Traditional, Social Media Important For Bringing Diverse Culture Closer, Help Create Peaceful Global Environment: Masood Malik

Veteran journalist, Masood Malik Friday said that traditional and social media were important for bringing diverse cultures and minds closer and helped create a peaceful global environment ideal for cognitive harmony.

BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Oct, 2018 ) :Veteran journalist, Masood Malik Friday said that traditional and social media were important for bringing diverse cultures and minds closer and helped create a peaceful global environment ideal for cognitive harmony.

"The mind loves to be in places which are soothing and avoid cognitive dissonance. The media is an apt tool for creating positivity and harmony at a global level," he made these remarks while addressing at the fifth Annual Conference of World Cultural Forum held here.

The forum co-hosted by China Daily witnessed nearly a thousand participants including government officials and scholars from around the world including China, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Poland, Italy, Egypt and other countries, as well as experts, entrepreneurs and media members.

Masood Malik remarked that the international media particularly the social media had become a more vibrant and can be utilized for educating people from different cultures to respect and learn from each other to create an ideal global culture ensconced in peace and prosperity.

"Every culture has its own rich history which can be shared for the learning process and for creating positive peace and harmony in the world." "Every religion preaches respect for human life and nature respect for life and earth should be inculcated in the minds of the new generations to make our living on this planet more sustainable and harmonious with nature," he added.

He proposed that social media and the traditional media should adopt an agenda to usher positive peace in our global village.

"Culture references determine our identity and the ways in which we construct reality the media can help by reflecting the truth and presenting the true values of each culture instead of distorting and perverting national values," he added.

Masood Malik urged the gathering that let the process of globalization to promote a harmonious multifaceted, multidimensional culture where all would be free from the tyranny of violence, ideas and fake news, adding, globalization should not only focus on technological and economic growth but promote global peace and growth of positive ideas.

He said that increased interaction among people, free flow of information, and freedom from cultural hegemony and reliance on traditional powerful media centres was important for achieving the vision of a peaceful world.

Masood Malik said that the Chinese and other media players were actively changing the playing field.

"We in Pakistan now have alternate channels of news and entertainment, CCTV English, Xinhua and Chinese content from social media are now easily available for Pakistani media consumers," he added.

He said the language barriers were gradually fading away with enhanced economic activity under the CPEC umbrella and pointed out that the Pakistani and Chinese media while respecting each others' cultural diversity were producing positive vibes in the region which are creating the mutually beneficial culture for growth and prosperity in the region.

"Media should be promoting culture and political diversity the concept of equality, justice, and peaceful co-existence i.e. democracy are present in every culture. The expression of values may differ from culture to culture but the basic values and desires for creating happiness and prosperity for the people is similar," he added.

He said that an intercultural dialogue across the globe was now possible and essential for creating respect for diverse cultures and enjoying the art, literature and value system of our global village.

"The peace grows with respecting each others' values systems and media can help educate us to respect cultural diversity and views," he added.

The forum encompassed a series of activities such as an opening ceremony, plenary session, six thematic forums, high-end dialogues and a closing ceremony.

This year's meeting called on all countries to promote a shared future, push for exchanges among different cultures and lead the international community in the direction of cultural communication and coexistence.

The participants discussed topics such as international relations, economy, culture, ecology, the Belt and Road Initiative, the internet, philosophy, sociology and traditional medicine under this year's theme of "Cultural Dialogue: Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind".

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