A China-Europe railway express train leaves Erenhot, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on April 1. Photo: IC
Reporters at the BRNN council meeting Photo: Li Hao/GT
Son Hyun-duck, Senior Managing Director of South Korea's Maekyung Media Group Photo: People's Daily
Son Hyun-duck
Senior Managing Director, South Korea's Maekyung Media Group
The Belt and Road News Network (BRNN) upholds the "silk road spirit" in pursuit of cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit. It is a very ideal news cooperation platform. And we would like to strengthen cooperation between different media to provide better information services for countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
To better carry out BRI news cooperation, I think it is necessary to build a news website for the news alliance. The website needs to upgrade timely and integrate relevant information on BRI cooperation from different websites. Readers need to view such information in Chinese and other languages in real time so that they can have a better understanding of the progress of BRI projects.
I also suggest that members of the news alliance prepare a systematic joint reporting plan for BRI, which allows media groups to conduct on-the-spot visits to countries and regions along the BRI.
Chinese universities and media organizations could also provide relevant training programs for journalists from BRNN members to nurture more foreign experts.
Zhou Shuchun, Publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Photo: Li Hao/GT
Zhou Shuchun
Publisher and editor-in-chief, China Daily
The news alliance was born after the deepening of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It is a necessary outcome, showing that the BRI is now transforming from an idea to a tangible outcome.
Media plays an important role in facilitating international collaboration under the BRI, making significant contributions to bridging connectivity in trade, policy coordination, infrastructure, finance and people-to-people exchanges.
Over the past five years, media agencies from different countries and regions along the BRI have conducted various communication and collaboration projects.
But as the construction of the BRI has moved from a "sketch" to a "fine painting," it also requires media organizations to adopt a higher standard, overcoming differences in language and circumstances in different countries and setting up a mechanism for media cooperation that produces a "combined effect." An official website and an information aggregation and distribution mobile platform for the BRI under the Belt and Road News Network (BRNN) could serve as a facilitator for such deeper partnership.
Mansour Abo Alazzm, Managing Editor of Al-Ahram newspaper in Egypt Photo: Li Hao/GT
Mansour Abo Alazzm
Managing Editor, Al-Ahram newspaper in Egypt
I think the Belt and Road News Network (BRNN) is a remarkable work and will facilitate the cooperation between different media organizations.
We, as media practitioners, should fully respect the news alliance's significance and contribute to its good operation.
So far, many Arab countries including Egypt lack enough accurate and objective information in their reports of China. How can we make more readers learn about China in an objective and comprehensive way? The launch of the BRNN is an important opportunity for us to report China more accurately, report cooperation projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in a high-quality way, and present readers with the positive energy of the BRI, especially in terms of the significant change brought by important infrastructure projects of the BRI.
I therefore urge media industry insiders to make joint efforts and try our best to show a real world. Through joint reporting, resource sharing and other types of networking, we could provide the global audience more objective and accurate information.
Du Zhanyuan, President of China International Publishing Group Photo: Li Hao/GT
Du Zhanyuan
President, China International Publishing Group
I would like to express my congratulations to the inauguration of the Belt and Road News Network (BRNN), and especially like to thank the support and efforts by the People's Daily for the preparation work.
In 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the setting up of the Belt and Road news cooperation network and from then on, cooperation between media organizations in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become closer and closer.
I would like to offer some suggestions on BRNN work.
The BRNN should tighten bonds between different media organizations and establish a normal communication mechanism, as communications and mutual learning can serve as a glue to connect the minds of people along the BRI. We should also balance reports and promote recognition by the general public.
Also, we have to unite our voices and work together to create synergies for the news community. We must respect and complement each other's advantages, promote cooperation between different organizations and serve as examples to lead more media to join in the reporting of the BRI.
