BRICS media ‘more important than ever’
THE BRICS Media Forum, which met this week, has committed itself to continue with open dialogue between the members and the exchange of information and skills.
Established in 2015 and consisting of media organisations from five of the BRICS nations, the BRICS Media Forum met virtually on Monday with the primary focus of tackling the challenges of a swiftly evolving media landscape and a glut of information – not all of it accurate.
Also a hot topic, as expected, were the continuing challenges across a world dominated by reactions ensuing from Covid-19 and its associated information overload.
The BRICS Media Forum was held at the suggestion of Xinhua News Agency and jointly initiated with mainstream media from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa.
Dr Iqbal Survé, co-chair of the meeting and executive chairman of Independent Media, noted: “The relationship between BRICS Media Forum countries has become even more important during this period, and all countries should encourage information sharing, journalist exchange and other forms of resource exchange to enhance the accuracy and efficiency with which information is communicated to the public.
“As media houses, it is our responsibility to ensure that information is accurate and factual, and what better way to ensure that than to share information and sources across the BRICS countries,” said Survé.
Also attending the event were José Juan Sanchez, President of Brazil’s CMA Group; Sergey Kochetkov, first deputy editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya, Russia; and their Indian counterpart, N Ram, chairperson and publisher of the Hindu group; as well as, He Ping, president and editor-inchief of Xinhua News Agency, China.
The media is a powerful force in influencing how any particular environment is perceived, understood and experienced. When there is a “captive” audience, that influencing role has even greater responsibility. During the global proliferation of lockdowns due to Covid-19 measures, the World Economic Forum noted that 80 to 90% of people now consumed on average 24 hours of news and entertainment a week, which places a greater weight on the media to ensure that only the truth was conveyed.
Suggestions for ongoing co-operation included regular conversations conducted via webinar. “We could have conversations on the experiences of journalists, what campaigns have been effective during this period, even how to celebrate front line workers; how do we stop the spread of misinformation and so on,” said Survé.
He ended by reminding that while member countries’ media had done an admirable job in the main of conveying the facts around Covid-19, the world was rapidly adopting to an era of global participative partnerships and the BRICS media needn’t shoulder the burden of their respective challenges alone. He encouraged people-to-people exchange, and the sharing of resources to not only deal with the pandemic, but the fallout that’s to come. Practical solutions were needed.