* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
BONN, Germany - ARE ratings more important than the quality of news or media programs presented to the public?
This was a question posed before an audience of some 2,000 journalists, bloggers, media educators, cultural workers and artists from all over the world gathered in the historic city of Bonn, Germany one breezy afternoon of June for the 2012 Global Media Forum organized by Deutsche Welle.
The question is valid and waiting to be asked in the present-day global media practice of cutthroat competition for ratings and advertisements.
This year’s forum, a congress with international reach, held from June 25 to 27, sought to examine the role of the media with their images and messages in a rapidly changing world.
The three-day congress centered on media’s role in contributing constructively to cultural diversity, education, reducing poverty, addressing the problem of global migration, sustainable development and the overall them of making the world a better place to live in.
Deutsche Welle, the organizer of the forum, cited a recent study conducted by the University of Hamburg which said that while today’s society is overflowing with information that can be accessed anywhere at any time because of the Internet, there are still millions out there who are illiterate.
Not surprisingly, most of these people are from crisis regions and war-torn areas.
“Even in a highly industrialized nation such as Germany, 14 percent of the population is functionally illiterate,” Deutsche Welle said, quoting the Hamburg study.
On June 25, at the opening of the three-day Forum, Reinhard Hartstein, Deutsche Welle Deputy Director General said everyone must have the opportunity to be educated especially with the development of the Internet.
And having said this, he added that each and every media practitioner has a role in ensuring this.
“The growth of the world depends also on this. Lacking education cause poverty and social injustices,” Hartstein said.
Thus, he posed a challenge to the media.
The challenge to the media is to create images, make all the things public, and to show these educational and cultural differences, he said.
“The media have to have the goal that they improve educational opportunities,” Hartstein said during the plenary session.
Marc Jan Eumann, State Secretary for Federal Affairs, Europe and the Media of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, posted the same challenge.
“The challenges of the Internet are all challenges for us. Social media and mobile media are all great opportunities for a great variety of thoughts and information. What we need in a global world is pure information,” he said.
Furthermore, he said that education and literacy go hand in hand and a great challenge that media practitioners all over the world have to face.
“The media is an important partner for this process – the process for raising awareness on sustainability issues,” he said.
Is it more important then for the media to focus on ratings?
Keynote speaker Franz Radermacher, Director, Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing and Club of Rome Member, said journalists from all over the world must strike a balance to help keep the world properly informed.
He spoke on the much-debated issue of media practice around the globe: Ratings Versus Quality: Media Caught Between Market Success and the Mission to Educate.”
At the end of the day, Radermacher said that media practitioners should strive for the right balance between these two seemingly opposing forces.
“Look for the right balance in the different aims that you have to follow. And still communicating essential things to a lot of people. Try to concentrate on what needs to be communicated,” Radermacher said.
Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcasting company, is tasked to explain Germany’s role as a “cultured European nation with democratic freedoms based on the rule of law and to promote understanding and exchange between cultures and peoples.” It offers television, radio and Internet coverage in 30 languages.
I emerged from the Forum hopeful that soon enough, journalists across the globe will indeed realize the importance of media's role in society. Each day can be an opportunity to help educate even just one individual by providing the right information. Our stories may not save the world but surely, it may at least help even just one person.
