World’s leading broadcasting corporations discuss pandemic in detail

By Burak Dag

ANKARA (AA) - Presidents of the world’s leading broadcasting unions discussed COVID-19 and the role of public broadcasters in creating more open societies in a post-COVID world on Monday.

As part of the 3rd ABU-RAI DAYS 2021 event organized by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and Italian national public broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) entitled "A new world out of COVID: Can Public Service Media help to create more open, inclusive and tolerant societies?", an online panel was held with the participation of the heads of two broadcasting unions.

The opening panel speakers were the president of the ABU and Director General of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), Ibrahim Eren, and European Broadcasting Union President and Chief Executive Officer of France Televisions Delphine Ernotte Cunci.

The panel discussed the role of public broadcasters in the formation of more open, inclusive and tolerant societies in the post-pandemic period.

This year, the ABU-Rai Days initiative aims to bring media representatives from Asian and European media outlets together to discuss the future of public broadcasting in a post-COVID world.

Speaking at the panel, Eren said Turkey’s national public broadcaster TRT is on duty 24/7.

"Public broadcasting has three main responsibilities: informing, educating and entertaining. As TRT, we have been successfully fulfilling this role with our TRT EBA channels, TV series and news sources since the beginning of the pandemic," he said.

Eren pointed out that traditional media is considered much more reliable than social media in obtaining information during the pandemic.

Stating that the crisis paved the way for an environment of tolerance, he said the pandemic is valuable in terms of sharing the knowledge and experience of public broadcasters.

He also drew attention to public broadcasters’ responsibilities not just towards society, but also from the institutional point of view, Eren said TRT responds quickly to every possible crisis and fulfills its human-oriented approach not only socially but also institutionally.

The panel also focused on the effects of concepts such as tolerance and openness on public broadcasting and the responsibilities of institutions to societies during the closure and gradual normalization processes carried out all over the world during and after the coronavirus.

It was held in hybrid mode and hosted live by RAI in Milan.