"The forum will feature discussions on today's journalism, and its transition to post-mainstream, the evolution of alternative media, and the MSM and their sponsors' loss of their monopoly on forming the universal agenda for the world's information; and the new media's responsibilities of guarantors of freedom of information."
The conference was a great success, and drew attendees from all over the world, including many dissident Western media figures. RIA chairman Dmitry Kisilev opened the forum. He stressed that American media monopolies had, in particular, employed their power on the world stage to advance the economic, military, and cultural agendas of the Western elites.
"People in the world do not like this much." Kisilev stated. "And there is a demand for alternative information. That is what post-mainstream journalism is...Currently, professional journalism is facing the challenge of whether it will continue to exist at all. But this challenge is also an opportunity. It shows that relying on solid sources, one's own brand and its accumulated credibility is valued even higher in the era of information noise."
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the second day of the conference and spoke of the need for transparency. Putin pointed out that this includes the type of unofficial censorship that is widely practiced in the Western MSM. In a truly free society, Putin noted that "there can be no situations where certain authorities like certain information---protecting it and calling it free speech---and then object to certain information as propaganda serving the interests of opposition political groups or certain countries."
Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, spoke to the Conference via teleprompter from the Ecuadoran Embassy in London where he has sought asylum from Beltway vengeance since 2012. Assange revealed the machinations between US corporate interests and the US government. He noted that 80% of the NSA budget is outsourced to corporations---especially to media giants like Google.
Hassan Ben Jeddou, chairman of the Arabic news agency Al-Mayadeen proposed the creation of an international press pool, as counterweight to Western media monopolies. The proposed media bloc would be designed along the lines of the BRIC union or the Chinese-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which are alternatives to the G-7 and World Bank respectively.
Jeddou is correct about this. Regrettably, the era when American news networks and the BBC were the sources of information the free world trusted, has passed. Corporate interests; the symbiotic relationship between the government and media; the Ameroboob's insatiable thirst for disinformation and mindless Infotainment has rendered the Western media practically useless for anything other than increasing Wall Street profit margins.
And the situation is not likely to improve soon, as all three current US presidential candidates are avowed enemies of the Free Press. At the conference, Assange warned of Hilary Clinton in particular; and cited her relationship to corporate media titans. Donald Trump has called for lifting certain legal immunities journalists possess, and Bernard Sanders believes strongly in state-controlled media.
American investigative reporter Eva Golinger, who attended the conference agrees.
"The Mainstream Media has become superficial, scandal-mongering, and based on headlines and selling for profit." she told Sputnik News. "And most alternative media lack a professional approach and factual evidence in their stories."
That statement describes the current state of affairs in Western journalism perfectly.
Other issues raised at the Conference included the CEO of SANA presenting evidence of Western media cover-ups of atrocities committed by Jihadists and their confederates in Syria. Russia's Human Rights Commissioner presented evidence of journalistic suppression in the United States. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
also addressed the Conference on a cause that she has taken a personal interest in: the MSM's employment of images of children for propaganda purposes.
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