Modern media have to be responsible and inclusive, and promote dialogue among civilisations, was the main message of a roundtable discussion during the second day of the China-Cyprus-Europe Media Forum that took place on Wednesday in Nicosia, focusing on media’s shared social and international responsibilities in the era of great transformation.
Opening the debate, the Chief Correspondent of China Daily EU Bureau, Zhang Zhouxiang, spoke of the programme China Watch, which includes publications in seven languages and cooperations with media all over the world.
The role of the media, the role of the journalists,is to communicate, to connect, instead of dividing, he continued, adding that by making friends, we can make journalism prosper again and make this world better together.
Former CYBC Vice Chief Editor, Yiannis Nicolaou, said on his part that fake news remains a great challenge, but the biggest challenge of all, and perhaps of all time, is artificial intelligence.
The duty lies of traditional media and true journalists, to serve truth, seriousness, and responsibility, he stressed, adding that in this era of great transformation media have the responsibility not merely to report the news, but to help shape a more informed, empathetic, and accountable world, fighting misinformation and fostering dialogue.
Representing the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Vice Dean Wu Meihong, said that the media’s duty is to define their own story and not be defined by others.
He added that Chinese and European media must join forces, not just as the voices of their own nations, but also as the shared guidance of the global truth, in a mission to paint an honest picture of the world, respecting both common values and the differences.
Philemon Bantimaroudis, Professor in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus, said that in terms of political systems, European media operate largely under liberal democratic norms, emphasizing pluralism, transparency, and editorial independence, while Chinese media function within a state-guided communication system, emphasizing social harmony, and collective responsibility.
He added that collaborations between Chinese and European media offer promise and that joint engagement fosters a more informed and resilient global public sphere and together they have the capacity to create new bridges.
Danna Bawuerjiang from the Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics said that journalistic reporting should be grounded in primary sources and data responsibility.
She added that media are both conveyors of facts and makers of meaning and that responsible coverage means rigorous fieldwork, disciplinary use of data, and context-rich constructive framing by adhering to objectivity, authenticity, and fairness.
Costas Gouliamos, Former Rector of European University Cyprus, said in his intervention that the flow of information has been dominated by Western culture, particularly the United States of America, as 90% of the world news emanate from the major transnational news agencies owned by the Western capitalist nations that have less than 25% of the world’s population.
In order to tackle issues of ethical dilemmas in the new media ecosystem, in order to avoid disinformation and misinformation, or to avoid erosion of trust, we must have social responsibility, but we also have to open ways of communication with countries such as China for a common future for the benefit of humanity, he stressed.
Jin Juping from Xinjiang University said that the media should be a message for dialogue among civilisations and not for the clash of civilisations, adding that Xinjiang is a hub where different cultures meet and mix.
Evie Lambrou, Assistant Professor of Journalism, Media and Communication at Frederick University, said that the media’s most profound responsibility is to evolve from being a mere mirror that reflects a fractured world into a framework that helps build a more coherent one.
In an age where AI can amplify our worst biases, a diverse, critical human perspective in the newsroom is our best firewall against misinformation, she continued, adding that media that reflects the full spectrum of its people is media that is more effective, more trusted, and more resilient.
Finally, Hongyan Hu from the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, said that despite progress in AI applications, complicated editing and business running skills still requires professional skills and full-time delegation.
Media has a new job to build dialogue between cultures and bring civilisations together, she noted, adding that all major Guangzhou media have built up international communication centres in their effort to continue and upgrade cooperation with countries such as Cyprus.