Media establishments’ adherence to neutrality and objectivity in covering events is the best way to earn respect among their audience, President of the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa said on Friday.
“The Kingdom’s doors are wide-open for all media institutions, in line with the principles of freedom and transparency prevailing in Bahrain during the prosperous era of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa,” he said.
Shaikh Fawaz made these comments during a visit to the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) where he met its Editor-in-Chief Fares Khouri and other officials.
He also lauded the BBC’s advanced level, departments, facilities and technical equipment, reiterating IAA’s keen interest to avail of Arab and international media experiences in order to boost the media sector in the Kingdom.
IAA President also said that the Bahraini media has made qualitative leaps towards consolidating freedom of opinion and upgrading the media cadres’ competency and professionalism, reflecting the goals set by the pioneering Royal Reform Project that revolutionized the media and press in the Kingdom, in line with HM King Hamad and the government’s belief in the vital and crucial role played by mass media in the democratic reform march.
“The Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy in which freedom of expression is ensured and protected by laws and regulations,” Shaikh Fawaz said in a live statement on BCC, asserting that life is now back to normal in the country, which required the lifting of the State of National Safety ahead of the previously set date.
He also indicated that many things will be revealed soon.
Shaikh Fawaz also noted that His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander, recentyly held talks with a number of UK officials, especially the Foreign Secretary William Hague, and affirmed that reforms in the Kingdom will continue un-wavered in light of HM King Hamad’s pioneering Reform Project.
He also pointed out that the Peninsula Shield Forces were deployed in the kingdom according to the bilateral agreements signed between GCC states in order to face outside threats and not internal ones.
“Those troops are in Bahrain to protect it from foreign dangers, and have never taken part in any internal events,” he stressed.
He also explained that the protests that erupted in the kingdom were not pacifist, as some sides have claimed, but they were violent ones that aimed to terrorise secure and innocent people.
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