Business & Money | Saturday 10 December, 2016 11:00 am |

The Second International Conference on Media and Terrorism, organized by King Khalid University in Abha, concluded Friday with recommendations for the approval of a draft of a universal declaration on media and terrorism.
The three-day conference was sponsored by Minister of Education Ahmad Al-Isa and attended by Maj. Gen. Saleh bin Suleiman Al-Qarzai, police director of Asir Province, and a number of leading law enforcement officers of the province.
The participants came up with a number of recommendations and called it the “Abha Universal Declaration of Media and Terrorism.” The declaration will later be submitted to King Khalid University for it to finalize its adoption as a universal declaration.
The conference participants recommended the establishment of a national observatory for terrorism. The observatory will monitor and analyze media handling of extremism and terrorism issues and issue periodic strategic reports to help the government in decision-making.
The participants called for an international conference to be held outside the Kingdom to add a global perspective to relations between media and terrorism. The conference suggested a global study to find out links between the media, including social media websites, and the growing phenomenon of terrorism over the past two decades, with the participation of research bodies from various countries.
“We are all aware of the development of the media and the expanding scope of its activities; this gives universities an important role in the investment and employment of the media in a manner that serves national issues,” said Director of King Khalid University Faleh bin Rajaallah Al-Salami.
It is hoped that specialized departments in universities will have an important role in dealing with current issues, and the role of the media in protecting young generations from the evils of deviant thought and destructive practices. He said time has come for these departments to prepare experts who can bear this responsibility, especially since terrorism has turned into an international phenomenon.
“The world has been turned into a global village with terrorism roaming it. When universities contribute to the study of this phenomenon, they should delegate an important part of its duties toward serving the community,” he said.
The chairman of the organizing committee of the conference, the university’s undersecretary for educational and academic affairs, Mohammad bin Ali Al-Hassoun, said in his speech that the university hopes, through this conference, to introduce the relationship between media and terrorism, and how it spreads, as well as its manifestations in different countries, and how each country deals with terrorism in terms of concepts and methods of confrontation.
The dean of the college of humanities at King Khalid University and deputy chairman of the organizing committee, Yahya bin Abdullah Al-Sharif, said the topic of the conference touches on a subject that has occupied the attention of world for a long time. “Terrorism destroys the lives of innocent people, terrorizes civilians, and distorts the image of Islam and its higher values. Terrorism starts with intellectual practices and ends up with violence that only leaves destruction,” he said.