9^th Eurasian Media Forum ends in Almaty

    The ninth Eurasian media forum has come to an end in Almaty. The event’s second day was dedicated to the Internet.
    According to speakers, the worldwide web is an important factor in the public, political, and economic life of any country. However, as any other invention, it has two sides to it. On one hand, it is now impossible to imagine life without the web and social networks.
    On the other, the information available on the Internet could contain violent elements or even a nationalistic nature, which is considered to be a threat to both society and the security of any state. For instance, China has decided to block access to websites they believe to be politically ‘unreliable’.
    According to local experts, there should legal regulations and the new generation of people who understand the essence of the Internet should be the ones to design them.
    Tatyana Bendz, editor-in-chief of the “2b.kz” Internet Portal said, “It is necessary to understand the essence of the Internet, its basics and principles, and how it affects people in order to control it.”
    Professional journalists and the creators of various web-portals took opposing stances while discussing the phenomenon of social networks.
    So-called civil or amateur journalism is currently enjoying great popularity, and brings good profits to website owners. It requires little expenses, as only 5-10 staff are need to work, even for large portals, while more than two thousand volunteers from all over the world fish for information. For example, 24 thousand videos are uploaded on “YouTube” each minute.
    According to Kenneth Krushel, the President of the Media Assets Partners, said he is concerned that such a cascade of self-expression may create nothing but a big mess.
    Politicians’ image and coverage of their personal lives was another topic for discussion. Experts believe that political figures have started unwittingly turning to the show business industry in their pursuit to be understood and become popular, according to Caspionet.