ABU GA – Programmers should embrace online media in building trust with audiences

Mainstream media journalists must embrace online and new media practitioners as the media continue to build trust with their audiences, broadcasters have been told.

The advice came from panelists in an Expert Dialogue session during the ABU Programme Committee meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Aidan White, Director of the Ethical Journalism Network, told participants that the established media must forge solidarity and bring online media practitioners into the fold.

“They have to be part of the family, and more so in the future,” he said, adding that the media industry as a whole had no choice but to build partnerships with audiences.

Hugh Chiverton, head of Radio 3 at RTHK-Hong Kong, said there was no shortcut to establish trust with audiences.

“Reputations can be very fragile,” he said. “They can take a long time to establish but can be destroyed in a split second.” 

He said the media industry had to deliver products that were truthful, impartial, fair and accurate, and he added that it was the responsibility of the mainstream media to bring issues raised by bloggers and the online media to the higher level.

Deborah Steele, head of Asia-Pacific News Centre at ABC Australia, said they responded to comments on their digital media platform.

“We respect their desire to take part with their comments,” she added.

The Trust Building in the Digital Era session was chaired by Ta Thi Bich Loan, Managing Director of the Department for Youth VTV6, Vietnam. The other panelists were Takanobu Tanaka of Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, NHK-Japan, Behrouz Razavi Nejad of IRIB-Iran, and Keiko Bang of Bang Singapore.