Information Minister Ali bin Mohammed Al Romaihi, the Board of Trustees Chairman of Bahrain Institute for Political Development (BIPD), has announced that BIPD will hold on December 6 a conference on the role of the media in combating terrorism.
The event comes in light of the current circumstances emanating from a surge in transcontinental violence and terrorism which has become a source of worry for communities and governments, an impediment to development and a threat to global security and stability.
The conference will bring together politicians, media figures, academics and security officials from Bahrain as well as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Arab countries.
Al Romaihi affirmed that the efforts to combat terrorism and extremism in the Arab world will not pay off unless there is cooperation and coordination within the framework of a comprehensive multi-dimensional vision at the security, political, media, social and cultural level.
That vision, he added, has to take into consideration all challenges posed by terrorism in order to work out flexible mechanisms to counter it through practical and effective procedures that are consistent with the growing danger of terrorism.
The minister underlined the pivotal role of the media in deterring terrorism by raising awareness of its danger and the need to confront it. He also warned against the danger of providing incubators to promote extremist ideas, pointing out the importance of conscious and enlightened media discourse in closing in on terrorism and its ideological sources.
He stressed that the conference is part of Bahrain’s counterterrorism efforts and support to the international ones in this respect. He expressed hope the conference would contribute to mapping out a comprehensive Arab media counterterrorism strategy to boost awareness of the danger of terrorism and ways of facing it through an enlightening media discourse that promotes the culture of tolerance and moderation in the community.
The conference aims to foster freedom of responsible media and highlight its role in bolstering national security and raising awareness of the danger of terrorism and its impact on political stability and the democratic march in the Arab nation, Al Romaihi said.
The conference will tackle issues pertaining to legislation regulating the media sector and its efficacy in deterring terrorism, media freedom and its conformity with the Arab situation, cultural reasons behind terrorism and ways of overcoming them, the role of the Arab media in confronting terrorism and the future of the media amid surging terrorism in the region.

Source: BNA