With all respect for the Saudi Minister of Culture & Information, I think he and other Arab Ministers of Information should be looking for ways to put themselves out of work.

This Saudi Gazette piece reports on a meeting of the Ministers to agree on joint projects. What’s described could be handled by Ministries of Culture—not Information. Ministries of Information try, with increasing futility—to ‘control the message’ in media. That simply doesn’t work when people can switch a TV channel or click on an Internet link.

The Arab States Broadcasting Union might have a viable role in increasing the exchange of information among Arab states. I guess that’s a good thing. But it is already being done by commercial interests, without government funding. Again, though, a Ministry of Culture could handle this adequately. That ministry could provide for subtitles on TV broadcasts—and yes, for all the claims of a single Arabic language, dialects differ so greatly that subtitles are useful. That ministry could also facilitate the transmission of programming to other Arab countries, to the benefit of all. But the current Ministries of Information do not stop there. Instead, they seek to control content. Witness the clamor over Lebanese TV programming, deemed ‘immoral’ by many Saudis, and the call to punish (if not execute) its producers and broadcasters!

Arab ministers agree on new media strategies

JEDDAH – Arab Ministers of Information have agreed to adopt new strategic and ambitious plans to enhance the quality of joint Arab media projects, Iyad Bin Amin Madani, Minister of Culture and Information, said here on Saturday.

The minister, speaking after inauguration of the General Assembly of Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), also stressed the Kingdom’s vital role and contributions to push forward with Arab media efforts.

ASBU is tasked with the organization of Arab radio stations’ broadcasting.

Madani gave the signal starting Arab States’ Broadcasting Union’s Multimedia Exchange Network over Satellite (ASBU-MENOS.)
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