For two interesting episodes of Al-Liwan TV show, Mr. Abdullah Al-Mudayfer, two of the bright names in the Saudi media space, and the testimony of each of A. Qinan Al-Ghamdi and A. Dawood Al-Shuryan with their testimony on one of the difficult stages that the Saudi society went through and during which the local, regional and global challenges and transformations began since the beginning of the eighties AD and what followed until today through their professional and administrative journalistic and television positions in the Saudi media institutions.
I am not sure of the impartiality and objectivity of testifying to their era and stage while they are part of those who made that stage and contributed to formulating it positively and negatively. Not all observers are able to automatically discern the boundaries between success and failure of these two extended media experiences compared to what each of them has and what they have to do, and link all of this to the public environment and the local, regional and international political and social climate and the resulting constantly emerging variables, expressed by A. Qinan Al-Ghamdi likened it to the rise and fall of temperatures, which you cannot always predict and anticipate their effects.
It is not possible to ignore the opinions of the followers in the media communication about the two episodes, their guests, and the events, positions and arguments contained in them. There is a large flow of comments, and there is a big difference between the two guests from the point of view of their employees and those who deal with them according to their different locations, as reflected in the comments of the followers on social networking sites. Some of these comments and tweets revealed many rumors about the emergence and disappearance, and then the emergence and disappearance of some names over the past decades.
I wonder, after the two testimonies given by Al-Sharyan and Al-Ghamdi, did the Saudi media establishment fail to achieve its goals during the past decades, or is it the immaturity of the media decision? Where did the institution fail and why did the media decision-maker fail? Is it a professional crisis or is it an institutional crisis? Why are the failures repeated for decades? Why are media institutions not governed so that they can be evaluated and facilitated accountability? Why do some media organizations operate in a “crisis management” manner, if those institutions work in the light of fixed objectives and a drawn-out strategy?
Is there anything that prevents the privatization of Saudi government media institutions, and why does the Ministry of Information not remain a supervisory and regulatory body, with the exception of the Saudi Press Agency, which is an official spokesperson for the state? What does society lose from the privatization of Saudi media institutions, if the return is the survival of the best of those institutions and what they offer in light of the presence and influence of social communication? Why is it not applicable to Saudi television and radio media institutions what applies to press institutions that implement Saudi media policy but are subject to market rules, provided that the system of press institutions is re-examined in light of developments and challenges faced by press institutions in the Kingdom and the world?
In conclusion, through my previous work in television, and through my work as the head of the restructuring team of the Ministry of Information and its sectors, which was assigned to me by my work at the Institute of Public Administration at that time, many of the previously discussed questions are present and influential in the Saudi media establishment, but what is worse than all of that It is the paralysis, due to which, along with other reasons, the competencies and geniuses abandoned work, and an unprofessional environment that lacked governance and institutionalization prevailed and resulted in the sustainability of media work patching. Paralysis is the engine and kitchen for much of what we see. I congratulate His Excellency the new Minister, Salman Al-Dosari, on the royal confidence and his assumption of this position, and I hope that he will have time to get acquainted with the points raised here, wishing him and his team all success.
Abdul Latif Al-Duwaihi