The Kingdom of Bahrain’s image has been tarnished since February 14th events of 2011 and now it is duty of everyone to rehabilitate and preserve the country, according to a State Minister of Information.
Information State Minister Sameera Rajab, who was a chief guest during International Advertising Association (IAA) luncheon meeting, told the audience that media should join hands with other stakeholders to defend country’s integrity and reputation.
Highlighting the important role the Minister said that success of media also reflects on the economy as well on the political front.
“We believe in freedom of speech but there is a big lesson for everyone that where the four decades achievements of Bahrain gone and all of sudden every picture of the country portrayed as bleak as it could be,” the Minister said.
Citing Bahrain’s achievements at the global stage such the freest economy in the Middle East by Heritage Foundation and country’s position as indisputable position being the financial hub, the Minister said such achievements could not be ignored what so ever.
This is, she said, is a collective responsibility of everyone to rehabilitate the image of the country.
The President of IAA Bahrain Khamis Al Muqla said that the meeting was long overdue and we should aim to get back to our regular meetings.
“We are going through a very challenging time for our nation and our industry, which will require our joint efforts and cooperation as advertisers, advertising agencies, media, public relations and other related services.” Al Muqla said.
“We have a mission to help bring our nation together and regain the positive image of our country and restore confidence in our economy. A good example for a good marketing campaign is the recent Formula 1 advertising which talks about Unified – one Nation, one celebration,” Al Muqla explained.
“Our mission is also to promote our industry and continue its growth. The advertising expenditure saw a decline from $140million in 2010 to $112million or even less than that in 2011,” he said.
The first quarter Jan-March 2012 is $23million compared to $26million for the same period in 2011, a drop of 12%. Our objective is to get back to the 2010 level and move forward.”
“Regionally in 2011 most of the local markets have been affected by the political situation known as the Arab Spring except Pan Arab satellite TV channel which showed an increase of 16% leading to a total regional increase of 10% from $11.6billion in 2010 to $12.8billion in 2011,” he added.
Al Muqla shared with member for some exciting news and lauded the Government efforts keeping a track of the development of Bahrain Media City; entry of a new international business channel AL ARAB will be launched in Bahrain soon; a new radio station for Asian community will be launched soon; Information Affairs Authority (IAA) signed a media representation agreement with FP7 and Group Plus with the objective of increasing TV and radio advertising revenue; existing TV and radio revenue does not exceed 15% of the total ad spend in Bahrain; the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) is drafting modern legislation for the press, audiovisual media and electronic publishing which includes the establishment of a Supreme Council for the media – to ensure the media adheres to media laws and ethics; IAA Bahrain Chapter membership is steadily increasing with 35 members as of date. Our objective is to reach 100 members soon and eGovernment Authority has become the first corporate member and I am very pleased to welcome them and I hope this will lead to other corporate memberships. Our member, he said, Mahmood Rafique has won the IAA Berlin School Scholarship for Excellence in Communications and congratulated him and wish him all the best
“IAA Worldwide will be celebrating its 75th Anniversary next year and therefore have postponed the 2012 Congress in Vienna.”