DUBAI, 25 April 2007 — Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al-Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, formally opened yesterday the Arab Media Forum, a two-day event under the banner “Developing People, Developing Organizations” hosted by Dubai Press Club at the Madinat Jumeirah.
Among the speakers and moderators were Judith Kipper, adviser, Middle East Programs at the US Council on Foreign Relations; Sulaiman Al Hatlan, editor in chief of Forbes Arabia; Hosam Al Sukari, chairman of BBC Arabia; and Jamil Mrowe, editor in chief of Lebanon’s Daily Star.
The speakers opined that control over media in the Arab world still exists and they called for greater freedom of expression. They highlighted the importance of training and re-training media professionals to meet challenges of the information and technology explosion.
Rafic Khoury, editor in chief of the Lebanese newspaper Al-Anwar, said: “I hope we can liberate media from the control of owners and governments. Social, financial and political freedom is needed to develop the media. We write reports to please others and not to inform readers. If there is no political freedom, how can there be a successful media?”
Saad Al-Ajmi, former Kuwaiti minister of information, spoke about the information revolution with which the media is inextricably linked. “The emergence of low cost access to media, the phenomenon of bloggers and the information boom has restricted the ability of traditional sources of control,” he said.
Earlier, in his opening address, Mohammed Ghubash, media specialist and moderator of the first session, highlighted the ongoing revolution in the media sector.
Sheikh Mohammed will honor winners of the Arab Journalism Awards at a gala ceremony today at Madinat Jumeirah. The Arab Journalism Awards will also posthumously honor Joseph Samaha, the prominent Lebanese journalist, for his outstanding contributions to Arabic media.
