JEDDAH, 5 April — Participants in a one-day symposium held here yesterday to discuss the effect of globalization on the media have warned against the continued lack of a clear vision and strategy for Arab and Muslim media, saying this could render it incapable of responding to domestic and outside challenges and thus render it unable to cope with the rapidly changing world.
Government ministers, academics, journalists and businessmen — including a large presence of women delegates — joined the discussion, which centered on the future role of the media, the dangers posed to young generations by satellite television and the Internet in the absence of credible and trustworthy local media, and the role the media can play in bridging the gap between Muslims and the rest of the world.
The gathering was organized by Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, the London-based sister publication of Arab News, in cooperation with the Makkah-based Muslim World League (MWL). It came ahead of an MWL-sponsored international conference tomorrow in Makkah on the effect of globalization on Muslim communities. Delegates from all over the world will review the response to anti-Muslim campaigns in the wake of the Sept. 11 events. Over three days the delegates will discuss issues including terrorism, war and peace, human rights and civil liberties, dialogue among civilizations and cultural coexistence, said MWL Secretary General, Dr. Abdullah ibn Abdul Mohsen Al-Turki.
The speakers at the symposium cited the failure of the Arab and Islamic media to explain the Muslim point of view to other communities in their own language as one of the main causes of the misconceptions that many have regarding Islam and Islamic causes.
Minister of Information Dr. Fouad Abdul Salam Farsy, said the Arab and Muslim world is facing major challenges posed by globalization. The most important of them is the ability to cope with rapid changes in the media and information technology and the development of new concepts capable of protecting Arab and Muslim identity as well as responding professionally to the challenges posed by the foreign media.
“We are living in the age of dialogue among cultures and must seek to overcome all the challenges facing our Arab media so as to be able to enter into a balanced dialogue with the other side. Our nation has a rich cultural heritage deriving its value and importance from Islam, the religion of tolerance and moderation and whoever lives under Islam would live a peaceful life,” the minister said.
Dr. Farsy raised a number of questions which he said should be considered by planners and decision-makers on whether globalization is going to reflect positively or negatively on the Arab media, how to activate the role of the private sector to increase investments in the media, what is needed to preserve the Islamic identity, and to what extent is globalization going to influence the different cultures.
