Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
BRICS deserve greater voice in global news
Print Edition
IN an age of information overload, competing to make oneself heard amid a cacophony of voices is a tremendously challenging enterprise, even for a full-fledged group like BRICS.
The group, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has been a driving force of global growth over the past decade or so. Yet although economically BRICS has steadily evolved into a force to be reckoned with, it is relatively under-represented in what international relations experts call “global discourse.”
And at a time when some analysts tend to write off BRICS, pointing to its “lack of long-term growth potential,” the need for the group to gain a bigger say in world affairs has never been stronger. At a recent BRICS media forum held in Shanghai, media delegations from the five member states proffered their thoughts on how BRICS’ own media can amplify their voices in the world.
In his opening remarks, Alexey Kosarev, corporation communication officer of New Development Bank — better known as the BRICS Bank — said that the bank, founded two years ago, had already completed seven projects worth to the tune of 1.5 billion euros.
In anticipation of the increase in business volume, the bank is in great need of “high quality analytical work contributed by credible media” in areas such as financial regulations, foreign policy and international relations, said Kosarev.
Life for media around the world has been made harder by the digital age, to be sure, but perception of it as a threat only is both unwise and futile. Describing the Internet as sort of a double-edged sword, Kosarev explained that media outlets from BRICS ought to benefit from the “new channels and ways of mass communication” made available by the digital revolution.
Content is still king
Notably, while the Internet has complicated news production, editing and dissemination, the core tenet of journalism that “content is king” still resonates. Indeed, while grappling with the challenge posed by the Internet, media professionals must commit themselves to the pursuit of veracity over speed.
According to a joke that goes the rounds in Russian media circles, a man asks a friend for his opinion on Beatles music, and is mortified to hear the comment that “it is terrible.” It turns out that the Beatles music in question is a horribly off-key, mangled rendition sung by a neighbor. Sergey Kochetkov, the first deputy editor-in-chief of Sputnik News Agency and Radio, used this joke as a metaphor to highlight the danger of believing in whatever one is told. This danger looms large in an era when a large number of journalists are fixated on “getting it first” rather than “first getting it right.”
Coupled with the domination of Western media, readers in the developing world are not always immune to ill-informed judgment of news events —even those that occur within their own countries. In Kochetkov’s view, what is critically needed, in addition to an urge to combat fake news, is better cooperation among BRICS media outlets.
Not entirely exempt from stereotypes held against each other, BRICS media have a lot to do to cut through misinformation. To begin with, they are advised to help young journalists to better know each other and steer clear of the usual biases in journalism.
Achievements are miscellaneous. Take Russia and China. The year 2017, officially a Year of Sino-Russian Media Exchange, has witnessed a surge of interest in each other’s country, reflected by a series of activities organized for Chinese and Russian journalists.
These range from media roundtables to exchange visits, from book translation programs to photography contests. To take this kind of cooperation a step further, Qiu Xin, president of Shanghai United Media Group, which hosted the forum, noted that under the framework of BRICS media cooperation, we ought to weave a more extensive network, promoting and supporting schemes such as content-sharing or reciprocal visits.
For Mohammed Iqbal Survé, media professionals from BRICS should take upon themselves the task of “telling untold narratives.” Executive Chairman of South Africa’s Independent Media, he believes that these narratives have long been obscured or overlooked by Western media out of the conviction that they contradict the “orthodox” narrative one finds in the Western press.
For example, while Africa is often associated with poverty, famines and civil wars in the popular mind, this continent is actually a lot different than this unflattering depiction. By 2020, Africa will boast the largest number of young people in the world, said Survé, without specifying which age group.
This could translate into demographic dividends, robust consumer demands and also potential for media. “This land abounds in opportunities,” said Survé.
Reminding the audience that 99 percent of the world population originated from Africa 10,000 years ago, as indicated by genetic sequencing, he stressed that this continent deserves more narratives told by its own media to the wider world.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
