06 Dec 2023

The fifth World Media Summit, (WMS) held in Guanzhou, China from December 2-6 has been concluded with a joint statement calling for the global media to build consensus, work together for high quality development and pool media strength for building a community with a shared future for humanity and a better world - all summed up as humanomics or people-centred development.

The statement was derived from indepth discussions covering four topics namely: Media’s Response to New Technological Opportunities and Challenges, Media’s Role in Promoting Human Development and Security, Media’s New Markets in the Digital Age and Media’s Worldwide Cooperation for a Better Future.

This year’s edition of the annual summit, co-hosted by Xinhua News Agency and China’s Guandong province, attracted over 450 representatives of 200 institutions such as media houses, think tanks and international organisations from over 100countries, aiming to explore ways for the media industry to address global challenges.

The deliberations, led by 29 leaders of the media industry, including Mr Fu Hua, president of Xinhua News Agency, noted That the world was undergoing accelerated changes and That uncertainties were on the rise, posing unprecedented challenges for the human race, meaning that the international community needed to strengthen unity and cooperation.

“Global media should build a bridge of communication to answer questions posed the world!” the statement reads.

In recognition of the rapid development of new technologies in the information age, the statement also calls for global media to adhere to journalistic ethics and meet professional standards while actively being innovative and making rational use of emerging technologies

“We should disseminate factual, objective, comprehensive and unbiased news to our audience, resist misinformation and oppose rumours and prejudices in order to uphold the authority and credibility of the media” the statement reads.

The World Media Summit , a high-end platform for media exchange, was launched on October 8, 2009 by a team of globally renowned media organisations including Xinhua News Agency, the Associated Press, Reuters, TASS, Kyodo News, among others, in Beijing, China.

The second Summit was Held in Moscow in July 2012 while the third edition was in Doha in March 2016 and the fourth was held in part virtually (owing to COVID-19) on November 2, 2022 in Beijing.

Since its inception, the WMS has Held Global Awards of Excellence in 2014 and 2021 as well as three training programmes for journalists the world over, including international public welfare projects such as Global News Day for Children.

This year’s theme was; Bolstering Global Confidence, Promoting Media Development.
When opening the summit on Sunday, Xinhua news agency’s Fu Hua called for strengthening of media collaborations for the betterment of reporting on humanity. ends