Islamabad: Media has played a constructive key role in Beijing Olympics 2022 to project the essence of togetherness for a shared future. The media landscape is constantly evolving with new emerging technologies that have made the truth reach towards the global scale.
There is a need for a collective approach from media outlets globally to work together in creating a better world and shun all the false propaganda approaches. Young media persons must learn new ways to inform themselves in order to build bridges amongst the nations. The Webinar had voices of the speakers from across the globe speaking on “Role of Media for promoting Beijing Winter Olympics for Shared Future ” hosted by the Friends of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum. In her opening remarks, Farhat Asif, Co-Founder of the BRI Forum, shared the aims and objectives behind the Friends of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum’s foundation. Ke Ye, Editor-in-Chief, In Zhejiang China, while moderating the Webinar, said that social media has had a great impact on how news is disseminated.
Traditional approaches have lost their significance in these contemporary times. Different social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Tikok have gained prominence to change the mindset of people and shift news production and perspective. These mediums have made significant contributions in spreading the message of hope during the Olympics. Gianni Merlo, President World Sports Journalists Federation, (AIPS) said that Sports Journalism, in the past helped save the Olympic games. Sports journalism is more important than most people think as it helps to connect people and bring them together. Makhdoom Babar, Chief Editor, Daily Mail, President,
Pakistan China Media Friendship Association said that few western media have opted to present disinformation about the Beijing Winter Olympics. But the athletes shared their true pictures through social media refuting the false claims. Liu Xiao Hui, Urdu Service, China Media Group said that for creating common destiny, common friendship is important. As we all are in the same boat, journalists should project the universalism and values that project togetherness.
Amjad Aziz Malik, Secretary-General Asian Sports Journalists Federations said that the winter olympic in Beijing were held seamlessly and the world is proud of China for holding such diverse games with ease. Waseem Abbasi, Editor Reporting, Urdu News said that worldwide sporting events are of the best uniting factors between cultures and countries given how they encite friendly competition and the human spirit. Karuppiah Ramakrishnan, President, Professional Sports Journalists Association, Sri Lanka added that his association hosted various events to promote the information and essence of the Olympics in Sri Lanka. Zeng Nai, Journalist at the China News Service noted the use of new technologies in Sports coverage has made significant landmarks in covering the Winter Olympics.
Livestreaming has become commonplace and sharing these streams on social media made millions of views creating significant interest and information. She has suggested that Pakistan and Chinese media cooperate in media research and joint work together in various avenues for building understanding.