Prominent Saudi writer and media consultant Mohsin Shaikh Al-Hassan led three other prominent local personalities in delivering lectures on the pros and cons of local media at an auditorium in the Asir region on Saturday.

“We were invited by the local government in Asir to deliver lectures on the subject. The aim of the lectures was to engender goodwill among the people,” he told Arab News.

He said that as they travel around the Kingdom, they have noticed that people belonging to different tribes from all over Saudi Arabia talk negatively about other local groups.

These different local tribes include the Najrani, Ghamdi, and Qassimi tribes.

“People belonging to other tribes criticize other local counterparts and this is not good. It creates division among the different local groups. They should create harmony among them,” he said.

He said the lectures were delivered knowledgeably and with passion because the lecturers were media practitioners themselves and drew interest from the audience because the topic being discussed could have a positive effect on the people in general.

“The local population now touches 27 million. If the lectures rubbed off on them in a positive way, there would be a great transformation among them insofar as their relationship with each other is concerned,” he said.

Local government officials representing Gov. Prince Faisal bin Khalid and who helped organize the event attended the lectures, which drew a big crowd.

“Aside from local officials, people from various professions were on hand to grace the event, which was attended by about 600 people. They included judges, writers, teachers, poets, administrators and IT practitioners, among others,” Al Hassan said.

Other speakers included Saud Al-Shibani, who works as journalist from a local Arabic daily; Khaled Ali Abu Arab, from the Interior Ministry; and Saleh Al-Hammadi, office manager for a center for handicapped children in Abha.