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QNA
Doha
Qatar's investment and economic relations with many countries have developed significantly after the Gulf crisis, Director of the Government Communications Office (GCO) HE Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed bin Saif al Thani has said.
"Qatar has established great global presence through the participation of ministers and officials in various events in different countries of across the world," Sheikh Saif said during discussion at the Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on new media in conflict and political transformation in the Gulf region ” Gulf crisis as a model.
He said Qatar finds social media important as it has nothing to fear or to be afraid of.
Establishing electronic teams known as"electronic flies" is an unacceptable concept, as it does not conform to Qatar's policies which are based on honour and ethics, he added.
Sheikh Saif said the traditional media is easy to deal with, but it is difficult to deal with what is published in the new media as it circulates and develops at an amazing speed and focuses on the social aspects more than any other area.
"Dealing with this media (new media) requires speed, accuracy, focus and credibility. It also requires that a reaction is only given to major issues and not be dragged into side issues and bickering," he added.
Sheikh Saif highlighted that during the first five months of the crisis, the communications office held more than 500 television interviews and local and international press interviews with ministers and state officials to present the Qatari point of view and to inform the Qatari public and the world about the latest developments in the crisis and its repercussions.
On her part, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson HE Lulwah al Khater spoke about means of communication and the development of the media and its relation with different levels of society and the public.
She presented the stages of development of mass media since its establishment through printed newspapers and cultural salons which initially aimed at rationalising dialogue, providing information and developing ideas through the intellectuals.
WITH the spread of visual media, Khater said, information started to reach the uneducated classes and then encouraged the capitalist class to acquire these means to produce information and news to suit their wishes and goals.
The next phase included the social media including Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and others, which changed the structure of the public domain.
"These domains caused some sort of 'fragmentation' in the public, where anyone can identify with alternative communities that are separate from their social, religious, spatial and temporal space, thus creating a change in the cultural environment within one society," she added.
"These media outlets have also allowed a person to waste temporal, circumstantial and spatial context to achieve their personal purposes by fabricating images, videos and audio tracks and gluing them to other societies with no truth. Such things are now happening with Qatar through the Gulf crisis," Khater said.
For his part, Abdulaziz al Ishaq differentiated between social media and new media, referring to the attempts adopted by some countries in the Arab region to change the community's awareness.
"This takes place through establishing satellite channels, radio stations, newspapers and websites," he said. The discussion panel, moderated by Jaber al Harmi, comes within the series of seminars and events organised by the Diplomatic Institute on a number of local, regional and international issues.
