Published: 7 October 2013
Country: China
The Media Diversity Institute (MDI) has confirmed its presence in China by taking a part at the International Forum in Urumqi, Xinjiang region. MDI’s Executive Director Milica Pesic has presented the paper “Professional journalism and the question of ethnicity” to the participants from Chinese, USA, British, Hong Kong, Belgium and Kazakhstan universities. Two-day Forum in September in Central Asia was organized by Communication University of China and Xinjiang University, known as prestigious in the field of media and communication.
Central Asia, especially China’s western Xinjiang region, has always been an area of strategic importance to China and the international communication system. The organisers of the Forum wanted to re-examine and refocus on Central Asia’s role and status in the new international context.
Xinjiang region, which is geographically part of Central Asia and located at the heart of the Ancient Silk Road, has witnessed historical changes as well since 2010. The central government is implementing a new set of policies to “modernize” the region and “modern culture leads the development” is a new policy statement. A modern culture that reconciles modernity with Islam, which dominates Xinjiang since the 14th century, will not only benefit Xinjiang, but also sets up an example of peaceful co-existence between Islamic and Confucian culture, which will in turn boost regional development and China’s soft power in Central Asia. Therefore, some of the professors and media experts see MDI as a perfect partner to work in ethnically and religiously mixed province as Xinjiang.
Part of MDI’s visit to China in September was a lecture given by Milica Pesic to the journalism and communication students at the Tsinghua University. MDI’s Executive Director explained to the students why the concept of inclusive journalism is so important to MDI and how to implement the principals of inclusiveness and diversity in media.
After Pesic’s lecture at the Tsinghua University from which many Chinese politicians and influential journalists graduated, current students were eager to discuss further with MDI’s representative. Milica Pesic was asked to give her opinion on so-called “patriotic journalism”.
“Journalism is a profession which serves the citizens. Representing people and helping them to find the answers in a responsible way is one of the main principles in journalism. Therefore, good journalists not only report in a responsible way, but they promote responsible journalism as well”, concluded MDI’s Executive Director.
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