RIYADH: Prince Faisal bin Salman, chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG) and chairman of the board of directors of the Prince Ahmed Bin Salman Applied Media Institute, inaugurated a two-day media workshop at the Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh yesterday.
The event has been organized by the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) of the United Nations in cooperation with the Prince Ahmed Bin Salman Institute.
The lectures will focus on the role of media in humanitarian affairs. Participants included Saudi journalists from print and broadcast media.
Thanking the United Nations for sponsoring the event in cooperation with the local media institute, Prince Faisal said the workshop would create awareness among the local journalists to react efficiently to humanitarian crises while they are in the field. Describing it as a forward march in disseminating accurate information from the Arab and Gulf countries, Prince Faisal urged the participants to make the best use of the discussions at the forum that includes lectures by UN experts.
Pat Banks, chief communication and information officer of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the workshop was meant to advise media professionals how to deal with organizations in times of humanitarian problems.
“Such training programs will help journalists in this part of the world develop a conducive culture to adapt themselves to various disaster situations,” said Banks.
Khalid Khalifa from IRIN who made a presentation on disaster preparedness and management said: “Placing pressure on organizations to retrieve information will result in getting insufficient information needed for the coverage. It is a major challenge on the part of the journalists to take the needed information, while it is a challenge for the organizations working in the field to work for the distressed as well as to release accurate information to the press.”
Abdul Aziz Arrukban, special humanitarian envoy of the United Nations secretary-general, said the maiden effort would give a new opportunity for the media men in the Arab world to know their professional ethics and duties in times of humanitarian problems.
Arrukban, who returned from Gaza on Saturday, said 12,000 metric tons of foodstuffs were held up in Areej because of the Israeli blockade on Gaza. He pointed out that relief supplies held up at the border were all from Arab countries.
“What is the use of sending aid to Gaza when all the three entry points are closed by the Israelis?” Arrukban lamented, insisting Israel open the Gaza borders at least to allow in humanitarian supplies. The envoy said he intends to visit all GCC countries to explain the humanitarian problems in Gaza.
“Children were orphaned and women are widowed due to Israeli aggression. The worst scenario is that they suffer from trauma caused as a result of the Israeli onslaught. Survivors of the attack should be rehabilitated on their own lands, children should be sent back to their schools and adults should be provided with employment to earn their bread,” Arrukban said.
