KUWAIT CITY, May 23: The recent revolutions in the Middle East have shown that communication between people cannot be suppressed. Citizens around the world are no longer accepting of authority that chooses the news for them; however they want to pick their own programming and interact with it, said Sheikh Fahad Al-Salem Al-Sabah on Monday.

He called for reform in the region and said that the Middle East cannot have democracy on paper; it must be democracy in action and on the ground.
Sheikh Fahad Al-Salem was speaking at the second and final day of Al-Fahad Al-Salem Center’s forum entitled ‘Renewing Dialogue for Peace and Advancing Freedom and Human Rights in Today’s World.’ The forum witnessed discussions by participants on the role of media, especially citizen journalism, and its contributions to a peaceful world.

The renowned world leaders and human rights activists agreed that citizen journalism through new-age media plays a large role in securing the interests of a people but must be efficiently established through training and education. They discussed how traditional media can interact with and compliment citizen journalism and said that objectivity and transparency is necessary by governments and citizens alike for an effective flow of information.

A number of participants also urged each other not to discount the importance of TV and radio and that citizen journalism should be perceived as complimentary to traditional media not the competition. They insisted that engaging the world’s young people and providing access to education are essential ingredients for building cultural bridges and stable societies.

Praised
The participants praised Sheikh Fahad Al-Salem Al-Sabah’s initiative of establishing a media city. The new satellite network will include content created by citizen journalists, who can choose their own stories and participate in the media outlets.

Sheikh Fahad Al-Salem thanked the participants for their concerns and opinions and assured that the center will handle all pressures the network may face. He said that one of the network’s challenges is to assure the transmittance of accurate news and differentiate between truth and falsehood.
For her part, President of the International Center For Journalism (ICFJ), Joyce Barnathan, said that her institution’s main aim is to increase the free flow of information through innovative programs so that people can make better decisions in their lives.

She explained that journalists need special skills to promote understanding between countries, governments and their people and avoid conflict. “What we see is informal mergers between citizens and professional journalists and that is creating a virtuous cycle of increasingly high quality news. To complete this cycle we need journalist education and training,” she said.
Barnathan added that a media revolution is sweeping the news business and has a powerful voice for change. “I think we are at the stage now where we are just seeing how powerful technology is in transforming the business of news. The definition of a journalist is changing and there are so many tools for journalists to use to transmit their story,” she said.

Furthermore, Barnathan said that citizens get plenty of information despite governmental controls and there are so many paths in the news business, both traditional and new sources. “There are far more participants in news gathering and production than ever before and that is rapidly changing the journalism profession I think for the better. Traditional media now wants to engage the readers, listeners and viewers,” she said.

According to Barnathan, citizen journalists have replaced professional journalists when it comes to breaking news. They are first to post videos of key events occurring. However, Barnathan added, professional journalists are needed to provide context and the analysis of initial images provided by citizen journalists.

Meanwhile, Head of the International Department of The Gorbachev Foundation, Pavel Palazhchenko relayed to the participants and the audience a message by former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. The message urged the preservation of a civilization’s entity amidst globalization and for countries to adapt in a rapidly changing world.

Gorbachev said that all Middle Eastern and North African forces must be guided by the interests of the region not by their own selfish interests. He added that peace in the region will take a psychological burden off people’s hearts and introduce the true nature of the religion of Islam.

Participants
The participants included former president of Poland Lech Walesa and Willem Kok, President of Club de Madrid and former prime minister of Netherlands. Some of the important leaders taking part in the forum included Kim Campbell, former prime minister of Canada, Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, Cesar Gaviria, former president of Colombia, Chandrika Kumaratunga, former president of Sri Lanka and Luis Alberto Lacalle, former president of Uruguay.

Showing his gratitude for the participants’ involvement, Center President Sheikh Fahad said: “This is only the beginning of what I hope to be a productive, ongoing discussion about the ways we can work together to overcome tyranny and oppression. I look forward to our continued work, but I’m even more optimistic about the impact we will have.”

As part of the forum, participants also toured the Al-Herrar facility, as one of the Fahad Center’s key goals is to provide both content and an outlet for free and open conversations about human rights and democracy. Al-Herrar means “city of media” in Arabic and it will serve as a platform that allows citizens to play an active role in creating and distributing content. During the tour, participants showed their support for Al-Herrar by ceremonially signing their names on a wall featuring its mission.

“This forum was a tremendous success, not just for the Center but for Kuwait,” Sheikh Fahad said. “If we are serious about democracy and liberty, we must work to make them a reality in our own house. This is what the Center, this forum and our work going forward are all about.”