Kuwait Minister urges Gulf media to use new tools to counter extremism

New media should be a positive tool that contributes to the development and progress of communities, he said.

Doha -- Kuwait's Minister of Information and State Minister for Youth Affairs, Shaikh Salman Al Sabah, has urged Gulf media to develop their services and to employ new tools to counter extremism and spread the message of tolerance.
In a statement to KUNA, Kuwait's state news agency, following his participation in the Third GCC Media Forum on the sidelines of the 23rd meeting of GCC Information Ministers in Doha, the minister called on official media organisations to develop their potential and their presence in the new media to provide correct information and appropriate responses to fabrications and rumours.
New media should be a positive tool that contributes to the development and progress of communities, he said, noting that the Arab region is facing various challenges that require collective action to overcome them.
The professional media have a role to play in this effort through providing professional and objective products that achieve the interests of the communities and enhance the security of their people, the minister said.
He argued that new media is not a challenge for the Arab region alone but the whole world. International institutions have begun studying how to regulate the new media through introducing codes of conduct and legislation to provide professional and influential products that help countries develop and retain their security and stability, he clarified.
Shaikh Salman stressed that the countering of the media tools of terrorist groups needs a clear-cut strategy that harnesses the skills and employs all the potential of the state-owned and private media institutions to debunk their messages.
The minister, however, regretted that some terrorist groups are more media-savvy, especially in their ability to use social networking sites, than many official and private news and media organisations.
He also reiterated that the current events engulfing the Arab and Gulf regions require maximum cooperation among all media to deal appropriately with these events.
Earlier, the minister stated that at this stage in the history of the region, it is incumbent on Gulf media to disseminate the values of tolerance, moderation and discarding hate, violence, and negation of "the other." Such approach to the media should be done collectively by all Gulf Cooperation Council states through their Ministries of Information, he said.
He emphasised that the media has to discredit and fight regressive thinking that espouses hate speech and animosity toward the "other."