adminabout news standards and accuracy, and they should be really aggressive in using social media, said Thomson Reuters China chairman David Schlesinger.
Schlesinger, who served as the editor-in-chief of Reuters News for four years before assuming current post early this year, told Xinhua in an interview that the world’s media industry had to adapt themselves to the ever changing media environment and the habits of readers and viewers.
News dissemination in the past had largely been in a one-way pattern from the editors to the readers, but now it is more in a two-way manner and readers do news editing for themselves through social media such as Twitter and Facebook, said Schlesinger.
However, social media is unlikely to completely replace traditional media, he said, adding traditional media needs to listen to young audience more and learn more about new journalism from readers and editors in their 20s.
Also of much importance is that traditional media should strictly stick to news standards, because information spread among social media is sometimes confusing and unreliable, he said.
Talking about Xinhua, which commemorates its 80th anniversary of establishment on November 7, Schlesinger said Xinhua has achieved “tremendous progress”, developing itself from a small state news agency into an internationalised and multimedia news agency in the past 80 years.
“When you look at New York Times Square, and you see Xinhua has a huge screen on the north end of the Times Square. And Thomson Reuters has a huge screen on the south of the Times Square.
“In 80 years, Xinhua has made huge progress and Xinhua has really developed and in a remarkable way.”
Xinhua, headquartered in Beijing, was founded in 1931 under the name “Red China News Agency”. Six years later, it adopted current name of Xinhua News Agency. Literally in Chinese, Xinhua means New China.
The media group employs around 15 000 people globally and has 162 overseas offices. Early this year, Xinhua rented one of the huge screens at New York City’s Times Square to broadcast its products. Aiming to develop itself into a world-class and multimedia news group, Xinhua has been reaching out to the world and exploring new media, including TV news network CNC and mobile TV.
Xinhua has great ambitions, but what people have to see is in the next 80 years how it fulfills its ambitions and overcomes challenges, Schlesinger said. One of the challenges that Xinhua faces is to further market its news products, he said.
Schlesinger also said Thomson Reuters and Xinhua, which began their cooperation in 1957, would continue to cooperate on the basis of equality and mutual respect. – Xinhua.
In the 21st century, the two media groups can add onto the cooperation a more commercial relationship as well and the two sides can think about new cooperation ways in a commercial manner, he added. – Xinhua.
Online Reporter