The Minister of State for Media Affairs, and government spokesperson, Sakher Dudin on Monday took part in a symposium on government communication tools, as part of the 10th session of the International Government Communication Forum in United Arab Emirates.

The symposium, which took place in Sharjah, tackled mechanisms for developing government communication tools and employing social networking sites to publish credible messages that serve individuals and societies.

During his speech, Dudin stressed that individuals' reliance on and interest in social networking sites requires employing them to serve key issues and the aspirations and interests of individuals.

He pointed out the importance of developing the tools and skill sets of practitioners of government communication, by following methods that captivate the public and keeping abreast of modern technologies, which are becoming an important source of information.

Dudin pointed to a proposal submitted by Jordan to the Council of Arab Media Ministers during a meeting held in Cairo last June. The proposal aimed to form a legal relationship with international media companies, their platforms and applications, through the mechanisms of joint Arab action.

The proposal, he noted, suggested developing a unified strategy to work with international media companies, as well as a mechanism to compensate Arab media outlets that produce content, which becomes a part of search engine companies and their platforms and applications. This process affects the financial sustainability of Arab media outlets, which do not make profit from this, Dudin indicated.

Moreover, the proposal put forth forming and implementing binding local laws to ensure a swift social media response to delete content that violates national laws, such as: incitement to violence, hatred, discrimination based on race or gender, in addition to spreading false and misleading news.

The proposal was well received by the Arab ministers, leading to the formation of a pan-Arab committee, headed by Jordan, to outline an organizational and strategic framework for electronic media in this regard, Dudin pointed out.

The state minister also touched on the importance of the concept of media and information literacy to enable individuals to discern accurate and truthful information, pointing out that Jordan introduced these concepts into school and university curricula, and trained teachers and members of educational bodies on the topic.

The symposium was attended by the Director-General of the Jordan News Agency (Petra), Fayeq al-Hijazin, and the editors-in-chief of local daily newspapers, Khaled al-Shaqran, Mustafa al-Riyalat and Makram al-Tarawneh, and the Jordanian media team.