MWL URGES ISLAMIC COUNTRIES TO COOPERATE IN MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Jakarta, 2 Safar 1435/5 December 2013 (MINA) – Rabithah Alam Islami (Muslim World League-MWL) calls on the Islamic countries to encourage the media to present the religious programs of Islamic awareness and remove any obstructions that come in the way of these programs as long as their abide by rules and regulations.

The final statement of The 3rd International Conference on Islamic Media themed “Media and Social Responsibility” that was held from 3 to 5 December in Jakarta also urges the Islamic countries to help media carry out their mission according to values of Islam and fulfill their social responsibilities towards stability, security and peace.

The conference strongly condemns the incidents of discrimination and organized annihilation of Muslims in Myanmar and also the happenings of annihilation and destruction in Syria for which the Syrian regime and the international community should be held accountable.

The conference was opened and closed officially by Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister, Suryadharma Ali and attended by around 400 representatives of international Islamic media including Mi’raj News Agency (MINA), an international Islamic news agency based in Indonesia.

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Suryadharma fully supports MWL General Secretary Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Turki statement that the Islamic media have to create a positive image of Islam and Muslims as Islam calls on keeping peace in the earth.

The conference was held by the International Islamic Organization of Media (IIOOM) of the Muslim World League (MWL) in cooperation with the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, attended by information and media representatives from 54 non-Muslim and Muslim countries such as Bahrain , Egypt , Morocco , Algeria , Sudan , Tunisia , Nigeria , Senegal , Zambia, Malaysia, Brunai, Macedonia and Indonesia.

The main points of the recomendation from the conference participants include:

– To take care of the mutual and integral relationship between media and society while developing media strategies and policies.

– To call for the application of peace journalism models in Muslim societies particularly the conflicts ridden ones.

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– To promote principles of coexistence, dialogue, and respect of other religions in all forms of media.

– To consolidate the culture of dialogue, consultation and transparency, and to combat corruption and abuse of power.

– To invite banks and Islamic financial institutions to finance media projects that will contribute to human and cultural development in Muslim countries.

– To emphasize the importance of improving the content, style and layout of Islamic Da’wah websites and to hold periodical meetings of those who are responsible for these websites in order to interact with each other for exchange of ideas, experiments and experiences.

– To urge the media to highlight the various social projects undertaken by the civil society organizations.

– To work on incorporating the media related educational curriculums in schools, unversities and institutions for creating awareness about the problems of electronic media with regards to security, privacy and IT crimes.

– To support Muslim minorities in the field of media so that ther can affect the decision making process in their countries.

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– To highlight the positive efforts in the Islamic media, especially the efforts of Muslim minorities, including the Da’wah websites.

– To pay attention to the media code of honor issued by th Second Conference on Islamic Media by creating awareness through publishing, circulating, and introducing it in the curriculums of universities and media departments and also by holding dialogues arround it so that its articles and rules are known to those working in the field of media.

– To spread awareness about intellectual property rights in both private and governmental sectors.

– To be mindful of advertisement contents in the media where they contradict with the values of Islam and advance the materialistics values instead of moral values.

– To urge the IIOOM to establish an Institute for Media Research and Training whose duties will include the following.

(L/P01/P015/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)