TUNIS: The CEO of the Saudi Broadcasting Authority, Mohammed bin Fahad Al-Harthi, led the Saudi delegation at the 2nd Arab Media Conference, which was held recently in Tunis.
Organized by the Arab States Broadcasting Union, this year’s event was titled “Global Digital Hegemony and Arab Ways to Confront It.”
Al-Harthi is also president of the ASBU.
Delivering the inauguration speech, Tunisian Minister of Culture Hayet Guettat highlighted the need to empower Arab journalists and media professionals by providing them with the necessary training on using social media platforms and digital technologies.
Digital hegemony was one of the most prominent issues facing the world today, she said.
Guettat also underlined the need for collaborative efforts to formulate joint strategies and policies to address the challenges of the digital world, especially with regard to the stereotyping of individuals and the use of technologies to impose cultural control on people and communities.
The conference was also attended by Algerian Minister of Communication Mohamed Bouslimani, Palestinian Minister of Media Affairs Mohammad Saleh bin Issa, Ƶ’s Ambassador to Tunisia Abdulaziz bin Ali Al-Saqr, and various other Arab and foreign ambassadors.
Al-Harthi said the influence of digital hegemony was increasing, causing ideological divisions and posing a serious threat to cultural identities and value systems around the world. He stressed the need for a unified effort to draft laws to curb the practice.
He added that the world had become a media map rather than a geographical or historical one, with media outlets becoming the major players in shaping and influencing international affairs and human behavior.
ASBU Director General Abdelrahim Suleiman said that the union, through its conference, sought to discuss practical solutions to the major challenges facing the Arab media landscape.
