Leaders and representatives from 170 media organisations worldwide have adopted a joint statement before concluding a three-day World Media Summit.
Following is the full text of the joint statement.
The World Media Summit was held in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, from October 8-10, 2009. The unprecedented event was attended by 170 worldwide media organisations, including news agencies, newspapers and magazines, radio and television broadcasters and online sites.
Themed “Cooperation, Action, Win-Win and Development”, we held extensive and in-depth discussions on eight topics, which analysed the current situation, assessed the development trends of the global media industry on a series of crucial issues confronting media organisations against the backdrop of the international financial crisis, fast changing audience demands and the rapid advancement of emerging technologies.
Through the summit we believe to have achieved positive results by producing great insights, enhancing consensus and strengthening cooperation.
We note that the world is undergoing complicated and profound changes. Economic globalisation, the information explosion, and the prevalence of new communication technologies, plus the diversity and integration of world cultures, have provided great opportunities for global media development and set up an important platform for media organisations to cover world events and global issues.
We hope that media organisations around the world will provide accurate, objective, impartial and fair coverage of the world’s news events, and promote transparency and accountability of governments and public institutions, and thus facilitate the mutual understanding as well as exchange of views and ideas among peoples from different countries and regions.
We pay close attention to the impact of the international financial crisis on the global economy — the media industry in particular. We also exchanged ideas about the media sector’s strategies and experiences in coping with the crisis and seeking renewal and development. We believe that in the current digital and network age, the global media industry is experiencing profound changes in their operating environments and structures. Though challenges and opportunities co-exist, there are more opportunities than challenges. Adapting to the developing trends and engaging consumers and encouraging participation by taking full advantage of advanced technologies will help push forward reforms and progress in the global media industry.
We hope all forms of media which are playing an important role in global media development, to seek common development by deepening cooperation between each other, learning from each other, drawing on each other’s experiences and complementing each other with new ideas.
We think that through the platform built by the World Media Summit, media institutions around the world would enhance communication, share information, carry out personnel and technology exchanges, and share their opportunities and experience. We believe that the World Media Summit will have a widespread, positive and far-reaching effect on the global media industry and prompt media organizations in the world to work together against challenges, enhance collaboration and achieve common development.
The summit was launched at the joint proposal of Xinhua News Agency, News Corporation, the Associated Press, Reuters, ITAR-TASS, Kyodo, BBC, Turner Broadcasting System and Google, and was hosted by Xinhua News Agency .
