(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, Nov 21 (KUNA) -- Saad Al-Ali, Deputy Director General -- Editorial Division of Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) -- on Wednesday said digital media is having a great impact on the media industry and putting some governments in a "state of confusion on how to respond to the social media." "Social media is a strange object that has entered the world of communications and it has left a great impact on the media industry worldwide and it has left also left a great impact on the decision making process, on governments and how to respond to the new challenge," he told a seminar in Brussels today.
He noted that governments were in a dilemma whether to respond through the old media of newspapers or TV channels while others were of the view to talk to the public through social media.
"I think the media overall is in a state of chaos because of the social media. People are divided on the definition of media. Whether social media is media or not and most of the stories on social media are not correct," he said.
Saad Al Ali was speaking on the topic "Digital diplomacy in the age of disinformation," organised by Euraffex, an European Affairs events agency.
He blamed universities for not teaching social media as a major subject, noting that people are confused whether social media is journalism or not.
"Governments' dealings with the social media in the Middle East are more on the defense. Governments spend much time following what is being sent on social media about them or against," said the KUNA deputy director general.
Social media is a factor that causes headaches to the governments, he said and noted that Kuwait has done pretty well in reaching out to the public when dealing with disinformation on social media.
"The government in Kuwait is using the two platforms, the conventional media and social media, in terms of reaching out to the public. I think it has done well in terms of that," he said.
He said that news agencies have to adapt to the new digital media environment.
"We as a news agency we have to take ourselves away from the old style of writing and we have to cope with the new style of writing, the digital media writing, the short story," he added.
A lively Q&A session followed Saad Al Ali's presentation. Ambassador of Kuwait to the EU, Belgium, Luxembourg and NATO, Jasem Al Budaiwi, in his intervention said in the Arab world, "we discovered the importance of social media when the Arab spring broke out.
"We knew how important and effective it is but we didn't how important and effective it was in particular what happened in Egypt where they used the Facebook," he said.
Al Budaiwi underlined the importance of twitter for passing news and messages swiftly to the world.
"We are trying to reach out to the people in a positive way," he stressed.
The ambassador of El Salvador to Belgium, Julia Villatora, in her intervention, described Saad Al Ali's presentation as "very very interesting and very true." "I full approve what you said on the current situation about social media," she added. She noted that social media is not managed by professionals but by anybody who wants to promote his views and ideas. Lina Aburous, managing director of Euraffex, in her introductory remarks, noted the importance of today's topic saying that that "we are talking all day about it." (end) nk.rk
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