(Transcribed from recordings, with some edits)
Thank you very much to the organizer for inviting me, offering me this valuable chance to follow your insights. Through this panel's discussion, I have gained a deeper understanding of many issues. I realize that the Global South truly constitutes a community with a shared future when it comes to communication order.
Stories from Africa, Brazil, and Russia reveal folded-up and neglected spaces and information within the global mainstream communication landscape. These contents reflect local lives and their unique histories – especially those about being plundered and concealed. The recreation of such information underscores the critical importance and value of establishing a new global communication order. Amid the internet-powered society, we particularly must recognize that building a fairer, more reasonable, and just international communication order is vital for future development.
Nowadays, information flow has gone beyond the traditional role of "soft power" globally. Through the internet, it not only allocates people's attention and shapes their perceptions, but also affects the movement of people, goods, and commodities. Information flow largely serves as a guiding force to direct and even restructure global material and commodity circulation. An unjust information order can severely impede global innovation and circulation.
Therefore, we need to understand the mechanism of global communication more deeply, accurately, and scientifically, based on which we should unite and cooperate. As you have emphasized today, upon our shared plight of low visibility and marginalization, we should promote a more equitable information order that benefits the well-being of all humanity.
We have explored in this regard. Over the past few years, we collected data from major international social media platforms and conducted sample studies of 200-odd outlets worldwide, including some institutions represented by today's participants. According to Facebook's global rankings, several Chinese media outlets secured top-ten positions. We also analyzed patterns of global information flow based on interaction on the X (formerly Twitter) platform. Our findings show that nearly 100% of Latin American information flows within the original region, and it is a similar case for sub-Saharan Africa. For East Asia, the rate exceeds 90%.
This indicates that the general information flow in the Global South lags far behind the movement of people and goods. This gap reveals vast opportunities for cooperation and development potential in restructuring global communication patterns. It also validates the possibilities, necessity, and urgency we discussed earlier.
I believe that there are still vast possibilities for the Global South awaiting our exploration and development in building a new communication order.