BONN, Germany:

Journalists worldwide have been urged to uphold the highest standards of the profession, even as news-gathering and distribution become more dynamic through technological advances across the ever-widening media landscape.

Erik Bettermann, director general of the Germany-based news agency Deutsche Welle, has warned media houses against sacrificing the basic tenets of journalism - fairness and factuality - for bragging rights in the competitive hunt to break stories first.

Live up to responsibility

"One thing is clear: media are duty-bound to live up to responsibility.

"It is increasingly more important for media to provide awareness of how problems will be solved. This presupposes professional journalists will act with responsibility."

Bettermann was speaking at Wednesday's opening ceremony of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in the German city Bonn. The forum, which is focusing on conflict prevention in the multimedia age, is being held for the second time.

The news agency executive also highlighted the broadening tentacles of multimedia, including the Internet, social-networking sites and the blogosphere, as critical to the promotion of democracy across the globe, even in countries with strict controls on the press.

"The monopoly has been dismantled," said Bettermann, pointing to Belarus, Iran and Cuba as countries where the so-called new media are pulling away the knuckles, if only slightly, of government control.

"Democratisation cannot be blocked, even though China has attempted to block the Internet ... Freedom of the press promotes democracy. Democracy adds value to citizens."

More balanced

Günter Nokke, commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian aid at the German Federal Foreign Office, also urged media practitioners at the conference to publish a more balanced diet of positive and negative news.

"Media need misery, need disaster," said Nokke, "but good news must be available, not because we try to ignore disaster, but because we can (demonstrate a vision) of the world without disaster."

andre.wright@gleanerjm.com