BRICS Media Forum backs co-operation

The integrity of the media has never been more vital

CO-OPERATION underpinned a meeting of the BRICS Media Forum, held virtually earlier this week.

Tackling the challenges of a swiftly evolving media landscape and glut of information that makes it into the public domain – not all of which is accurate – was centre stage at the annual event on Monday.

Another hot topic was the continued challenges in a world dominated by ongoing reactions to Covid-19 and associated information overload.

The BRICS Media Forum was launched in 2015 at the suggestion of Xinhua News Agency and jointly initiated with mainstream media from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa.

It aims to establish an efficient working co-ordination and relationship between BRICS media.

Remarking on the need for greater co-operation of media in the member countries as a result of the sheer volume of information on offer for consumption, co-chair of the 5th meeting of the BRICS Media Forum, Dr Iqbal Survé, executive chairman of Independent Media said: “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 at 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 share information and sources across the BRICS countries?”

Also in attendance 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, chairman and publisher of the Hindu group, as well as He Ping, president and editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency, China.

Survé also expressed to his co-chairs how in the absence of social interaction due to social distancing measures and lockdowns, the integrity of the media had never been more vital.

He shared how in South Africa, the information from the media had become focused on government measures, statistics, the progression of vaccines, treatment methods and so on.

As each of the member countries had experienced dealing with the challenges around Covid-19 at different stages and rates, he also called on the member countries to share advice on mistakes, lessons learnt and how, as a grouping, the BRICS countries could be more collaborative in the media space.

Some of the suggestions for ongoing co-operative task forces included the likes regular conversations conducted via webinar between the media houses within the BRICS countries – privately and publicly.

“We could have conversations on the experiences of journalists, what campaigns have been effective during this period, even how to celebrate front-line workers and how we can stop the spread of misinformation and so on,” said Survé.

He reminded members that while the countries’ media had done an admirable job in the main in conveying the facts around Covid-19, the world was rapidly adopting an era of global participative partnerships and how the BRICS media needn’t shoulder the burden of their respective challenges alone.

The meeting concluded with a resolution to continue with open dialogue between the members and exchange of information and skills.