I don’t want to be remembered for my many fights — Obaseki

By Sarafina Christopher

China has called on journalists to always integrate both conventional and new media in order to enhance their professional practice and effective reach out to audiences.

Mr Luo Chunlei, Assistant to the President, Jilin Radio and TV-Station, gave the advice on Tuesday in Changchun, Jilin Province, China, during a field visit by foreign journalists to the station.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that journalists from Bolivia, South Sudan, Burundi, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Kiribati, Laos, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan are currently undergoing a two-week international media training in China.

Addressing the journalists, Luo said broadcast stations should embrace both conventional and new media practice to succeed in achieving their desired goals and not see the new media as a competitor.

According to him, integrating both conventional and new media in their practice will advance effective audience participation in media programmes.

“With the emergence and advancement of technology, as well as quicken the growth of social media, Jilin Radio and TV have integrated to keep up with trends, while maintaining their audiences.

“We developed applications that allow users to subscribe and get news about what is happening at their own convenience, to ensure consistency and access to every piece of information.

“New media is much more interactive and highly data-driven, which makes it more accessible for the station to keep tabs of subscribers and users and to get feedback through the comments sections, as well as to better improve on news content and range of coverage,” Luo said.

He defined media integration as the process of accepting, integrating, and using new as well as advanced technology in all aspects of news reporting.

Speaking to NAN on the sidelines of the visit, Prof. Li Yu, Director of International Communication Planning Bureau, China Media Group, said the new media had become an important source of information.

He added that the new media had become well accepted within the practice of mainstream media and that news attributes and content had increased significantly also.

“The global mobile phone subscribers are about 5.48 billion, accounting for about 68.3 per cent.

“Global network users are about 5.18 billion, accounting for about 64.6 per cent.

“The global social media user identities, which are 4.8 billion, account for 59.9 per cent, with internet users spending about 6 hours 35 minutes, and TV about 3 hours 12-minutes.

“The traditional Pay TV industry is consistently decreasing with steady growth in online video services, which is why it is of great importance for both the conventional and new media to be integrated because they complement one another with each playing a vital role,” Li said.

He noted that while traditional media subscribers watch television and listen the to radio, online users also use their phones to watch and listen to news, entertainment, tourism, and educational materials, amongst others.

“New Media” refers to the use of computers, the Internet, and smartphones, as opposed to the more conventional forms of traditional media, like the print, film, television, and radio. (NAN)