We have long advocated working for spreading the culture of crisis management and its standards among officials and the public to train, equip and prepare them scientifically and practically to cope with any crisis we face internally or externally. Crisis management is a science in itself. It doesn't consist of ideas scattered here and there, or of a simple introductory course in the concept of crisis or the principles of dealing with it. A country like Saudi Arabia must go deep in any science, especially in crisis management. It is useless to swim above the crusts to achieve the best results, but it is the deep dive that gives the expected and promising fruits. This article is a clear and concise message to the Minister of Culture and Information . I would like to remind our Minister that he, in light of what the region, the world and the Kingdom in particular are going through, is in the position of a military commander fighting a war that is not easy and very difficult. Globally, in person and alone, you have succeeded in communicating the viewpoint of the Kingdom's and its allies regarding the present crisis with Qatar. I remember Goebbel's words to Hitler about the importance of the media and their control over it, which blinded the eyes of millions of Germans to make them fight the worst wars throughout human history. The point is not to follow Goebbel's approach, but to know the real power of the media. It is a weapon that makes you victorious without firing a single bullet or sending a regular armed soldier to the battlefield. Things today are different from yesterday, the battlefield is the space of the whole world, and the participants and viewers are all human beings. If we don't see this fact , we should at least know that there are others who deal with it accurately. Some of these are our enemies. To be more specific, there is a general feeling that the situation is chaotic as far as the coverage of the war in Yemen and the crisis with Qatar is concerned. There are attempts by many parties either to undermine the role of the Kingdom or pour oil on fire to spread more dissention between the brothers. Origins and causes of our crisis with Qatar are well- known, therefore the official Saudi media must be the leader and controller of this crisis. We have confidence in the Ministry of Information, its tools and institutions, and we believe it has enough capabilities and potential. Here we send a message of support to this national institution to give it make more room to enable it propagate the Kingdom's vision and policies internally and externally. It is extremely disturbing to see that the crisis management is carried out by commercial private satellite stations. What is more dangerous is that who are taking the lead in these stations are not Saudis. It is very disturbing to watch a debate about the recent Qatari crisis and the position of the Kingdom between two persons representing each party, but both of them are not Saudi or Qatari, and not from the Gulf either. Therefore, I urge the Minister to organize a national conference on how to manage crises not only as a minister, but as a general in a war which we did not choose and did not seek, but was imposed on us. There is no harm in inviting Arab brothers to participate in this conference who share our same ideas and ideas. We need a conference on how to manage crises and deal with them provided the first result to be achieved by this conference should be to rebuild bridges of trust between the public and their Saudi national media. Dr. Talal Al Harbi
