Global Media Forum

From all over the world, nearly 1,200 journalists, media analysts, politicians and others interested in the state of global media gathered at the World Conference Center in the western German city of Bonn.

The theme of the three-day conference was "Conflict Prevention in the Multimedia Age," and the event saw several forums devoted to topics such as journalistic training, media freedom, technology and the advent of new media.

A major topic of discussion throughout the conference was the effect of new forms of media on the old media of newspapers, television and radio.

"If old media die, it's because they cling to their distribution channel. Because they forget about the fact that they deal with content. They're dealing with the paper," said Tim Webber of international broadcaster BBC.

As journalism evolves and new media platforms emerge, the traditional media have to change and evolve in order to stay relevant and be a viable business, said online journalist Kevin Anderson.

"There's still a lot of power in traditional platforms and the most interesting things that are happening are actually the projects that blend the old and the new," he said.

"So you have newspapers where some of the content will be generated by the community, and some of it will be generated by professional journalists. So that the community actually is able to cover itself in a broader way than the traditional news agenda.

"I think those are really interesting projects. So it's not old versus new, it's actually old and new," Anderson said.

Deutsche Welle Director-General Erik Bettermann told the conference that the struggle between traditional media and new online media should be considered over. Betterman also emphasized that journalists working in crisis regions had to maintain their objectivity and could even play a role in defusing conflicts.

Robotic warfare

Also discussed at the forum was the ethics of new computerized weapons increasingly being used in conflict zones.

Robotics expert Noel Sharkey from the University of Sheffield in England spoke of the use of such weapons in the fight against terrorism. He noted that there were currently around 130 armed, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"So there is someone sitting at a games console in the United States at the Creech Air Force Base in the Nevada desert several thousand miles away from the action. These pilots sit there all day, they can get up and go to the toilet, or have coffee and someone else will take over so it can be round the clock," he said.

"Then they go home at the evening to their family, have dinner or go to parent's evening. So it's quite a strange thing. So killing has never been easier really."

Connecting public, conflict

Cutting-edge technology used in computer games was also a topic at the conference, including a new generation of so-called "serious games."

Dr Soenke Zehle, a professor at Saarland University in Germany, said that new computer games allowed people to experience elements of warfare and, in some way, identify with the protagonists of real conflicts around the world.

"The intention behind the new games technology is to integrate users into a more dynamic form of participation and to enable them to simulate possible outcomes. As a result users gain a fresh insight into what is happening in conflicts in the real world," he said.

Zehle said the efficacy of traditional methods of reporting ongoing conflicts were no longer sufficient for connecting the public with the concept of conflict.

"Traditional reporting methods for covering ongoing conflicts are no longer able to reach a large number of readers," he said.

Sonila Sand/av
Editor: Trinity Hartman