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The second edition on the work of the 'Media Forum on Risks and Threats' was launched today by the National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Authority, NCEMA, in partnership with the National Media Council, NMC, Abu Dhabi Media, and Sky News Arabia, under the theme "Media system facing risks" that sheds light on the national media’s role in terms of message and methodology in managing crises.
Ali bin Mohammed Al Rumaihi, Minister of Information Affairs from the Kingdom of Bahrain, Staff Pilot Maj. General Falah Mohammed Al Qahtani, Assistant Under-Secretary for Policy and Strategic Affairs at the Ministry of Defence, and more than 350 senior officials, experts, and specialists in the field of media, emergencies, crises and disaster management, and government communication attended the launch.
The forum focussed on the media in the current stage which is witnessing noticeable growth in covering crises and risks which have cast a negative shadow on all countries in the region. This has become one of the means of the psychological and media wars and now plays the main role in crisis and disaster management, due to its enormous abilities in moving quickly, overcoming borders and surpassing obstacles, with what it has written, and via its audio-visual means. It also has the enormous ability to influence individuals and convince the public in different communities, by controlling their behaviour and directing it, especially in light of the development of modern technology, and the growth of the role of social media, or what is called "new media".
Speaking on behalf of Mohammed bin Ahmad Al Bowardi, Minister of State for Defence Affairs, Staff Pilot Maj. General Falah Mohammed Al Qahtani said that it is important to support the efforts to confront crises and disasters to ensure stability, especially the central dimension of the media and its messages which make up public opinion before and during crises, and enable the community’s individuals to cross to safety, spread tranquillity among them, and direct them to deal ideally with them.
Al Bowardi stressed the importance of strengthening coordination and fast and direct communication between the country’s institutions and the media in different situations to facilitate reaching the biggest segment possible of the public, which contributes in achieving stability, while asserting that the media has an enormous influence on the fourth generation wars, which is so effective that it now leads the traditional media.
Al Bowardi praised the local media which has proven over the course of the past years during crises in the neighbouring countries, their extent of responsibility, competence and objectivity which it is has been characterised by especially in light of the challenge of the extreme pluralism reflected in the Emirati community.
Al Rumaihi asserted in his speech that the media and communication tools are witnessing with all their forms – traditional and modern – successive and unprecedented developments, as the media is no longer just a channel to spread news and circulate information or entertainment but has turned into a huge and influential international industry.
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