The international journalism forum for media in Cuba “New Operation Truth” held a session entitled “News agencies in the hypermedia age: from cable TV to multimedia news”, moderated by Maylin Vidal and Martha Andres Roman, editors-in-chief of Prensa Latina, a partner of TV BRICS. The participants discussed the development of journalism formats and the increasing role of multimedia today.
Daria Ivankova, Director of International Cooperation of TV BRICS, announced the launch of the Spanish- language section of the network’s portal. The session was also attended by Luis Enrique Gonzalez, President of Prensa Latina, Manuel Rodrigues, Director of Avante (Portugal), Wafy Ibrahim, Advisor to the general manager of Latin American affairs at the pan-Arab TV channel Al Mayadeen, Walter Smokarek, Editor of Liberation News, and Hector Geager, Advisor to the Congress of Latin American Press.
“TV BRICS is developing relationships with media in Latin America and the Caribbean – leading media from Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina. This has already prompted us to launch a Spanish-language broadcast and news feed that will include news and programmes from our partner media outlets in Spanish- speaking countries, as well as TV BRICS’ own editorial content in that language. It is important for the media network to be able to receive materials from national media in order to integrate the local/domestic agenda of the countries of the region into the information exchange with the professional media of the BRICS countries and, at the same time, to share news about developments in the association with Spanish-speaking Latin American countries” said Daria Ivankova, Director of International Cooperation of TV BRICS.
It should be noted that the launch of the news feed and broadcasting in Spanish on the TV BRICS network website is scheduled for the end of February 2024. At present, the TV BRICS portal offers 24-hour broadcasts and news feeds in Russian, English, Portuguese and Chinese. The network plans to launch versions in other languages, including Arabic and Persian, which are the official languages of a number of countries joining BRICS from January 2024.
Johana Tablada, deputy director general of the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s Directorate for U.S. Affairs, said the BRICS grouping is an important pole of strength for Cuba.
“Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel participated in the 15th BRICS Summit. Cuba’s efforts are aimed at changing the multilateral scenario, the international economic order. As we see today, this forum will help to bring us closer to our region, to the developing world and the prospects it offers. BRICS also plays a very important role in this process,” she said.
For her part, Wafy Ibrahim, Advisor to the general manager of Latin American Affairs at the pan-Arab TV channel Al-Mayadeen, said the New Operation Truth forum is a significant event in the world of journalism.
“We are actively co-operating with Prensa Latina and teleSUR and have already achieved very good results. I think this model of media partnerships can be applied all over the world, especially in the global South,” she said.
Earle Bousquet, a journalist from St. Lucia, spoke about Cuba’s role in this global collaboration.
“In the panel discussion, we discussed the impact that the introduction of IT and new technologies has had on journalism. It is still unclear whether it is positive or negative. However, one thing we know for sure, the main purpose of information is to educate people, it should be available to everyone in one form or another,” he said.
Representatives of 34 countries met within the framework of the international journalistic forum “New Operation Truth”. The event is timed to coincide with the 65th anniversary of Prensa Latina, the largest Latin American news agency and Cuba’s main media outlet. The forum is dedicated to media communications in the modern world and building a unified international information space.
African Times published this article in partnership with International Media Network TV BRICS.
