UPF 2020 World Summit IMAP Assembly: Conference for World Peace in Korea

2020 conference for world peace The initial event of the world summit was held in Seoul by UPF

by Pietro Masiello The event that was hosted at the Lotte hotel began with the IMAP assembly, that is, the International Assembly of Media for Peace.

The event, crucial to achieving the goals of the Universal Federation of Peace, saw the introduction of UPF President Thomas Walsh, and was moderated by Washington Times President Thomas P. McDevitt. He dealt with important issues for communication in the current era, such as the rapid and unpredictable change in communication, the revolution given by the inclusion of social networks in the information space and its often-negative consequences on the quality of information, its inevitable impact on employment levels in the mass communication sector.

The great success of the event is evidenced by the large number of participants, more than 500, despite the recent threat of the coronavirus present in China, not really a country far from Korea; the translation service was excellent with the participants’ speeches, translated into 8 languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Thai.

In the conclusion of the event (interventions visible and available on the website www.peacetv.tv) some indications are very clear; quality communication that knows how to be a vehicle for peace must become more professional, knowing how to overcome the challenge of technological progress and communication-related companies must, as underlined with regard to online newspapers, by an authoritative expert, aim to have “… less likes and fewer visits on the site but more paid customers”.

It is recalled that in Russia to have a million followers, that is, people who assiduously follow a blog or a personal page on a social network, only 250 USD is needed. All this teaches us that only the achievement of adequate earnings can guarantee a correct income and far-sighted management of the company aimed at maintaining and increasing the reliability and authoritativeness of the publication.

Some interventions then placed the emphasis on the contents, in particular on the practice of hate speech or all those comments or speeches that have the purpose of expressing hatred and intolerance towards a person or a group (racial, ethnic, religious, gender or sexual orientation); this widespread practice, especially in social networks, risks injecting high doses of violence into society, and attempts by governments to limit the incitement to violence are often late and ineffective.

Given the current situation, the transition to the new journalism will be very long and not without difficulties, and the widespread claim that in the end “only journalists can save journalism” is entirely acceptable.