The World Press Conference kicks off in Taipei, returning to Asia after ten years

China News Agency, Taipei, June 28 (Xinhua) — The World News Media Conference is being held in Taiwan, and Fernando de Yarza, chairman of the main organizer, said at the opening ceremony in Taipei on Wednesday that it is a support for Taiwan’s democracy and press freedom .

“Coming to Taiwan in 2023 is a statement in support of democracy and press freedom at a time of heightened international tension,” said de Yarza, president of the World News Publishers Association (WAN-IFRA). It shows its support in Taiwan.”

“Of course, we are here at a very important time for Taiwan, the region and the world,” he said, adding that tensions across the Taiwan Strait had put “everybody who cares about Taiwan in a bind.” [the] The democratic way of life is on high alert. “

“The people of Taiwan have the right to choose their own destiny and decide their own future, [and] Those of us who have traveled far and wide recognize the importance of maintaining a peaceful life,” he added.

Held in Taiwan for the first time, the three-day conference brought together more than 900 leaders of the press and news media organizations from 58 countries to discuss common challenges and share ideas.

The event, held in Asia for the first time since Thailand hosted it in 2013, opened with media leaders expressing concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies on the flow of information around the world.

While AI tools such as ChatGPT could be game-changing for newsrooms, they could also be “potentially catastrophic,” de Yarza said, adding that those in the media must not “repeat the mistakes of the past — rush to embrace new ones.” technology”. technology without regard to its impact. “

Meanwhile, Filipino-born Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Angelita Ressa said in her opening address that while tech leaders warned of the potential risks of not being able to control the technology, But artificial intelligence is one of the least regulated industries in the world.

She said the technology could be “weaponized” and used against democratic societies by mining private data or spreading disinformation, adding that “the corruption of our information systems corrupts our democracy.”

Ressa, co-founder of online news outlet Rappler in the Philippines, said it was “not a free speech issue, it was a security issue” and warned democracies that failure to act would cause significant harm.