Interview with Denisa Petrilaková, the chairman of the Czech Media Agency, about the journalistic event held by the All-China Journalists Association (ACJA) and the Western China International Communication Organization (WCICO)
A young, modest looking woman with an entrepreneurial spirit, lots of ideas and experience and, most importantly, a number of implementations. She recently visited China for the 2024 Belt and Road Journalists Forum: Expand the Path of Opportunities, Share a Bright Future, an international gathering of media leaders from around the world. We talked briefly about how she was impressed, what inspired her, and what she brought to the event herself in this interesting interview.
A few days ago you were a guest in China, where the world event for media and journalistic associations was held. Can you elaborate a little bit on what exactly that forum was, where it took place, who organized it and what the main topic was?
I would like to thank to organizers right from the beginning for the invitation, I am really glad that I was able to participate in this interesting and important international journalistic forum, because it was very enriching for me. It was meeting of leaders of associations and unions of journalists from different countries. It was held in the Chinese municipality of Chongqing, which is directly under the central government of China and is also, interestingly enough, the second most populous city in the world, with over 30 million inhabitants.
The main forum, entitled „2024 Belt and Road Journalists Forum: Expand the Path of Opportunities, Share a Bright Future“, was held from 30 to 31 August 2024 and was the culmination of this exciting visit. And in fact, we had very rich and interesting program for three days prior to that, where we got to know each other and discussed various topics, such as about China’s development achievements. There were more than 100 representatives from various journalistic societies, unions and associations from all over the world.
For example, there was also the Pakistan Journalists Association, the Russian Journalists Association, basically all the representatives of mostly media unions and associations, but there were fewer journalists themselves. On the first day we were divided into groups according to expertise and regions, or according to certain categories. Here, each seminar had a different theme. I was in the section where the topic was Artificial Intelligence (AI) Driving Social Development. And in the previous days, we had opportunities to talk in detail with the local government and administrators of the areas we visited in Chongqing.
What specifically was presented there, either by the organizers or by you, the guests?
It was mutual. Personally, I was interested in the presentation of one successful journalistic example in the second part, where the real power of the media was shown. And if you can use it properly for the benefit of the people, it benefits the whole society. And this was followed by a German colleague who pointed out that this is what China should present in the European and Western information space.
To return to the main example which I want to talk about, in one part of the region there was considerable pollution of the local river. The river smelled horrible and was even kind of dark in color. The locals had been pointing this out for some time, but nothing had been done about it, so the local journalists did a strong and influential news report of an almost campaign-type nature. They did such a great report that it was literally a „work of art“. This attracted maximum public attention and this simply could not be passed over by the authorities and the result was that the people achieved, with the help of the journalists, the elimination of the problem and a plan for cleaning up the river was worked out to the satisfaction of all.
A perfect example of how it works in China, they are not afraid to criticize something like that, but instead it will drive its own solution. In the Czech Republic, we are often guided by our own prejudices towards China, but the reality is different. And that was a huge inspiration for me, how powerful the power of the media is. To help solve people’s problems is the main task of all media, to be responsible society.
And that has actually disappeared completely in the Czech Republic. In fact, the media rarely ever address anything that really bothers ordinary people or is in theirs interests. I know of only one such programme, and that is “Black Sheep”, but overall I cannot find any other such programme and the attention is drawn elsewhere. The programme was well presented. We also had the opportunity to visit the local zoo as part of the relaxation program, then experience local culture, seminar, presentations and at the end everyone had the opportunity to freely say what they were interested in or what they wanted a specific answer to, even though it seemed to us that it was taboo in China.
What did you like most about the program and what stuck in your mind, besides the example above? As far as I know, they also talked about the current safety of journalists…
It was the example which I have already talked about here that impressed me the most. But it also made me realise that China gives a complete model of what freedom of expression actually means in real terms. We really all had the opportunity and were able to speak completely openly on a variety of topics and there was incredible space given for all of our expressions and questions. Indeed, we were all able to speak freely there, for example, about the safety of journalists, because that is a really big problem that is plaguing journalists today worldwide, especially there in the countries of Africa and the southern part of the world. I met, for example, representatives of journalists from Mexico. They talked about the fact that Mexico is actually the worst of all in terms of safety for journalists. In fact, 120 journalists have died in Mexico alone in recent times, which is a lot. Security, for example, has also been a major concern for journalists in Indonesia.
Because it was more about those countries where journalists are silenced by being killed, the truth is that there were few representatives from Europe. I myself briefly added to this discussion that in Europe soft power is used against journalists, such as labelling and so on. However, of the hundred-plus participants, there were There were representatives from Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Bulgaria and representatives from Greece. There were also representatives from the Russian Federation, Serbia and two from Croatia.
We are simply calling for something to be done about it, because it’s hard to do anything about it in small countries like the Czech Republic, we need foreign help, and we need some kind of international platform where these stories could be shared and, more importantly, where journalists could be protected, perhaps even given legal assistance or even existential help. The discussion conti by an idea of setting up a global, official organisation that would deal exclusively with the safety of journalists, where they could come together and fight for the truth, freedom of speech and justice. That would be great!
So the discussions mainly included the current topic of freedom of speech and expression?
Yes. It was really breathtaking how much space they gave us for this discussion and it was absolutely perfectly prepared. For example, I must point out that I have never seen better simultaneous interpretation. There were several interpreters taking turns, and when they spoke, they had such a honeyed tone and were completely calm during interpreting without shaking voices. Absolutely perfect, really the highest possible level I have ever had the opportunity to experience with my own eyes.
So you’re saying that the role of the media is a fundamental thing that influences public opinion in society?
The role of the media in particular should be to change reality for the better, also through various actions in the information field, where certain key information is disseminated, then it has to be addressed socially and that can change reality for the better. Unfortunately, this is happening in our country at the moment in a negative sense. However, we can just to turn it around and promote positive and good ideas in particular.
That’s what I took home with me, that we should take the media back on its right track to serve all those ordinary people and not just the political establishment, whoever is there. To have the media serve the ordinary people’s interest, which I think is the role which belongs to the media industry. It actually fits in with what we learned in political economy at university that the next big change will definitely come from the private sector, not from the state sector, and that it actually has to be a revolution from the bottom up, and that only by actually doing something can society overall change for the better. It follows logically, I think from the research, that this is what it comes to, that actually the media has to start changing society in this way.
And this made a huge impression on me as well as it gave me a very clear sense of the community of shared destiny, because there were people from Africa, from Sri Lanka, from Pakistan, from the Solomon Islands, just from various countries, an incredible mix of people from the media industry. And yet there was a sense that we all were drops from the same sea. We’re dealing with the same issues and problems. It was like the whole world was coming together and nobody was attacking anybody. I really got the feeling of real sense of community of shared future for mankind. And that is what China talks about all the time, but they actually not only talk about it, but they really show us the direction and we have the opportunity to join it. It was absolutely incredible and I got a strong impression of it.
You were also in a protected natural area, in a village where there was a tea house, a library… It’s probably a good example of how you can solve a lot of issues with one project, isn’t it?
Yes, it means that the natural and original character of the landscape will be preserved, with its indigenous population and its crafts, but at the same time their standard of living will rise multiple times, because the state provided a crucial guidance, support and takes on co-responsibility with the inhabitants. That is quite different to what we have here, I think in Europe and in West in general. The authorities are helping to promote and coordinate such project, everyone has a stake in it, and at the same time it will be turned into an educational trail with the help of tourist industry, especially for families and young future generations. In general, it strengthens relationships.
That sounds very good. And what would you say more, was there anything else?
For example, in Chongqing, where we were, there wasn’t a single older apartment building, so everything was brand new or under construction. And it really was a beautiful place. And the people there were very warm. You could see that people were just happy, internally happy, and that’s why people were so smiley and you find an incredibly good-hearted atmosphere there. And of course the nature there is absolutely beautiful, there are so many beautiful natural sites.
In one area, a colleague from Greece asked about global change and global warming, how they are dealing with it, and the answer she got was that they just use the latest technology and that of course something like a natural fire will just happen, but they deal with it by using military-space satellites. And there’s a system that’s set up so that as soon as something is on fire or is thermally heated and it’s 20 centimeters in diameter, they’re already targeting it. And because of technologies like that, they actually nip those fires in the bud, so that it might flare up, but it doesn’t flare up enough because it’s just put out quite quickly and efficiently. That’s why they’re preserving so much of the beautiful nature out there.
So, if you summarise it all, I see that this event left mostly positive impressions on you?
Yes. It was a huge inspiration for me, it showed me the direction, what else we can improve, and most importantly what I can bring back and then hopefully by my own success spread this inspiration to other media. But I think that is so much ahead that we have to grow to those heights first. So in short: huge inspiration, huge energy, clear direction, clear concept.
gnews.cz - Jan Vojtěch
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