Journalists’ perspectives change societies

Hassan delivering his speech at the WJC2022

Speech delivered by Hassan Humeida, at the World Journalists Conference (WJC2022)

“As carriers of important messages, journalists are able to positively change entire societies and make them better and special.

Journalists do not carry guns, but they have stronger influence with their peaceful means – such as pen, paper, camera, news, information, facts that they use to communicate with the outside world and convey truth and facts to them on a daily basis.

Journalists provide the information and the basics that people need to know what is happening and understand what can or should be done.

This allows every community to see the benefits of factual communication for themselves and for other people, and engage in a positive change.

Every community in society, regardless of its social characteristics, will be enthusiastic about the change and, whenever possible, make its own contributions.

This positive spirit often started by journalists leads to better networking between journalists themselves, the media, the public and society as a whole.

The changes to society that journalists had initiated have been reinforced in recent years by the social media and its amazing potential for human development.

Some of the changes were positive, but others were negative, which resulted in society being cautious not to be hit by the disaster of misinformation and disinformation, or as it is today better known as fake news.

In many cases, social media messages are half-messages that are directed to undefined recipients and are waiting for a “Like” with a thumbs-up.

Many lies and allegations are hidden here and, in some cases, personal insults, racist attacks and much more come from social media.

The misuse of social media serves neither the goals of a society nor the awakening of a community.

If we look at social media as technologies that isolate people from their surroundings and turn others, we find that this hypothesis is slowly being confirmed. This is a case of negative change caused by the media on society.

There is a lack of communication between parents, children and young people in households. It often happens that two friends meet in a coffee shop, sit across from each other, don’t look into each other’s eyes, but instead talk into their cell phone. At the end they coldly say goodbye to each other and go home as if they had never met or known each other before. The misuse of social media is thus seen as accelerating the decay of human values.

A turning point in which the digitization of media becomes an obstacle and not a tool for progress in human development.

In order to achieve a change in society, it is necessary to exploit the positive potential of social media and use it to build a fitter and healthier world.

Many media activists have also worked on making changes in society by addressing inequalities between people.

To them, the basis for reducing existing inequalities is the elimination of prejudices that dominate in a society, so they focus on their reports and coverage on how to deal with all forms of prejudices, bias and discriminations.

These journalists worked on both informing and educating the people so that they know their rights and learn to defend them.

Thanks to great work and immense pressure from the media, several societies dared to look at their weaknesses and appreciated that the minorities and the disadvantaged living within them deserved better conditions and greater chances to live their dreams while contributing with their work and ideas.

Such positive changes reinforce the opportunity for social inclusion and all people live together with equal duties and rights.

For example, people who are impaired or disabled should no longer be excluded. They are full components of society and can make very special contributions thanks to their ability and talent.

Throughout the last two centuries, journalists have done a lot to help their societies change for the best. And where freedom of journalism thrives, the chances for change are bigger and better.

The tsunami of misinformation and disinformation, like the one we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, should motivate journalists and the media to do more and better to ensure the society is safer and better and is changing beautifully.