Journalists call on global media to uphold professionalism

Journalists around the world should uphold professionalism in news reporting, including fighting fake news, to contribute to international exchange and cooperation in a world with rising complex challenges, representative from journalists' associations said at an online forum on Wednesday.

"Media from across the world should stick to a strong sense of social responsibility, follow the global trend of multipolarization, economic globalization and diversification of civilizations, cover global development and progress objectively, advocate exchanges and tolerance and promote solidarity and cooperation," He Ping, president of All-China Journalists Association, said at the opening ceremony of the forum.

Nearly 100 representatives from journalists' associations and news media from more than 60 countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative attended the forum and held exchanges on the theme of media's social responsibility.

Explaining BRI, which China proposed in 2013, advocates dialogue, cooperation, sharing and exchanges, He said some Western media on the contrary have been producing and spreading fake information since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused divisions between different countries. This practice utterly goes against the professionalism of news media, he said.

All-China Journalists Association would like to work together with all journalists associations around the world to carry forward the common value of humankind including peace, development, justice, democracy and freedom, and promote exchanges and mutual learning between different nations, He said.

Wang Hao, executive council member of All-China Journalists Association and deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said the implementation of BRI has not only brought opportunities for cooperation between related countries and regions, but also created a big platform for international cooperation of media.

Despite the great progress of the initiative and huge benefits it has brought to involved countries, BRI has been subject to defamation by some Western countries for political purposes, and journalists have the responsibility to cover the topic objectively to present the truth to the public, he said.

Nalin Aponso, president of Sri Lanka-China Journalists Forum, stressed the importance for mass media to uphold professionalism and fight fake news while prioritizing social responsibility.

"It is unfortunate that in the face of the current media practice that tends to prioritize conflict and negative news reporting, projects for the betterment of human civilization have fallen victim to the parasite of fake news. As a result, the space for awareness of the core values of such a project has shrunk," Aponso said at the forum, calling BRI the largest humanitarian project launched by a single state in human civilization.

"This flagship development intuitive is a major milestone for humanity and its benefits will be available for generations to come. This is a fact-based initiative, not rhetoric. Facts beat eloquence," Aponso said.

Gerald Mbanda, a researcher and publisher on China-Africa cooperation in Rwanda, emphasized negative effect of spreading fake news and misinformation, or deliberately distorting and creating rumors by news media.

"I strongly emphasize that both main stream and social media cannot be allowed to claim 'freedom of expression' at the expense of putting people's lives in danger," he said. "Media houses should put in place an editorial policy that makes self-regulation mandatory, fact checks should be done, where all information is analyzed before publication or broadcasting, to filter out any form of fake news or misinformation."