Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 8 June (BelTA) – Professional reporters are supposed to prevent conflicts from sliding into the abyss of free-for-all information wars, BelTA learned from the resolution passed by the 10^th Belarusian International Media Forum.

“Modern conflicts visibly testify that the temptation to use mass media as a propaganda resource in an information standoff is not a thing of the past. Information provocations are now seen every day. In such cases the volume of misinformation considerably exceeds the volume of objective information and leads to a distorted world view,” believe participants of the media forum. In their opinion, such phenomena can lead to the discrediting of the journalist profession and the loss of trust in mass media. “The professional reporting community should prevent conflicts from sliding into the abyss of free-for-all information wars. It can be achieved by observing norms of journalism ethics that have been developed on the basis of many years of experience, corporate solidarity, by minimizing the influence of transitory political factors on the editorial policy of mass media. The moral and social responsibility of reporters becomes particularly important in modern conditions,” the document reads.

The document also underlines the need to consolidate efforts of mass media and the expert community of different countries for the sake of effectively counteracting challenges and threats, for ensuring international security and a fair world order in the name of development and creation. Participants of the forum stated regretfully that the modern world has not become more fair or safer. The geopolitical rivalry of leading powers gets stronger, social and economic contradictions get more pronounced, in several regions open military conflicts are ablaze, including in Europe.

“Memory about the Great Victory is particularly important now. Seventy years ago countries with different ideologies and political systems united in order to counter a common threat to the mankind — the Nazi. To preserve memory of the common and great struggle is a sacred duty of the current generation and future ones,” the resolution reads.

Participants of the forum thanked the Belarus President Administration, the Information Ministry, the Permanent Committee of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the CIS Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation for the opportunity to discuss topical items on the global agenda during the media forum in Minsk.