The 7th BRICS Media Forum, which for the first time ever received the status of a summit, was held from September 14 to 16 in Moscow. The meetings were attended by representatives of the largest media of the association’s countries and those states that express interest in the group and intend to join it.
‘Plus’ format
The meeting in Moscow was fundamentally different from the previous BRICS media dialogues held since 2015 in terms of scale and the level of discussions. Representatives of ministries, heads of media structures, diplomats and employees of international organisations gathered at the World Trade Centre. Considering the importance and level of representation of the meeting, the participation of heads of the leading media structures in their countries, the current Media Forum, held in the year of Russia’s BRICS presidency and organised by Russia, received the status of a summit for the first time.
On air and on the side-lines
The forum’s programme also corresponded to the status of a summit in terms of content and relevance of the topics raised. During two working days, participants managed to discuss such topics as cooperation between the information communities of BRICS countries, exchange of experience in the field of new technologies, combating disinformation, information security, countering external pressure, information fact checking, promising areas of multilateral relations, training of journalists and their protection from persecution, global challenges and the responsibility of journalism in the modern era, the quantitative growth of content sharing and much more.
A large number of cooperation agreements between the media of BRICS and BRICS Plus countries were signed on the side-lines of the forum. In addition, a round table “Let there be Russian information space” of the World Association of Russian Press and a meeting of representatives of Caspian news agencies were held.
Cultural programme of the forum
Before the start of the sessions, the ‘BRICS Family’ photo exhibition opened at the World Trade Centre, presenting the works of leading photographers from countries of the association. At the end of the business programme, the guests of the Media Summit were able to visit the opera ‘Prince Igor’ at the Bolshoi Theatre, staged by the director of the theatre and the artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Valery Gergiev.
Directions and ideas for developing cooperation
Results of the Media Summit were fixed in a joint declaration. Participants pledged to “promote, through their information resources, a just and equitable multipolar world order based on the norms of international law and the principles of equality, respect for sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs and indivisible security”, “to promote comprehensive coverage on their resources of interaction within the framework of BRICS and BRICS Plus mechanisms, including political, economic and humanitarian areas”. The “commitment to the principles of objective, fact-based journalism” and the “willingness to coordinate efforts to combat disinformation” were also clearly defined. In addition, the parties called on the international community to respect the rights of journalists and ensure their safety, noting that “the use of artificial intelligence in the media requires development of appropriate standards and ethical norms” and agreeing to maintain a professional dialogue on the topic of artificial intelligence. In the future, countries intend to “continue working together within the framework of global and regional alliances”.
Many important remarks and ideas were made at the forum. Here are just a few of them: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced a key event of the Russian BRICS presidency, namely the upcoming summit of the association in Kazan, and expressed hope that “the media will make a significant and tangible contribution to the objective coverage of the summit”.
Bella Cherkesova, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, spoke in favor of strengthening cooperation between the media of the BRICS countries in terms of strengthening “personal contacts”.
Maria Zakharova, Director of the Department of Information and Press of the Russian MFA, called BRICS an example of interstate interaction in the modern world and recalled that the group “does not seek to create new dividing lines based on bloc thinking”, but follows the principles of equality, synergy, dialogue, openness, consensus, NS respect for the path of development chosen by states, consideration of each other’s interests. According to the official representative of the Russian MFA, the media summit on this scale should become regular. In the modern world, the support of like-minded people is especially valuable. Strengthening BRICS cooperation in the information sphere should include support for cooperation between editorial offices, departments, NGOs, simplification of mutual accreditation, exchange of experience, mutual assistance in the legal distribution of materials and stimulation of positive blogging activity. The Russian diplomat also drew the attention of the audience to the attacks that Russian journalists are subjected to in the West and called for countering this lawlessness: “Our silence is unacceptable. Everything that is happening these days with Russian journalists and Russian media structures, the attacks that the collective West is making on them, can happen to each of you, whether you are the head of a corporation, the editor-in-chief or an ordinary correspondent abroad. Silence is unacceptable because, among other things, it is a sign of agreement with such an attitude to freedom of speech, to the safety of journalism, to the values that make up the ethics of this profession”.
CEO of TASS Andrey Kondrashov called on BRICS media outlets to share their experience in technical ways of combatting the spread of fakes and noted that BRICS, the media of the group’s members states and events such as the Media Summit “ensure genuine freedom of speech” and “an objective picture of what is happening” in the context of the formation of a multipolar world.
Timofey Vi, Head of the Strategic Directions Department at Dialog Regions, mentioned the analysis of hostile information campaigns, the risks of the dominance of global IT platforms in the media environment and the experience of countering disinformation, which his organisation is ready to share with colleagues.
Information Minister of Myanmar, Maung Maung, announced Myanmar’s desire to expand cooperation with BRICS countries and spoke about media cooperation with Russia, including plans to produce joint television series.
The Director General of the Union of Information Agencies of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Muhammad bin Abd Rabbo al-Yami, pointed out that this agency advocates for strengthening cooperation with BRICS to “achieve a balance between information flows, forming information content that respects spiritual and cultural values” and “jointly countering fake news”.
Jose Juan Sanchez, CMA Group President (media holding from Brazil), is confident that BRICS countries will be able to establish mutually beneficial cooperation in “conducting trainings for the media, exchanging best practices, identifying problems and challenges and discussing strategies”.
The list of speakers included Vladislav Fronin, Editor-in-Chief of Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Nomsa Chabeli, Group Chief Executive Officer of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Fu Hua, CEO of Xinhua, Jamal Mohammed al-Kaabi, CEO of the Emirates News Agency, Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin, CEO of the Malaysian Bernama Agency, Pratyush Ranjan, Head of the Digital Technologies, Multimedia and Verification Department at the Indian PTI, Director of Public Relations and Strategic Partnership at the Ethiopian News Agency, Johannes Vondirad, Mohammad Sarfi, Editor-in-Chief of Tehran Times, Mercedes Elena Chasin Diaz, Director of the Ciudad Caracas newspaper.
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As one can see, the BRICS Media Summit not only brought together representatives of the media, and the civil society of the group’s countries, and created a space for them to establish closer ties, but also became a rare opportunity in the modern world to openly express their point of view, find like-minded colleagues and help to better feel and evaluate those changes in the world order moving towards a multipolar world that we are witnessing today.
Ksenia Muratshina, PhD in History, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”
