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Nation hopes to host journalism conference
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-06 10:13
China will learn Wednesday whether it will hold its first international
journalists' conference - the fifth World Conference of Science Journalists
(WCSJ) - in 2006.
The nation made its bid to host the gathering at the fourth WCSJ, currently
taking place in Montreal, Canada.
"China has the world's fastest developing science and technology and the one
of the largest groups of science writers," said Zhao Zhongying, vice-president
of the Chinese Society for Science and Technology Journalism.
Zhao told the Meeting for Executives of the Worldwide National Associations,
taking place at the fourth WCSJ, that China's "hosting of a big journalist
conference like the WCSJ will be quite significant both for the country and the
world." The fourth WCSJ opened in Montreal on Monday and concludes on Friday.
More than 300 science reporters, scholars, government officials and members of
non-government organizations (NGO) from across the world are taking part.
China is competing with Italy, Spain, Australia and Germany to hold the fifth
WCSJ. The result will be announced by the World Federation of Science
Journalists today (local time).
"Although we are not financially stronger than other candidate countries, we
have our certain advantages, including the massive support of the Chinese
Government and our status as a rapidly developing country," Zhao said.
Compared with industrialized societies, developing countries more urgently
need good science reporting. This means that hosting such an event in China will
help improve science journalism, Zhao told China Daily on the sidelines of the
conference.
China's science and technology have witnessed rapid development in recent
years, with growing government investment and more overseas trained scientists
returning to the country. It is the only developing country with a human genome
programme, which released its findings in early 2003. China also successfully
launched its first manned spacecraft Shenzhou-V in October 2003.
However, its science media has not developed as quickly as its technological
progress. Wang Yusheng, director of the China Science and Technology Museum,
estimated that by 2003, scientific reports accounted for just 0.6 per cent of
the total content of China's TV programmes.
"Hosting a WCSJ meeting will help promote China's science media and raise the
level of public interest," Zhao said.
China has increased its efforts to improve international co-operation in
science journalism in recent years. The nation will host the fourth Asia-Pacific
Symposium on Press and Scientific and Social Progress between November 18 and 20
in Beijing.
Zhao was echoed by Veronique Morin, president of the World Federation of
Science Journalists.
Supporting developing countries to improve their capacity in science
reporting has long been a goal of the federation, Morin told the opening
ceremony of the fourth WCSJ.
"Helping developing countries is like the old proverb: A single light in one
place will bring brightness everywhere," Morin said.
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