Global media leaders have gathered in southern China's Guangzhou to discuss ways to ensure accurate reporting and ethical journalism in the age of digitalization.

The 5th World Media Summit brought together some 450 participants from over 101 countries and regions, including representatives of 197 mainstream media outlets. The summit’s theme is "Boosting Global Confidence, Promoting Media Development.

Read: Enayetullah Khan leads UNB delegation at World Media Summit in China

Enayetullah Khan, editor-in-chief of UNB and Dhaka Courier, are leading a two-member Bangladesh delegation at the week-long summit. Masud Jamil Khan, director of UNB, is also attending the event.

During the summit, co-hosted by Xinhua news agency, the delegates will hold discussions on human development and security, new technological opportunities and challenges, media and market in the new era and other topics of common concern.

A joint statement issued at the opening of the summit on Sunday called on the global media to adhere to journalistic ethics and meet professional standards.

The statement called for carrying out innovation, and making rational use of emerging technologies.

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In his speech Fu Hua, executive chairman of the WMS and president of Xinhua News Agency, called on media outlets to build consensus and boost confidence in development, uphold objectivity and truth to enhance media's credibility, according to Xinhua news agency.

Xinhua said that UN Undersecretary-General Melissa Fleming and other guests also delivered speeches to the ceremony. They agreed that as humanity is facing a lot of global challenges, only by deepening communication and strengthening cooperation can we boost confidence and build a shared future.

The joint statement called on global media to build a bridge of communication to answer questions posed by the world, by the times and by history.

The participants expressed the hope that global media will pay more attention to the pressing demands of developing countries in areas such as poverty reduction, food security, financing for development, and industrialization, and help resolve imbalances and inadequacies in development.

“We should disseminate factual, objective, comprehensive and unbiased news to our audience, resist misinformation, and oppose rumors and prejudices to uphold the authority and credibility of the media,” the document said.

The participants also called on global media organizations to strengthen cooperation, promote the common development of the world media industry, and facilitate mutual understanding and communication among countries and peoples with different historical backgrounds, cultural traditions and development status, so as to deliver greater stability and positive energy to a volatile world.

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