomed into strong relations between the two countries.

"A sincere and strategic act of a leader was monumental in altering mistrust of countless Malaysians, and helped secure the foundation for a strong, united, harmonious, multiracial nation," he said.

Addressing the question of whether leaders in the media -- in their role as journalists and public figures -- have a special responsibility in narrowing the divide, Mohamed Annuar presented an analogy comparing a pen to a long rod of a few metres' length.

If each were to be pivoted the same 10 degrees, the long rod would shift by a whole lot more than the pen, he said.

"When a journalist is a public figure, he wields great influence through his writings," he said, pointing to a need for such individuals to bring to the surface the moderate voices of Islam to counter radicalism and prejudice.

He nevertheless expressed concern that "very often the heart can overrule the head".

Mohamed Annuar was one of the panellists in a closed session held earlier to discuss how the media in the US and the Muslim world differed in their coverage of events, and how the prism of the media shapes opinion and understanding.

Other panellists in the session chaired by CNBC chief executive officer Zafar Siddiqi and PBS senior correspondent Margaret Warner included Bambang Harymurti, editor-in-chief of Indonesia's "Tempo", Rami Khouri editor of Jordan's The Daily Star and Al Jazeera host Faizal Al Kasim.

-- BERNAMA