A call has been made to create a fund to help struggling media organizations in the Gulf region. This proposal has been made by Mai Bint Muhammad Al-Khalifa, the Bahraini Minister of Culture and Information, at a journalism conference being held here. She said there is a pressing need for this fund. She said that the Bahraini newspaper Al-Waqt, which has set a standard with its honesty and credibility, needs help. It was high time to support such an initiative and aid any other organization that may be facing financial difficulty. Al-Khalifa said it was up to members of the Gulf Press Union to determine the deadline for the launch of this fund. Meanwhile, she said that the Bahrain Prize for Freedom of the Press is an international prize covering the Arab world and not confined to journalists from Bahrain. An Egyptian columnist has already won the prize, she added. She said that the closure of the Al-Jazeera Channel's office in Bahrain was purely for technical reasons. Rules are being drawn up to define its media activities in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Al-Khalifa was critical of some editors in the Gulf region for their failure to be professional and to keep up with current issues. This has weakened journalism in the Gulf region, she said.
