JEDDAH, 2 September 2006 — The World Islamic Media Organization (WIMO) has drafted a charter named the Makkah Islamic Charter for the Media Profession with the support of media experts, according to Muhammad Al-Johani, secretary-general of the organization.
He said a workshop would be organized at Al-Harithy Hotel in Jeddah on Sept. 7 to discuss the charter, adding that prominent media persons and academics would attend the workshop. “The preparation of this draft charter is a big achievement as it will provide important guidelines for media workers,” Al-Johani said, adding that the charter had taken into consideration the political, economic and social changes in the Islamic world.
Speaking about the workshop, the WIMO chief said leading Arab media figures would preside over its four discussion sessions. Muhammad Al-Harfi will chair the session to discuss the charter’s first article.
Jameel Al-Luwaihek, Khaled Salahuddin and Abdul Aziz Qasim will preside over the remaining three sessions focusing on different articles of the charter, Al-Johani said. The organization had taken the text of the Jakarta Charter as the basis while preparing the new charter. Salah Muhiyuddin, media adviser of WIMO, will give brief history and development of the charter during the Jeddah meeting.
In a related development, information ministers from the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will meet in Jeddah on Sept. 9-11 to work out a strategy to confront anti-Islamic media propaganda.
The ministers are expected to discuss ways and means to implement the resolutions related to information taken by the emergency Islamic summit that was held in Makkah in December.
A number of papers on prospects of improving the current status of media organizations in member countries and developing mechanisms for joint media work will be presented.
