By Khaled Al-Abdulhadi

KUWAIT: The general staff headquarters of the Kuwait army held on Monday a workshop that included officials from the public relations and media departments of the Kuwait armed forces, interior ministry, Kuwait Fire Force and the National Guard, at the invitation of Mohammed Al-Awadhi, Director of the Moral Guidance and Public Relations Department of the Kuwait Armed Forces.

The workshop included journalists from both public and private sectors, where the military, KFF, NG and MoI officers discussed the major issues of communication faced between the two sectors. Moreover, strategies were explained in handling fast and far-reaching technology in media in order to deter false information from spreading, as it constitutes a major threat to national security.

KUWAIT: Participants of the workshop.

Awadhi expressed his gratitude to Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Sheikh Khaled Al-Sabah and stressed the importance of placing national interests at the forefront of any strategy. "There is a big role that the media plays which can influence different parts of society and helps have a two-sided conversation," Awadhi said.

People nowadays have the ability to look for the news within seconds as technology has advanced to a level that was never rapider. Authorities stressed the public and private sector media make up a principal part of society, so it is important that correct and factual news reaches the public without causing any damage to social cohesion and safety. Therefore, developing the procedures and communication quality between the media and authorities is important. As rumors in the modern age spread quickly, we must develop a cohesive strategy to make sure information that reaches the public is true and accurate, Awadhi stressed.

Dr Rashed Suroor

Dr Rashed Suroor of KFF's public relations department said: "initiatives like this are not strange to us, and we hope to have many more workshops in the future to make sure a unified vision exists that reflects reality. The development of media staff and the tools they need is necessary to deter any rumors. The KFF faces a lot of fires during summertime, and these fires must be investigated completely so that accurate information is presented to the public."

Fahad Al-Mutairi

The KFF also has its own standards for publishing, which includes finding out the truth with no possibility of misinformation, as well as linguistic proofing to make sure the news is worded correctly so as not to cause any confusion. These are the ways that will make the strategy stop anyone who tries to falsify information and cause harm to Kuwait's society. These include fast and accurate communication so that the incident is clarified truthfully and quickly to the public and include video and sound as much as possible to ensure accuracy.

"Some news might take longer than expected and there will be more communication with media. However, there are places where civilians cannot be, so we will aim to spread information as soon as possible. The aim of the information is for documentation and prevention without intruding on anyone's privacy," Suroor said.

The interior ministry also has its own procedures to deal with false information, as there are continuous studies to combat rumors and the management is always available for communication using various social media. The ministry will have an open-door policy, as the current directions are to cooperate with the media to make procedures run as smoothly as possible. The National Guard stressed that all information is being handled carefully and must have the approval of the head of the Guard before publishing.

KUWAIT: Participants of the workshop.

Recommendations were made by the authorities, including making procedures easier regarding interviews with authorities, the quality of material presented for publishing, making permits easier for journalists, holding more workshops to facilitate the process between civilian and official media, and have a joint meeting with all departments to ensure a unified vision.

The workshop hoped to achieve hosting many more workshops, mutual training in order to exchange experience and produce a unified media outlet between the two sectors. In conclusion, the aim of the workshop was to break the barrier between military and civilian media and ensure more communication and understanding is achieved to ensure national safety and deter the spread of rumors.