Minister interacts with university students via Google Hangout

Manama: Minister of Information Affairs Ali bin Mohammed Al Rumaihi reached out to university students through a Google Hangout session, which is considered the first of its kind in Bahrain.

He urged them to use social websites to play an active role in supporting the official media, stressing the importance of strengthening the national identity and valuing long-standing heritage, history and civilisation.

Bahrain University fourth year student, movie-maker and social media activist Omar Farooq Al Awadhi moderated the one-hour session, which was broadcast live on Bahrain TV YouTube channel on link: https://www.youtube.com/user/bahraintelevision.

An Arabic hashtag translated as “an interview with Information Affairs Minister” was also launched for Twitter users to express their opinions and take part in the session. It was the second most trending hashtag on Twitter in Bahrain.

The Minister stressed the need to commit to the fundamentals of Government-run media and said that TV success is getting harder in highly competitive landscape that is open to more than 5,000 channels.

Al Rumaihi said that viewers are more inclined to watch specialised channels while they switch to Government-owned channels to watch the news.

He unveiled a plan to develop the information sector in Bahrain to focus on using modern media tools adequately to promote the conventional media. He also voiced concerns over the misuse of the modern media tools, particularly pseudonyms, urging users to exercise self-censorship.

The Minister stressed the importance of public relation departments, which are now playing a functional role in all official entities.

He underlined the need to train employees working in the media sector, pointing out in this regard that the Ministry’s staff get trained in Bahrain and France. Two batches of trainees have graduated so far and they will contribute to the development of the Kingdom’s media sector.

Citing updated statistics, he said that female media graduates make up more than 50 per cent of Bahrain Radio employees, highlighting the establishment of a new media directorate so as to keep abreast of latest technological trends.

The Minister commended the live Hangout session, which, he said, proves that the official media spares no efforts to build bridges and reach out to others.

He announced that a special Ramadan competition would be launched for university media students, stressing the importance of honing the creative skills and supporting budding talents.