NHK President Maeda Terunobu, host of this year’s international forum for public broadcasters, expressed determination to use the event as an opportunity to reaffirm the significance of public broadcasting.

Public Broadcasters International, or PBI, is a gathering of public broadcast service representatives, including NHK, the BBC and South Korea’s KBS.

This year’s meeting in Tokyo on 16-18 November brought together some 60 representatives from 26 countries and regions.

Mr Maeda addressed the participants at an opening ceremony held at Tokyo National Museum, NHK WORLD-JAPAN reports.

Referring to the situation in Ukraine and other factors, Mr Maeda noted that the digital information space is filled with unsourced misinformation. He asked how public service media can play a “public” role.

He expressed hopes to exchange views on what action public service media must take to fulfil its role in the face of the “overwhelming” presence of giant so-called platformers.

Participants were later introduced to the “8K Cultural Properties” project, in which NHK’s latest technology is being used to reproduce cultural properties at the museum.

The three-day meeting came as the BBC celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. BBC Director-General Tim Davie gave a keynote speech marking the occasion, while top officials from public service media, including experts of various fields, shared their views.