Jeddah (UNA-OIC) – 21st of February 2023 was the closing ceremony of the Saudi Media Forum in its second edition, which the Saudi Journalists Authority organized in cooperation with the Saudi Broadcasting Authority (SBA). In the presence of the Acting Minister of Media Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, Mr. Mohammed Al-Harthy, head of the SBA, Mr. Karam Jabr, head of the Supreme Council for Media, and Hussein Zein, head of the National Media Authority, and a large number of media professionals and academics.
The ceremony began with the royal anthem, after which the audience watched a video presentation entitled “The Departed Will Remain” in which the attendees recalled the most prominent Saudi media figures who passed away – May God have mercy on them.
Honoring 8 winners of the forum awards
After that, the forum awards were announced, as Jamil Al-Dhiabi won the journalistic dialogue award. In the journalistic article category, Taghreed Al-Tasan won, and Yumn Luqman won the news report award. In the journalistic investigation category, the National Guard magazine won, and Khaled Abdulaziz won in the radio dialogue category.
In the visual dialogue, Khaled Madkhali won; in the scientific production (media messages), Shahd Harmoush won, Ahmed Al-Arfaj won in the scientific production category (books and research), and the winner of the qualitative content award is Muhammad Al-Ratyan.
After that, the audience watched an entertaining show by the French Twin Band.
Then the Acting Minister of Media, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, honored the Personality of the Year award winner, Khalid bin Hamad Al-Malik, and the official partners and sponsors of the forum.
Dr. Al-Qasabi said that 5.1 billion people worldwide use social networking sites, and the world’s population spends 12 billion hours per day on the Internet and social networks, which confirms the seriousness of social media and the importance of studying and dealing with it. Moreover, he presented some statistics to present the status of the Saudi media and his plans to develop components of the media system.
Engineer Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, the Saudi Minister of Investment, said that the Kingdom has become one of the 20 strongest economies in the world, as it was able during the last five years to achieve great development rates despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the size of the economy increased last year from $ 600 billion annually to $ 1 trillion.
Mohammed Alharthi, Chairman of Saudi Media Forum and President of the Saudi Broadcasting Authority, said that Saudi Arabia is betting on creating the future, shaping its map, and drawing its features, as the media is an integral part of the development process, so we called this forum the slogan of media in a world that is taking shape.
Mr. Alharthi explained that the current status is a stage of labor that reconsiders the media industry, and this development imposed a discussion of the issue of merging form and content. He added that there is a new media that has its own language, scenes, and economy, and we are seeking to have experts who contribute to media leadership, as the question that haunts us remains: Where do we go after 5 years?
He continued that the media is one of the soft powers in the process of change, and in order to be creative, it needs a wide space. Still, freedom is matched by responsibility, and the main criterion remains the media content.
