Al-Jazirah Newspaper Chair for Int’l Journalism Inaugurated
Professor Dr. Abdullah Al-Uthman, inaugurated Al-Jazirah Newspaper Chair for International Journalism last Tuesday in an official function. The inaugural function was graced with the presence of Mr. Khalid Al-Malik, Al-Jazirah Newspaper Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Clovis Maqsood, Director of Global South Center and Professor of International Law at the American University in Washington DC, and Maj. Gen. Marwan Az-Zain, Lebanese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
In the inaugural speech, Professor Dr. Abdullah Al-Uthman, said,”I feel a glow of happiness for inaugurating Al-Jazirah Newspaper Chair for International Journalism. It is a fruit of the bilateral cooperation between King Saud University and Al-Jazirah International Establishment for Journalism, Printing and Publication. The chair is the first in kind in journalism and communications. I praise Allah Almighty that the chair program and annual plan prove success of the chair objectives. Experts will be invited; workshops will be held; training courses for students and Al-Jazirah staff will be conducted.
It pleases me to welcome Ambassador Clovis, professor of International Law at the American University, who has an outstanding record in political and media field.”
Discussing the status quo, Professor Clovis said in a speech: “The Arab to Where? Facing up Challenges!”, ”We need an enlightenment, and not exiting. Al-Jazirah newspaper chair is part of the enlightenment process. We should insist on brining about a rising instead of the degradation we have been suffering. ‘Where is the Arab now?’ This question is a catalyst to redress the situation, and not to dishearten us. We should restick to the nation constants and should adapt with the international variables provided that they must not replace the constants.”
On significance of the word, Professor Clovis said, “On campus, we know sanctity of the word through Al-Jazirah chair, which proves that the word is trustworthy and cannot be equivocated for miscalculated bets.”
Linking the word sanctity to the Arab situation Clovis said,”We cannot answer the question: ‘The Arab to where?’, unless we study the current situation question: ‘Where is the Arab today?’ Yesterday, an Arab summit was held, and the same resolutions were repeated, despite they could be repeated and be future resolutions on the ground. We see the war-torn Iraq; blood-spattered Palestine; Lebanon; Somalia; and Darfor. We repeat resolutions that make us lose credibility before the world. We should stave things off before being entrapped. We should stress the point that we are one nation with various homelands. We face up the challenge that if we do not unify, we destroy one another.”
On the status quo, Professor Clovis said, “We are in-between two opposing currents: the current of globalization and the current of breakup.”
On the Palestinian breakup, Professor Clovis said, “The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques tried to close ranks of the Palestinians. We should avert breakup of the Palestinians. The West Bank and Gaza Strip are Palestinian territories, and not owned by the Zionists.”
On Lebanon, Professor Clovis said,” Michael Seleman, the agreed-upon president, should be elected at once. An interim government should set up to iron out the resentment between the minority and majority.”
Taking the floor, Dr. Ali Al-Karni, director of Al-Jazirah Newspaper Chair for International Journalism, said, ”The name of the chair was selected to achieve a central objective: luring the international expertise in journalism to Saudi Arabia, in particular, and the Gulf and Arab region, in general. The chair focuses on bringing the international professional thought and the distinctive experiences in international journalism to the Saudi market.
The chair committee has already worked out missions; visions; objectives; and programs of the chair. They all will be translated into blueprints coming soon to light. They will last throughout the coming years.
The chair will enrich the academic research with genuine, deep, field studies on positions of journalism in Saudi Arabia. It will publish researches and studies - the fruits of the chair - in academic international magazines. It will translate a number of modern, specialized books on journalism issued in the advanced countries to enrich the Arabic library. It will compile a number of books on the Saudi and Arab journalism.
The chair has a number of objectives, some of which are: organizing workshops and specialized training courses lectured by a galaxy of international experts; professors; and journalists who have outstanding records in serving the Saudi and Arab journalism. The chair will produce highly-qualified students thanks to the program approved by Al-Jazirah Newspaper Chair to train 15 students in the college of mass communications to be Al-Jazirah reporters in the university colleges and branches.”