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Social media cannot replace traditional media
Social media might be quicker and very influential, but it cannot be reliable
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span>Social media might be quicker and very influential, but it cannot be reliable. Therefore, social media could complement but not replace traditional media, said media experts at the XVI Eurasian Media Forum in Almaty on Thursday.
There is concern about the influence of the internet and social media on the younger generation, with some blaming social media for creating terror or tension through rumors, fake news or hate speech. Governments can even meddle in the election processes of foreign countries through social media.
“Social institutions are concerned about the destructive influence of the internet and social networks, including
on the younger generation. People are in need of immunity to new phenomena and threats, Kazakh President Kassym-Zomart Tokayev said in his inaugural address to the media forum.
President Tokayev did not attend the forum, but his speech was read out by Kazakhstan’s Minister of Information and Social Development Dauren Abayev.
Tokayev asked the media community to examine the issue of social media seriously and find solutions.
Echoing that view, former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves distinguished between what he called “quality media” on the one hand and social media on the other.
“We need both the US and European Union for our development. We are more interdependent than ever before,”
“Quality media [traditional media] is certainly needed in the digital era. Social media is different,” Ilves said.
With the coming of smartphones in 2006, the number of people using the internet has increased dramatically, and social media has become a powerful tool, but it has also become a big mess without any control.
With digital development in full swing, protectionism and narrow-minded nationalism are holding their heads high in several developed countries. Is this the end of globalization?
No, said several speakers at a session called “Deglobalization: The world in search of new development models”.
“Globalization is still there. For example, Armenia is a globalized country,” Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said, referring to the huge Armenian diaspora in the United States, France, Russia and Lebanon.
US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies and Brexit might be signs of deglobalization, but China has become a champion of globalization.
“We need both the US and European Union for our development. We are more interdependent than ever before,” Chinese National People’s Congress’ (NPC) Foreign Affairs Committee vice chairwoman Baige Zhao said at the forum.
Under the theme “The World Today: Transforming Reality” the media forum discusses deglobalization, artificial intelligence, consumption crisis, digital reality of mass media, global power balance and bloggers.
Around 700 media practitioners, experts, senior officials and activists from more than 50 countries are attending the annual forum. The media forum was first launched in 2002 in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty.
