The workshop on enhancing the security sense for media spokespersons concluded on Thursday. The workshop was organized by the Police Academy in co-operation with Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS) and the Technical Secretariat of the Arab Information Ministers Council, with the participation of several experts, specialists, and academics from Arab countries and relevant international organisations.
During its closing day, the workshop presented three working papers. The first was on 'skills of the official spokesperson in front of the media', while the second was on 'improving the mental image of the various state institutions and sectors - governmental, security and civil Institutions and the private sector'. The third working paper discussed 'the role of the media and social media in enhancing the societal sense to prevent and combat terrorism and implement the discourse of violence, extremism, and hate in the Arab region.
On the closing day of the workshop, there was also a special session dedicated to interventions and discussions that added value to the workshop's objectives. Some participants emphasized the need to improve the security awareness of media spokespersons and the importance of organizing more interactive workshops like this one.
The three-day workshop aimed to further unify the concept of the official spokesperson according to modern media studies. It also aimed to identify the spokesperson's mission, tasks, and responsibilities, in addition to highlighting the characteristics required according to the specialisation (political, security, economic, social...), as well as learning about the spokesperson's proper management methods during times of crises and the role of universities in forming spokespersons and their mission in society.
Participants focused on topics such as the language characteristics of influential discourse and the speaker's directions according to the specialization, the skills of the official spokesperson in front of the media and the mastery of the body language, improving the image of government institutions including security and civil institutions (in the private sector), the role of the media and social media in enhancing social awareness to prevent and combat terrorism, in addition to introducing the participants to the making of press releases.
