Chapadongo Lungu, deputy managing director of Zambia Daily Mail
“The initiative to come up with the Belt and Road News Network is commendable because it serves as a platform for sharing information meant to reshape the world in a quest for development.”
It is often said that information is power. However, the question is: How can that information be used to improve the world overwhelmingly beset by shenanigans? If the media synergized, it would give greater meaning to the saying that knowledge is power; it would re-energize the Belt and Road project.
It is now incumbent upon the media to give real meaning to the project that is set to touch millions of lives. As the media does this, it must also remain true to its own virtues, chief among them being providing information upon which citizens of the world can make sound decisions.
“With the rise of China we can also expect that there will be a new way to reorganize the world with a different set of value and perspectives, whatever those may be.”
Taufiqurrihman Mohamad, deputy chief editor of the Jakarta Post in Indonesia
Media workers have long felt that the central perspective has been one that is dominated by ideas and values that at times don’t match with ours. Even if we can agree with some of their values, there are vested interests that come with how they report world events. Those vested interests certainly do not align with us. We have our own interests if not values and ideas that we need to promote not only at the regional but also global level.
