IAA boosts national reconciliation

Director General of publications and press and foreign information Nawaf Mohammed Al-Ma'awda confirmed today that the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) is committed to the implementation of the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) on the establishment of the High Council for Media , the City of Media and to develop broadcasting radio and television programs to promote national reconciliation and put forward the points of views of various political associations through benefiting from foreign experiences. Al-Ma'awda, in a BTV interview, said that the IAA's president Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa has presided, since the issuance of the report of the BICI, a work team to establish mechanisms to follow-up with the implementation of the BICI’s recommendations, especially paragraph (1724. a, b, c) regarding alleviating control on all media channels and the development of professional standards, in addition to paragraph (1725. b) related to the national reconciliation. He pointed out the use of the foreign expertise of a French company specialized in media legislation and national programs especially the national reconciliation, which has a wide experience accumulated through dealing with eleven East European countries in this matter prior to joining the European Union, he added that IAA hosted a group of experts from the French company and arranged field visits and meetings with most of the concerned parties, such as the National Committee charged with the implementation of the recommendations of the BICI and foreign and Bahraini newspapers reporters and writers in order to brief the French experts on the views of all the parties concerned. Al-Ma'awda stressed the establishment of the High Council for Media , the first of its kind in the Gulf region, as one of the views of the national consensus dialogue, will be an independent council that consists of non-governmental persons specialized in the field of media, and will have Supervisory, surveillance functions on the media institutions, in addition to acting as a consultative council to the Government or other concerned bodies.