RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has a number of ambitious plans to facilitate and expand media services in the Kingdom, said Dr. Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information. Khoja was speaking at a ceremony organized by the Ministry of Culture and Information at King Fahd Cultural Center (KFCC) in Riyadh, Tuesday to honor nine Saudi television channels that provided extensive Haj coverage in 2010. Khoja also handed out certificates of appreciation to staff members who participated in the Haj activities. Dr. Abdulaziz S. Binsalamah, Deputy Minister of Foreign Information, Ministry of Culture and Information; Abdul Rahman Al-Hazza, Supervisor-General of Saudi TV; and Abdullah Al-Hussain, Head of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) were among those who spoke on the occasion. Heads of television channels; editors-in-chief of a number of newspapers and senior officials of the Ministry of Culture and Information attended the ceremony. Al-Hazza presented a special trophy to Khoja in recognition of the services he provided during Haj. In his speech, Khoja said the ministry has already embarked on an expansion program by signing contracts for the construction of new buildings, studios and other similar facilities in the Kingdom. “We have new projects and the spending will be in millions of riyals for the construction of new buildings, studios and a number of other facilities aimed at expanding the media coverage area not only in the Kingdom but also abroad,” said Khoja. The ministry has already signed a contract for the construction of new premises to accommodate SPA, he said. The new SPA premises in King Fahd Street in Riyadh will be ready within the next one or two years, he said. “With the construction of the new facility the SPA will improve its services to its clients not only within the Kingdom but also abroad,” he said. Al-Hazza told Saudi Gazette that the ministry honored the Saudi channels because they had the best Haj coverage this year. He said the ministry has been working to improve media coverage and to broadcast the Haj rituals not only to Muslim countries but also to a number of non-Muslim countries around the world. He said some of channels, such as the Sunnah TV Channel and Quran TV Channel, transmitted services for 24 hours from the two holy cities and all other ritual sites in Mina and Arafat. There were nine channels that offered extensive coverage, he added. He said the ministry has been engaged in an ongoing program to train Saudis in the field of mass communication and to produce a number of journalists to work in different media. “We are sending young Saudis to study abroad in journalism and mass communication. When they come back after successfully attending the training programs they will be fully equipped with a number of new ideas and experiences for implementation in various Saudi media,” he said. Binsalamah said the ministry hosted about 100 international media persons, representing 25 satellite television channels from Europe, America, Asia and Africa. “Our future plan is to expand the Haj coverage by allowing more international satellite channels that have larger numbers of viewers. However, the selection criteria for any international satellite channel will be done on a first-come-first-serve basis,” he said. Over 60 satellite channels applied to cover Haj in 2010, “but due to limitations the ministry only invited media persons from 25 channels,” he said.
