Media should balance use of technology with human touch: Asia-Pacific media chief

The media should strike the right balance between utilizing technologies and ensuring human input remains at the core, so as to maintain the reliability and credibility of the news services they provide, according to Ahmed Nadeem, the Secretary-General of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.

Nadeem is currently attending the 12th Global Video Media Forum (VMF), which opened in Quanzhou of east China's Fujian Province on Tuesday, bringing together 200 representatives from mainstream media and international organizations from over 60 countries and regions to the historic coastal city.

Speaking with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) ahead of the forum, Nadeem shared his concerns about an over reliance on technologies in news production, and how media can advance the use of new technologies to deliver trusted news. "The trend now is that technology seems to take the front step, which I feel is not the right way for media, especially public service media where another mandate of the public service media is to inform and educate. But if technology is taking the front step, I feel that we are losing the human touch. If that happens, then there is hardly going to be any trust in the media, because everybody now thinks that when something comes on the screen, the first question everybody raises is, 'is this real or not?'" he said.

"I think we need to find a balance, especially public service media, needs to find the balance so that we don't lose the credibility that we have, we don't lose the trust that we have. Because if we let technology to drive everything you do to the extent that every single thing that people hear and people see, they start questioning it, then I don't think we are moving in the right direction. So it's very, very important. So, hopefully we will strive to make the balance equally well," he continued.

The two-day VMF is being held under the theme "Intelligence Without Frontiers, Vision Beyond The Horizon - Media's Role in Communication and Cultural Exchange."

Launched by the CCTV Video News Agency (CCTV+) in 2011, the VMF is an annual professional journalism forum focusing on the latest video content communication and innovation trends, and providing a highly specialized, unique and interactive platform for domestic and foreign media peers.

Media should balance use of technology with human touch: Asia-Pacific media chief

Media should balance use of technology with human touch: Asia-Pacific media chief

A China Pavilion officially opened on Monday at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, highlighting China's decades-long efforts and achievements in combating desertification.

Covering more than 600 square meters, the China Pavilion is the second-largest national pavilion at the event. Its exhibition, themed "Cross-Century Green Great Wall, China's Restoration in Action," showcases the nation's battle against desertification, particularly through the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, a major national initiative aimed at reversing land desertification in its north, northwest and northeast regions by surrounding desert lands with trees and vegetation.

Addressing the opening ceremony, UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary Andrea Meza Murillo praised China's significant contributions to curbing its desertification, including controlling the expansion of the Taklimakan Desert in west China, the world's second-largest shifting sand desert.

She emphasized that effective policies, community and local government involvement, as well as innovation and technology, are key components of China's success.

"The example of what the government of China is doing in restoring land, in combating desertification, means a lot to humanity. It is inspiring and remarkable to see that China has already achieved land degradation neutrality ahead of time by restoring 50 percent of curable degraded sandy land. This is amazing. It's clear that we need good leadership, good policies, engagement of the society, engagement of national governments. It's really good to see this engagement, and of course, innovation is technology, it's traditional knowledge, and this is what we are seeing in the China experience," said Murillo.

COP16, held from Dec. 2 to 13 under the theme "Our Land. Our Future," is the largest UN land-focused conference to date and the first UNCCD COP in the Middle East and North Africa.

China Pavilion opens at UN conference on desertification held in Riyadh