Representatives from a variety of media sectors met on Thursday to draft a code of conduct for the media’s handling of terrorist incidents and to formulate a strategy for the reporting of issues related to extremism and terrorism.
The meeting — held at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers in Tunisia — was attended by members of information ministries and heads of the security media agencies of interior ministries from across the Arab world, as well as representatives from the Arab League, the Arab Radio and Broadcasting Union, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, and the Saudi Broadcasting Authority.
In his opening speech, Khalid Hilal Al-Maamari, the assistant secretary-general of the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council, said the meeting highlighted the importance of the media and its role in security awareness and crime prevention. He also stressed the need to establish an effective partnership between the media arms of the security services and the news media to ensure unified efforts to protect Arab countries from any possible threats, not only in terms of security, but also at cultural, social, health and economic levels.
He added that joint cooperation between the security media and representatives of the ministries of information is the best way to achieve that goal.
