Saudi Media Forum president engages with global production experts to shape media’s future

Saudi Media Forum president engages with global production experts to shape media’s future
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Saudi Media Forum president engages with global production experts to shape media’s future
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Saudi Media Forum president engages with global production experts to shape media’s future

Saudi Media Forum president engages with global production experts to shape media’s future
  • Riyadh meeting aimed to explore strategic collaborations and innovative content production opportunities
  • Attendees included David Abraham, CEO of Wonderhouse Studios; Amanda Palmer, Founder of ArtCinema; Rob Leighton, SVP of Global Liberty; Jordi Molla, Multi-Award-Winning Director; and Kazuko Ishikawa, President of Nippon Animation

RIYADH: In a groundbreaking discussion on the future of global media production, the President of the Saudi Media Forum, Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi, met with a distinguished group of international experts and industry leaders. The high-profile meeting, held in Riyadh, aimed to explore strategic collaborations and innovative content production opportunities that align with Saudi Arabia’s vision of becoming a global media powerhouse.

Among the attendees were David Abraham, CEO of Wonderhouse Studios; Amanda Palmer, Founder of ArtCinema; Rob Leighton, SVP of Global Liberty; Jordi Molla, Multi-Award-Winning Director; and Kazuko Ishikawa, President of Nippon Animation. The discussions revolved around co-production models, investment in high-quality content, and the integration of advanced technologies in media production.

President Al-Harthi emphasized Saudi Arabia’s commitment to fostering a dynamic media ecosystem, highlighting the country’s investment in accelerators, incubators, and production funds designed to support international partnerships. “The future of media is built on collaboration, innovation, and cross-border content creation. We are excited to work with global leaders to shape a new era of storytelling,” he stated.

The meeting also addressed the importance of AI in content creation, the evolving landscape of streaming platforms, and the role of Saudi Arabia as a hub for global media projects. The experts expressed enthusiasm about potential partnerships, particularly in film, animation, and immersive media experiences.

This dialogue marks a significant step in strengthening Saudi Arabia’s position in the global media industry, paving the way for co-productions, content distribution agreements, and knowledge exchange between local and international players.


Journalists have a duty to verify information, British journalist says

Journalists have a duty to verify information, British journalist says
Updated 25 February 2025
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Journalists have a duty to verify information, British journalist says

Journalists have a duty to verify information, British journalist says

RIYADH: Accuracy in disaster reporting is paramount, British journalist Juliette Foster said during a panel discussion on day one of KSrelief’s fourth humanitarian forum in Riyadh.

“Technology has made it possible for journalists to operate efficiently in crisis zones while affected communities have a channel, but accuracy in reporting should always be paramount,” Foster said.

In a panel discussion titled “The Evolution of Media and Communication Strategies in Emergency Situations,” Foster, along with other panel members, highlighted
the challenges and opportunities for journalists covering emergency situations, such as the optimization of technology use in reporting.

The panel also discussed the balance between information dissemination and the protection of vulnerable populations.

Foster highlighted concerns over perpetrators using sensitive information to target any vector of a person’s identity, to disgrace and degrade either them or their communities.

“I will even go so far as to say that when you have unsafe information circulating posing as a truth, you potentially put at risk the lives, not just in communities, but also of the people who are trying to help them. Misinformation and rumors complicate emergency response efforts and can create panic,” she said.

Journalists have a duty to verify information, be it from social media platforms or other sources, before making it public, Foster added.

“So, please remember to any reporters who are out there, if you are covering disasters, yes, we want you to find the story and to tell it, but please respect the people who are there at the center of action … there are guidelines on navigating these ethical minefields, and in fairness, most journalists follow them. But in the final analysis, preserving the dignity of disaster victims should be at the heart of your coverage,” she said.

There are significant opportunities for enhancing emergency communications, including collaborative journalism, where media organizations, NGOs and local communities work together or embed, which can amplify both the reach and the impact of crisis reporting, Foster added.

“Reporting partnerships can also facilitate access to on-the-ground information, provide logistical support and ensure comprehensive coverage of complex emergencies,” she said.

The panel discussion also included guest speakers Shalhoub Al-Shalhoub, director of public relations and media, and acting director of international communication and the media center at KSrelief; senior humanitarian adviser Maryann Horne; and Nadine Sanders, editor-in-chief of International Voice News. The panel was moderated by Arab News journalist Lama Alhamawi.


Pakistani minister meets SRMG CEO, discusses media collaboration, digital innovation opportunities

Pakistani minister meets SRMG CEO, discusses media collaboration, digital innovation opportunities
Updated 25 February 2025
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Pakistani minister meets SRMG CEO, discusses media collaboration, digital innovation opportunities

Pakistani minister meets SRMG CEO, discusses media collaboration, digital innovation opportunities
  • Meeting took place as Tarar was in Riyadh last week to attend Saudi Media Forum 2025 from Feb. 19-21
  • Saudi Research and Media Group is the largest integrated media house in the Middle East and North Africa

ISLAMABAD: The Saudi Research and Media Group, the largest integrated media house in the Middle East and North Africa, hosted Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar at its headquarters in Riyadh “to explore opportunities for media collaboration, content development and digital innovation,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday. 
The meeting took place as Tarar was in Riyadh last week to attend the Saudi Media Forum 2025 from Feb. 19-21, which brought together over 200 global media professionals, innovators and thought leaders.
“The meeting focused on strengthening partnerships and expanding content offerings to better serve audiences across both markets,” SRMG said in a statement after Tarar met the group’s CEO, Jomana R. Alrashid.

Saudi Research and Media Group CEO Jomana R. Alrashid (left) welcomes Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar as he visits the SRMG Headquarters in Riyadh on February 21, 2025. (Handout/SRMG)

The two leaders discussed the “positive impact of SRMG’s Pakistan based platforms, including Independent Urdu and Urdu News, as well as the English-language publication Arab News Pakistan, in delivering high quality content that informs and connects.”
“By providing accurate, credible reporting and raising awareness of key social issues, these publications foster meaningful connections between people, promote cross-cultural understanding, and strengthen ties with audiences in Pakistan and beyond,” the statement added. 
While speaking at the Saudi Media Forum, Tarar had acknowledged SRMG’s “positive impact” in Pakistan.

Saudi Research and Media Group CEO Jomana R. Alrashid (left) gestures for a photo with Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar at the SRMG Headquarters in Riyadh on February 21, 2025. (Handout/SRMG)

“With regard to SRMG, we have Urdu News, we have Arab News and we have Independent Urdu, which are doing a great job,” he said during a panel discussion last Thursday. 
“And [this is] not only [as] digital platforms, but overall, they have a very positive impact on our society with regard to raising awareness on social issues, with regard to bringing news to the people.”
During the Riyadh visit, Tarar and his Saudi counterpart Salman Al-Dossary also announced a joint committee to co-produce songs, films and documentaries.
In recent years, Pakistani dramas and films, including TV classics like “Dhoop Kinare” and the highly acclaimed “Humsafar,” have been dubbed in Arabic and broadcast in Saudi Arabia. 
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are close regional partners and economic and security allies. In October last year, the two countries signed 34 agreements worth $2.8 billion for investment projects in various sectors.


Judge rejects immediately restoring AP’s access to White House but urges government to reconsider

Judge rejects immediately restoring AP’s access to White House but urges government to reconsider
Updated 25 February 2025
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Judge rejects immediately restoring AP’s access to White House but urges government to reconsider

Judge rejects immediately restoring AP’s access to White House but urges government to reconsider
  • The AP says it is adhering to the “Gulf of Mexico” terminology because its audience is global and the waters are not only in US territory, but it is acknowledging Trump’s rechristening as well

WASHINGTON: A federal judge on Monday refused to immediately order the White House to restore The Associated Press’ access to presidential events, saying the news organization had not demonstrated it had suffered any irreparable harm. But he urged the Trump administration to reconsider its two-week-old ban, saying that case law “is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.”
US District Judge Trevor N. McFadden’s decision was only for the moment, however. He told attorneys for the Trump administration and the AP that the issue required more exploration before ruling.
McFadden peppered both sides with questions during arguments over a lawsuit the AP filed Friday saying that its First Amendment rights were being violated by the ban, which began gradually two weeks ago. President Donald Trump said it was punishment for the agency’s decision not to entirely follow his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
McFadden, discussing the composition of the “press pool” that is chosen by the White House Correspondents’ Association, questioned why the government was obligated to follow those choices. “It feels a little odd that the White House is somehow bound by the decisions this private organization is making,” the judge told AP attorneys.
He also questioned AP’s noting of its longtime membership in the White House press pool. “Is this administration somehow bound by what happened with President McKinley?” the judge asked. But he noted that the correspondents’ group had been tasked by the White House to choose the members of its pool.
“The White House has accepted the correspondents’ association to be the referee here, and has just discriminated against one organization. That does seem problematic,” McFadden said in an exchange with government attorney Brian Hudak.
Later, McFadden warned the government’s attorney to reconsider its position, saying “case law in this circuit is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.”
The AP says it is adhering to the “Gulf of Mexico” terminology because its audience is global and the waters are not only in US territory, but it is acknowledging Trump’s rechristening as well.
AP says the issue strikes at the very core of the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which bars the government from punishing speech. The White House says access to the president is a privilege, not a right.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration began barring the AP from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other areas that have been open to the agency for a century as part of the White House press pool. The dispute stems from AP’s refusal to change its style in referring to the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump decreed the “Gulf of America” via an executive order.
The AP named three Trump officials – White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt – as defendants. The agency, a nonprofit news outlet in operation since 1846, called the White House’s move a “targeted attack” of the sort barred by the First Amendment.
“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” the AP said in its lawsuit.
The White House says its move to restrict AP is not an infringement of free-speech rights. “The only person who has the absolute right to occupy those spaces is the president of the United States,” Wiles wrote to Julie Pace, AP’s executive editor, in an email included in the agency’s lawsuit. “For the rest of us, it’s a privilege, and to suggest otherwise is wrong.”

 


Algerian TikTok influencer convicted in France for inciting terrorism

This photograph shows a police car in Paris, on March 29, 2024. (AFP)
This photograph shows a police car in Paris, on March 29, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 25 February 2025
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Algerian TikTok influencer convicted in France for inciting terrorism

This photograph shows a police car in Paris, on March 29, 2024. (AFP)
  • TikTok has said it banned the account from which the video was uploaded, for posting several videos that broke its rules on hate speech

BREST, France: A French court on Monday found an Algerian online influencer guilty of inciting terrorism on TikTok, sentencing him to 18 months in jail.
The 25-year-old man, identified by officials as Youcef A. and known on social media as Zazou Youssef, had been charged in the western city of Brest with “advocating an act of terrorism” on the platform.
Prosecutor Camille Miansoni had recommended a prison sentence of two years for the charge that is punishable by up to seven years.
Youssef appeared in a video posted on the popular platform on December 31 calling for attacks in France and violence in Algeria.
The police prefect in France’s western Finistere region, Alain Espinasse, ordered a judicial investigation after officers made him aware of the video.
According to authorities, Youssef had been living in France on a temporary residency permit and had appealed against a previous sentence for vandalism during riots in 2023.
In addition to the jail term, the court said Youssef could not reside in France for 10 years.
TikTok has said it banned the account from which the video was uploaded, for posting several videos that broke its rules on hate speech.
 

 


Afghanistan’s only women-led radio station to resume broadcasts after Taliban suspension 

Afghanistan’s only women-led radio station to resume broadcasts after Taliban suspension 
Updated 25 February 2025
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Afghanistan’s only women-led radio station to resume broadcasts after Taliban suspension 

Afghanistan’s only women-led radio station to resume broadcasts after Taliban suspension 
  • Radio Begum launched in March 2021, with programs aimed at educating girls
  • In the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, Afghanistan ranked 178 out of 180 countries 

Kabul: Afghanistan’s only women-led radio station will resume broadcasts, the Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture announced after it suspended the outlet’s operations this month over its cooperation with foreign media outlets. 

On Feb. 4, Taliban officials raided Kabul-based Radio Begum — a station run by women with programs aimed at educating girls and supporting Afghan women — and seized staff’s computers, hard drives and phones, and took into custody two male employees “who do not hold any senior management position,” the outlet said in a statement. 

In a statement issued on Saturday evening, the ministry said Radio Begum had been suspended “due to the improper use of their licenses and cooperation with foreign sanctioned media outlets.” 

Radio Begum has now been “granted permission to resume their activities,” the ministry said, after they made repeated requests and following a “pledge with the Broadcasting Directorate to operate in line with the principles of journalism and in accordance with the policies of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

It did not provide details on what those principles and policies were nor the status of the radio station’s employees who were allegedly detained.

Launched on International Women’s Day in March 2021, Radio Begum has been broadcasting hours of lessons daily, along with health, psychology and spiritual programs for women across most of Afghanistan. 

Its sister satellite channel, Begum TV, operates from France and televises classes that cover the Afghan school curriculum from seventh to 12th grade, providing education for many after the Taliban banned education for women and girls after the sixth grade. 

“It’s one of the few channels that discussed issues related to women and girls,” said Najiba, 28, a Kabul resident and listener of Radio Begum. 

“I particularly listened to their programs on health and women entrepreneurs. I was happy to be able to receive some information about women-related health issues from the radio. The other program that featured businesswomen was also encouraging. It inspired other women and gave us hope to learn skills and work for ourselves.” 

While the resumption of Radio Begum’s operations was welcomed, the initial suspension was still concerning for Meena Akbari, an Afghan women’s rights activist. 

“It was a concerning move. The few media outlets that are left in the country should be supported instead of being contained and closed,” Akbari told Arab News.

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, the country’s media landscape has been “decimated,” according to Reporters without Borders, which cited the disappearance of 43 percent of Afghan media outlets in the past four years and ranked the country 178 out of 180 in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index. 

“With Afghan women and girls already facing increasing restrictions since the Taliban takeover, platforms such as these are vital for women to get information from and continue learning about different topics,” Akbari said. 

“It’s a good decision that the government allowed the station to resume broadcasts. Hopefully, it continues to benefit Afghan women and Afghans in general.”