News world of Media 3.0 unveiled at ABU Global News Forum
More than 150 news executives from 49 organisations from the Asia-Pacific and around the world came together in the Korean capital Seoul to tackle some of the most difficult issues of broadcasting in the digital era.
Taking part in the Asia-Pacific’s first Global News Forum – organised by the ABU and the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) following the ABU News Group Meeting and themed “Breaking the News in the Media 3.0 Era” – participants have been told by some of the world’s leading news media leaders that the old models of broadcasting are no longer enough on their own.
Today’s broadcasters have to integrate social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and social networking services if they are to stay in the game.
But they were warned too that for broadcasters and news agencies to remain relevant, they also needed to maintain basic journalistic practices such as searching for the truth and ensuring facts were accurate and properly checked.
Keynote speaker Richard Porter, Controller of English at BBC Global News, described the work of their User Generated Content Hub, established specifically to check the accuracy of stories the international broadcaster might use.
“Their job is to verify stories and pictures which come in increasing numbers from the audience – either sent directly to us, or more likely, posted on social media sites,” he said, and gave examples of several occasions where fact-checking had saved the BBC from running false or misleading stories of critical international importance.
He said another of today’s greatest challenges was working as efficiently as possible across TV bulletins, TV news channels, radio news bulletins, radio news channels, desktop websites, tablet and smartphone, feature phones and increasingly syndicated and shared on social media platforms.
“Multiple means of reaching the audience – one set of values,” he said.
The Forum started with a speech by Mr Gil Hwan-young, President & CEO of the host broadcaster KBS, welcoming “global news professionals from organisations representing the Asia-Pacific regions, such as NHK and CCTV, and the world like BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera, as well as representatives of some of Media 3.0 era’s important news distributors, Twitter and YouTube”.
“This forum will not only give us various perspectives of the effects of digital media, but also be a good opportunity for us to examine the future of Asia’s journalism,” he added.
Mr Lee Kyeong-Jae, Chairman of the Korean Communications Commission, who himself was a journalist early in his career, gave a congratulatory address and reminded delegates of the importance of their craft, followed by ABU Secretary-General Dr Javad Mottaghi, who said the GNF had been designed as an international round-table to bring together news decision-makers to confront the mutual challenges brought by the era dominated by the new media and driven by Social Networking Services.
He spoke of the value of sharing experiences, commonalities and differences through organisations such as the ABU and about the need to sustain dialogue about the important principals of their responsibilities.
“Audiences expect accurate, timely, reliable, accountable, transparent and impartial information,” he said. “That is the only way to win the trust of and serve the public. Media should have a strong sense of social responsibility to offer true, accurate and objective reports.”
Mr Alexey Nikolov, Managing Editor of Russia Today was one of numerous speakers who laid before the GNF different perspectives on journalism in the Media 3.0 Era, saying the world had become bigger, not smaller, because those who did not have a voice before now do.
He said there was now no such thing as one truth because of the myriad of voices and services available. He said that the world of Media 3.0 news organisations could no longer think in terms of 24/7, but of 86,400/7 – the number of seconds in a day.
More information on the Global News Forum and live feeds are available at: http://gnf2013.kbs.co.kr