Veteran journalists hail innovations in WMS awards

Winners of the World Media Summit (WMS) Global Awards for Excellence 2014 were announced on Monday including reports on Myanmar and spree killings in America.

Judges and senior journalists have expressed their appreciation of the event's innovative elements.

Ted Anthony, director of Asia-Pacific News of The Associated Press, said he was struck by the quality of the work submitted. "The most interesting thing to me is to see how different people in the world express their stories in different voices, and the ability to both give voices to people who would not normally have voices and, by using storytelling, to help people understand the world better," he said.

"I do believe that journalism has the potential to make the world better and help us to look toward a better world.

"The notion of an award like this helps bringing people of the world together to understand each others' stories, and that is an opportunity for better relations and better communication among different cultures."

Anthony said quality was the only standard in his selection, citing elements of fact, research, depth and balance as key considerations.

David Schlesinger, former editor-in-chief of Reuters News, was impressed by the quality of the applicants and was pleased to find excellent works. Schlesinger has a special interest in innovation in journalism.

"Right now the media industry has a great deal of changes, and it is really fascinating to see what different companies and different journalists around the world are doing in terms of innovation and trying to change themselves."

Schlesinger said that the judges coming from different countries would help the board make global decisions. Agreement among the judges revealed that there are some fundamental values, such as integrity, fairness and innovation, that are globally accepted.

Jack Gao, former senior vice president of News Corporation, said the emphasis on developing countries was another interesting feature of the awards. The WMS recognized both news teams and news professionals from developing countries.

"The attention paid by journalism to developing countries has long been insufficient, and this event may help to prompt the media industry, organizations and professionals to attach more attention," he said.

Gao said his background as a former president of Microsoft China had made him very interested in new media innovations in the awards' selection procedures.

"That the awards have highlighted public welfare, innovation and new media reporting, indicates an important change to the media industry, and I am particularly curious about these parts," he said.

"The creation of the awards has epoch-making significance," said Li Congjun, WMS executive chairman, chairman of the judges and president of the Xinhua News Agency.

"It encourages all people working in the media sector to keep developing their professional skills and pursue excellence, while inspiring media setups to work with the times in the spirit of innovation, and to actively carry out social responsibilities and the mission of public welfare," Li said.

Veteran journalists appreciated that China is playing an important role in advancing the WMS and the awards.

"I think it is wonderful to see this kind of award at this level coming from China," said Anthony, who has a long history with China. "It is an exciting thing."

Gao believes that China will play a bigger role in promoting the development of media and journalism around the world.

"I think we have done a quite good job in introducing the world to Chinese people over the past decades, but in terms of getting the world to better understand China, there is still a long way to go," he said.

"The WMS awards have provided a platform for the world, especially the world's journalists, to know better about China, and in this aspect, Xinhua and the WMS deserve huge credit," he added.

The WMS Global Awards for Excellence are the first comprehensive news awards covering multiple media formats, including traditional press, photography, video and integrated media. The awards are intended to be authoritative, credible and globally influential. They are open to news agencies, newspapers, TV stations and news websites around the world. Endi