Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The first two-day Saudi Media Forum is scheduled to be held in Riyadh starting Nov. 19 under the motto: "Media Industry — Opportunities and Challenges". The two-day gathering is being organized by the Saudi Journalists' Association, Okaz Arabic daily reported on Monday.

Simultaneously, the Saudi Media Awards will be distributed in four sectors which are: journalism, visual production, audio production and the media personality of the year.

Khaled Al-Malik, chairman of the association, said the forum will provide the opportunity for the Saudi, Arab and international media personalities to get together under one roof to discuss issues related to the media industry, its current developments and the challenges facing it.

Malik said the forum will be an annual event with a view to making Riyadh the capital of the Arab media.

He said Media Minister Turki Al-Shabana is greatly supporting the forum and the awards.

He added that the minister is supporting all the projects which may serve the Saudi media industry.

Mohammed Al-Harithy, association member who is supervising the forum, said over two days the forum will disuse the trans-continental media and the usages of the media content as an influential tool.

He said the forum will consist of major working sessions and specialized discussion rings.

Al-Harithy said the forum will attract local, regional and world media experts to debate the challenges facing the media and ways and means to overcome them.