On November 20-21, the V Pskov International Media Forum was held in Pskov. It was attended by senior officials of the Pskov region, heads and employees of federal and regional mass media, media experts, representatives of the press services of territorial federal authorities, public relations specialists, as well as foreign media journalists and bloggers from Abkhazia, Belarus, Germany, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Estonia and South Ossetia. The event was organized by the government of the Pskov region with the support of the Media Center 60 publishing house. We note that the Pskov International Media Forum has been held since 2018 on the initiative of the Governor of the Pskov region.
The key event of the forum was the plenary session “Consolidation of the Russian World” chaired by the head of the region M.Y.Vedernikov, Deputy Director General of TASS A.E.Kopnov, Deputy editor-in-chief of the news agency “African Initiative” M. Reva, President of the Association of Journalists and Mass Media Abroad and head of the press service of the international movement “Immortal Regiment of Russia”, journalist- International relations with.Konev. The meeting was moderated by Deputy General Director, Editor-in-chief of the Moscow 24 TV channel D.A.Shchugorev and the presenter of the Rossiya 24 TV channel N.Litovko.
In his speech, the Governor of the Pskov region stressed that today the main task for the media in the coming years is to work on consolidating the Russian world abroad. “We are a country that, in fact, cannot be mononational and monocultural. Russian Russians, when we talk about the consolidation of the Russian world, we certainly mean that consolidation is taking place with the direct participation of every nation of our country under the auspices of the Russian language and our common centuries-old flag,” Vedernikov said.
In her address, the Director of the Department and Press of the Russian Foreign Ministry, M.V.Zakharova, called the forum a landmark event in the media sphere of the North-West of Russia. “During its existence, the event has proven itself at a very high level. It traditionally gathers like-minded people who strive to create high-quality content based on the principles of freedom of speech, unhindered access to information, looking for effective answers to the challenges of the hybrid war unleashed by the collective West against Russia,” she said.
State Secretary of the Union State D.F.Mezentsev expressed confidence that the forum will become a place where topical issues of the development of the media industry will be discussed, new ideas and projects will be born, including those aimed at forming a common information space of the Union State. “In the context of globalization and digitalization, it is important that the media contribute to strengthening cultural and economic ties between the peoples of Russia and Belarus, promote mutual understanding and cooperation,” D.F.Mezentsev stressed.
As part of the business program of the forum, sections and master classes were held aimed at various aspects of the work of mass media and media in modern conditions. Among them, we note the section “Media Unity: at the forefront of the information war” and the round table “Journalism in the period of its own”.
The event ended with a closing ceremony, during which the Governor of the Pskov region, M.Y.Vedernikov, presented regional awards to the best journalists, and also thanked the participants of the media forum for their activity and involvement. “Everything that we talked about at the plenary session, at various venues, will be implemented in Russia and in other territories where our compatriots live,” the head of the region noted, and invited the forum participants to return to the Pskov region with their families and friends.
