VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Russian media should uphold the principles of journalism to cope with common challenges and continue to promote their cooperation for further development of relations between the two countries, said Mikhail Gusman, first deputy director general of Russia's state news agency TASS.
Media relations between the two countries, which reflect their unprecedentedly close ties, have been at the highest level for many years, Gusman said before the Russian-Chinese media forum that was held here on Tuesday.
"Today, Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of information exchanges, media cooperation is very broad ... Almost all the leading media of our countries are involved in this process," Gusman told Xinhua.
Nevertheless, he noted that the external environment is getting increasingly unfriendly to media of the two countries, which are, for instance, challenged with large flows of various kinds of false, one-sided information from the West.
In view of the challenge, state news agencies like Xinhua and TASS are obligated to cover the news about the leadership and reforms of the two countries with accurate and professional information, he said.
"Objective, accurate, detailed and, above all, truthful information ... is the best form of counteraction to any form of external influence. This is the word of truth," Gusman said.
At the same time, due to active development of the Internet, Chinese and Russian media are forced to join in the competition with social networks where there are huge flows of fast information, he noted.
In this case, media of both countries should stick to higher criteria when producing news stories and only provide "fast and objective word of truth", as is carried by Xinhua and TASS, he said.
On the other hand, media of China and Russia have the responsibility to facilitate the development of the bilateral ties by producing qualified coverage of their leadership, state authorities and institutions, Gusman said.
In particular, he said that Xinhua and TASS are doing a great job in this regard, recalling their exclusive interviews with the presidents of the two countries.
"This is, on the one hand, part of our cooperation, and, on the other hand, is our contribution to the high cause of the development of Russian-Chinese relations," he said.
Gusman expressed confidence in future media cooperation between the two countries, saying that the forms of the media interaction are diverse, such as exchanging information and organizing joint events, which have been frequently seen in the past few years.
"This is only a small example of our cooperation. In fact, there are a lot of such contacts, and there is a broad field for both imagination and new ideas, so that, along with traditional forms, we can be enriched with new forms of cooperation at any moment," he said.
