Okaz/Saudi Gazette

CAIRO — Okaz Managing Editor Khaled Al-Dahr expressed hope that the print media won’t die despite the potential challenges. “I am optimistic that the print media is important, and no matter how crises and weaknesses it has experienced, it will not die,” he said while addressing a conference on “Arab scientific media in the age of digital media” in Cairo.

The conference was organized by the Arab Network for Scientific Journalism under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Environment at the Future University in Cairo on Oct. 23 and 24.

Al-Dahr said that print media would continue to survive as it is indispensable as a tool of enlightenment, having capabilities for evolution and development in the future.

He noted that the coronavirus pandemic has put the global media in front of a real challenge, and has been instrumental in the emergence of the so-called ‘scientific journalism.’

“The health crisis that the world has suffered from forced various media outlets to research the documented information from authentic sources with regard to the disease, its causes, and how to deal with it, as a result of the repercussions of the spread of rumors about the virus at that time. The keenness on making aware of the society against the danger of spreading false information forced the media in all its forms to focus and direct their tasks to disseminate the correct information that the society is looking for,” he pointed out.