Hussein, Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) first criticized the media for being partial and selective, but later withdrew his comments ostensibly afraid of opening a new front with the media. At the seminar on “human rights from a religious and civilian perspective” at Jeddah Literary Club here, Dr. Al-Hussein blamed the media for relying on negative sensationalism and fabricating lies. However, he quickly backtracked after strong comments from the media. Al-Hussein said mistakes by personnel in mass media have become a nuisance. Press organizations also came in for sharp criticism for “not providing their journalists with good training.” Al-Hussein presented a 20-page research paper titled “Human rights in the era of information hegemony” where Dr. Abdullah Al-Ma'tani, Supervisor of the Human Rights Commission branch in Makkah Region, was the other speaker. The seminar concluded with consensus that media was one of the mechanisms for human rights – as was admitted by Al-Hussein, too. “The media have become one of the supports of social development and one of the most important tools for change and social change,” he said. The institution of the media (information), he added, is considered one of the closest fields to the concept of human rights and its value, as the media plays a role in serving human rights issues through “efforts to spread human rights culture, highlighting the issues and contributing in exposing any violations and confronting them.” In his paper, Dr. Al-Ma'tani focused on explaining the efforts of the HRC branch and its field visits in addition to the position of Islam toward human rights. He called for assistance in spreading human rights culture. He said some segments of the society are still viewing the concept and principles of human rights as a foreign and imported culture despite the Islamic Shariah having instilled and urged the implementation of human rights before it was taken up by specialist international agreements and treaties.
