Saudi media professionals: The Jeddah Summit contributed to building bridges between the Arab world

A positive atmosphere in  general  and wide media coverage were  essential features of the work of the 32nd Arab Summit and its preliminary meetings that were held over several days in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Saudi media professionals considered that this important event is building bridges of communication and cooperation to seek the ultimate goal, which is building a common Arab world capable of facing challenges and being an active part of the new international world.

Khalid Mata’en, advisor and in charge of supervising public relations at the Saudi Press Agency, (SPA), indicated that the Saudi Ministry of Information facilitated all procedures for media professionals to cover the summit.

Mataan explained that the SPA agency, being the first source of news and distributing it to the media ,accompanied the coverage of the summit extensively, and had about 85 reporters distributed at the airport, the headquarters of the guests, the venues of meetings and side meetings, and in the media center to cover each event.

Saudi journalist Azzam Khedew said that the atmosphere of optimism was the general feature of the Jeddah summit, as it appeared through the words of Arab presidents, kings and leaders, and through the media coverage that accompanied it.

He said: “There is a state of optimism in this summit in terms of joint Arab action and reliance on cooperation, building bridges and forgetting old problems.”

Ghufran Makki, a reporter for the Saudi Al-Ikhbariya channel, said that her participation in covering this summit was a source of pride for her and an addition to her career because this summit was exceptional and a summit of reunion.

Makki showed appreciation for the efforts made to equip the media center with all modern technologies that helped newsletters and reports arrive faster.

She added: “We have reached 120 hours of continuous broadcasting in the center and we have 150 international media and more than 30 local outlets. There was a smooth flow of work and a large space for the cadre of each means.”

For his part, Khaled Al-Amir, from the Government Communication and Public Relations Center at the Radio and Television Authority, described the media coverage as exceptional, by all Arab and foreign newspapers, channels and radio stations.

He noted that the accredited media center to cover the events of the summit contributed to the cooperation of journalists, introducing them to each other, and exchanging experiences among them.

1. al-Mohammad