Many have written stressing the need for the Kingdom to have a strong and influential overseas publicity department, capable of responding to the challenges facing our country. The need for this kind of media has became even more pressing since Sept. 11, 2001, and what followed. Before Sept. 11, our external media operated from a department attached to the Information Ministry where the staff was doing the routine job done by all civil service employees. I can’t recall seeing an external media official giving an interview to any media organ, whether Saudi or foreign. I may be wrong because I am not able to follow what our overseas publicity department is doing.
I have a feeling that there is no difference whatsoever between our external and domestic media. The message addressed to audiences outside the Kingdom is the same and it consists of too little information and too much preaching. This feeling was confirmed following my own personal experience while dealing with the Saudi external media in the United States over the past three years. The conclusion I drew was that regardless of what effort is being made to project the true picture of the Kingdom, it has nothing to do with this picture.
An American professor who worked in the Kingdom and knew its people told me that part of the message addressed by the Saudi external media is no different from what is being said in the domestic media. I did not take his remarks seriously until I listened to one of the messages broadcast as paid advertisements by some American television channels. One message targeting an American audience and talking about Saudi-American relations was: “Don’t believe the American media. Believe your government.”
The least that can be said of that message is that it is ridiculous. How can we ask American viewers to believe what their government says about Saudi-American relations and ignore what the press says about those same relations? If there is one entity most Americans won’t believe, it is their government.
Our external media message keeps circling around the same thing — react but never act. That became quite obvious following Sept. 11. Our external media message was apologetic from the start, and this should never have been the case. Instead of the obsolete media theories and tactics, we should have adopted a more interactive and offensive tactic. This would, however, require a totally new approach, a clear vision and think-tanks to lead the way. We need deeds rather than words.
