Exchange and Mutual Learning for a Shared Future Kazan BRICS Media Dialogue held at KFU

Kazan Federal University became a venue for the BRICS Media Dialogue. The roundtable was organized by the China Media Group and the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) on the occasion of the XVI BRICS Summit, which is taking place these days in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan.

“I believe that the fact that Kazan University is directly involved in the events related to the BRICS summit in Kazan is very on point. Moreover, we want the faculty and students of our university to get involved,” commented Riyaz Minzaripov, President of KFU, on the upcoming event. “The BRICS countries are a very important political, economic and cultural force on the world stage, but now we are adding to this a serious information work in media communications.”

Bella Cherkesova, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, Oleg Dobrodeev, Director General of VGTRK, Pavel Negoitsa, Director General of Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and Kirill Filippov, Director General of SPB TV, took part in the event from the Russian side.

The foreign participants of the roundtable were representatives of the BRICS media: Shen Haixiong, Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Director General and Editor-in-Chief of the China Media Group (CMG), Nomsa Chabeli, Head of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Naila Farouk, Head of the Egyptian Television Network, Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm, Deputy Director General of Fars News Agency (Iran), and others.

“There is such a philosophical thought in China to improve oneself and help others to build a better world. Looking back at the development path of BRICS, we can see that the media of our countries always adhere to the spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation. We are looking forward to sincere dialogs and contacts,” Shen Haixiong opened the roundtable.

Today’s event, he believes, is an opportunity to get acquainted with the practices of colleagues from the media industry, to exchange experience in the field of event coverage, program production, and technological innovations.

The media is the most important tool of information exchange both within the country and in the international arena, and the media have a tremendous influence on the formation of a common picture of the world, the image of the state and relations between countries, Bella Cherkesova said in her welcoming speech.

“BRICS countries are united not only by economics. We are united by a common philosophy, a common understanding of the world, spiritual and moral values. And the task of the media is probably to promote this philosophy. Today more than 2,000 journalists from 59 countries are participating in the summit in Kazan, and about half of them are representatives of foreign media. Both our national media and the international network TV BRICS are doing a great job in covering BRICS events,” the Deputy Minister said.

In Cherkesova’s opinion, it is necessary to work on the exchange of experience in education and build relationships between specialized universities of the BRICS countries. She also came up with an initiative to create a bank of fakes and anti-fakes within BRICS in order to promptly combat inaccurate information.

“It is important to think about content exchange between our countries. As we have discussed with Mr. Shen Haixiong today, it could be an exchange of movies. Cinema is a soft power, which tells about our cultural values, and they, as we remember, are common for us,” Cherkesova emphasized.

Oleg Dobrodeev greeted the participants of the dialogue with the word “isәnmesez” (translated from Tatar as “hello”), as Tatar is one of the 57 languages in which VGTRK broadcasts, he explained.

“Kazan has always been a very important link between China, Russia, Europe and Asia,” the VGTRK chief noted. “It is in Kazan that you see how much historical and cultural diversity can unite and enrich people.”

The idea of close mutual cooperation is seen as promising. “I believe that at the first stage of our cooperation, joining forces, showing and simply offering joint projects concerning culture, art, languages, stories about their countries, music programs could be very, very interesting and incredibly in demand,” said Dobrodeev.

It should be noted that Joao Carlos Saad, President of Bandeirantes de Comunicacao Group, Ivan Eismont, Chairman of the National State TV and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (Belteleradiocompany), and others made welcoming speeches through video messages. They all expressed confidence that joint information work is especially important in the face of global challenges.

“Our reporters, our television team will provide the most detailed coverage of this important event. We will talk about it on all our information platforms. We are very proud to be a strategic partner of China and Russia,” said J. Saad. “We can intensify cooperation in creating sports programs, documentaries, entertainment programs and TV series.”

Representatives of Egypt, South Africa and Iran also shared their opinions.

“As media shifts towards digital platforms, we need to make sure that we are at the forefront of this transformation. And BRICS countries can create opportunities for technology sharing, especially in areas such as broadcasting technology, OTT platform and so on,” said SABC head Nomsa Chabeli. “Today, I see more opportunities for further collaborative work, and I believe that the future of public broadcasting will undoubtedly be digital and collaborative. But to sustain and thrive, in fact, all BRICS broadcasters must prioritize partnerships.”

According to the head of the Egyptian Television Network, modern media is the same industry along with economy, industry, investment development.

“The strength of many countries is reflected precisely in the work of the media,” Ms Farouk believes.

Wang Bin, Director of the Eurasian Bureau of the China Media Group, who visited the university earlier, also became a participant of the round table. He told the press that Kazan has become a center of attraction for journalists during the days of the summit, “The media as leading researchers of society in their work should show an example of cooperation here.”