4th World Media Summit

His Excellency Dr. Huang Kunming, 

His Excellency Mr. He Ping, 

Representatives of the Press,

Distinguished Guests,

I wish to thank the Xinhua News Agency for the opportunity to address the Fourth World Media Summit.

(Link to video remarks can be found here.)

On behalf of the UN and its family in China, I congratulate the presidium of this event for their initiative in promoting the critical role that media plays globally towards building more robust, more resilient societies.

Today's world faces a series of tests in fighting poverty, rising inequalities, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said, "During the pandemic, and in other crises including the climate emergency, journalists and media workers help us navigate a fast-changing and often overwhelming landscape of information while addressing dangerous inaccuracies and falsehoods."

The virus continues to impact lives and livelihoods around the world, and global efforts must be strengthened, as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi put it, “to build a great wall of immunity” in our fight against the pandemic.

The UN, too, has ambitious goals.

Preventing conflict and sustaining peace.

Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Upholding human rights for all while protecting our planet and promoting gender equality.

At the heart of the 2030 Agenda lie the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, representing a set of interconnected and complex challenges that recognize that development and growth must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health, education, and our environment.

With less than ten years remaining to achieve the SDGs in the Decade of Action, global efforts must accelerate to deliver on the 2030 Agenda, demanding action and innovation from all stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, and the media.

Messages of gloom and doom can capture public attention and create a sense of urgency, but studies show increasing numbers of people are turning away from such news because it makes them hopeless.

Instead of feeling empathy, people are feeling numbed to inaction.

The Under-Secretary-General for UN Global Communications, Melissa Fleming, has rightly put it, "While it is our duty to highlight what is wrong with the world, we also have an opportunity to point out what is going right".

Rather than just communicating to draw people's attention and raising awareness, we at the UN and the media must speak to capture their imagination while offering concrete examples of how our global challenges can be solved.

Hate speech and misinformation fomented online has given rise to divided societies, generating fear and mistrust of the other.

Here, the media has a responsibility toward its audiences: to provide honest coverage, and reporting and information based on facts. This is the media’s role in building a more just, sustainable world.

Together we can commission inspiring stories of impact and progress, create momentum for the SDGs, offer audiences opportunities to lead on and take climate action while giving a voice to the voiceless, including women, young girls, persons with disabilities and other often marginalized people.

Here in China, as elsewhere, communications and advocacy, through the efforts of a committed UN Communications Group comprising of officers from over 20 UN entities, remains a key priority for implementing the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework – the most important instrument for the planning and implementation of UN development activities in countries.

For the UN, through our work on the ground, we have developed deep relationships with traditional media while capitalizing on the opportunities of digital and social media, motivating new audiences, especially young people.

With your support, the UN and its Country Team in China stand ready to collaborate in the spirit of multilateralism for a world where everyone thrives in peace, dignity, and equality on a healthy planet, in compassion and solidarity.

I wish you a successful summit.