Global media group heads vow fair coverage of news events

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Yonhap) -- Leaders of 170 media organizations vowed Saturday to
provide fact-based and unbiased reports on global events and to make concerted
efforts to overcome the current crisis facing media outlets worldwide.
"We hope that media organizations around the world will provide accurate,
objective, impartial and full coverage of the world's events, and promote
transparency and accountability of governments and public institutions," read the
joint statement of the inaugural World Media Summit that began in Beijing on Oct.
8.
The three-day conference, initiated last year by eight international media groups
including Xinhua News Agency, the Associated Press, and Reuters aimed to provide
a forum for such topics as the media industry's strategy on dealing with the
global economic crisis and new avenues for future development.
"We hope that all forms of media ... deepen cooperation to learn from each other
by drawing on experience and sharing new ideas," the statement said.
It said that cooperation is essential as the current digital age poses enormous
challenges to the industry's operating environment and structure.
On Thursday, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency and China's Xinhua News Agency
proposed the launch of a joint system that would provide news content on global
issues from an Asian perspective.
"I am also hoping to launch an organization that links and integrates Asian media
groups, for which China and South Korea could play important roles," said
Yonhap's president, Park Jung-chan.
The two agencies also agreed to enhance cooperation in information exchange and
experience sharing as they look to turn the current situation facing the global
media industry into opportunity for development and growth.
brk@yna.co.kr
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