BRICS media should collaborate to break Western hegemony

Media outlets from BRICS countries must foster initiatives to break Western hegemony in news reporting, a senior official from Brazil’s public broadcaster told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Andre Barbosa, executive director for external relations with Brazil’s state-owned radio and TV operator EBC, also said efforts should be made within the bloc to democratize the flow of information so as to allow different voices in the global press.

Barbosa made the remarks prior to the first BRICS Media Summit slated for Dec.1 in Beijing. The EBC will attend the event along with leading media organizations from the BRICS members, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

There was awareness back in the 1950s that the developed countries have dominated global news reporting with Western-oriented narratives, Barbosa said, adding that the only way to change this situation is to “create an economic bloc with a united press industry to counter the Western dominance.”

There have been attempts like China’s CCTV, Russia Today and Al Jazeera to provide this counter influence to the Western world view in news, Barbosa noted.

Media representatives from the five BRICS countries will meet in Beijing to mull the ways to share journalistic and entertainment contents.

They will also discuss the possibility of joint efforts in the development of information technologies and rules to be used for media projects among the BRICS members, Barbosa said.

Brazil will present at the summit its 4D project, a transmission system that aims to bring digital TV and the Internet to Brazil’s least developed regions.

“The question of digital inclusion is highly important for all BRICS countries…We have to develop technologies to reach remote communities and help create jobs,” he explained.

The 4D project will be rolled out in Brazil in October 2016, and is expected to replace traditional Internet services in certain areas.

“The Brasil 4D (Digital, Development, Diversity, Democracy) will allow the streaming of data through radio frequency. In this way, we could reach 60 million Brazilians who do not have Internet access at home,” said Barbosa.

The technology, developed by the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro, has already been distributed to countries in Latin America, and it is also being used in Botswana, he added.