Surabaya (Antara Jatim) - The mass media plays an important role in disseminating knowledge and reflection of urban issues, Deputy Editor of the British daily The Guardian, Christopher Michael said.
"The media play a very important role in broadening the awareness of the people at large," he said at an Urban Journalism Academy meeting held as part of the third session of the Preparatory Committee (Prepcom) of the Habitat III Conference here Tuesday.
The Urban Journalism Academy meeting is a forum of local, national and international journalists to share experiences. One of the participants who contributed a lot of success stories to the meeting was Michael.
Journalists were seen by many as those having a good knowledge of urban life so that they were able to give voices to make urban changes and reflect the reality of urban life from different points of view, he said.
"Now is the time to encourage the media to be proactive and to play a more substantive role in developing cities on international, national and local scales," he said.
In addition, the media should not be trapped by surface issues but should write in-depth stories regarding the substances of problems facing each city, he said.
As long as changes continue to happen in the world, the media must carry out an in-depth analysis of opportunities and challenges to find solutions to urban problems. (*)
Editor : Slamet Hadi Purnomo
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