In the city of Dakhla in the Moroccan Sahara, the works of a high -level international meeting on “integration between quality and education on the media”, which was organized over the 20th and 21st June 2025, concluded at the initiative of the Interim Committee for the Management of the Press and Publishing Sector affairs, and with the participation of a group of media professionals, academics and experts from around the world.
The event witnessed an effective participation from Dr. Sherif Badran, Dean of the College of Communication and Media Technologies at the Gulf University in the Kingdom of Bahrain, who presented a qualitative research paper entitled “The role of media education in promoting awareness and combating false news”, in which he called for the adoption of comprehensive strategies to enhance media education in the Arab world, and integrate its concepts systematically in the curricula from the early stages.
And d. Badran, in his intervention, sheds light on the increasing challenges imposed by the phenomenon of false news on societies, and its direct impact in undermining the public’s confidence in the media, stressing the need to build institutional partnerships between the educational and media sectors to produce interactive awareness content that enhances critical awareness, and establishes information verification skills in light of the increasing dependence on social media as a main source of news.
The study presented by Badran showed remarkable results, most notably that 78% of individuals in the five countries included in the sample depend on communication platforms to obtain news, while 72% of them did not receive any official training to verify the validity of the information, which reflects the urgent need to activate media education programs and practical training in this field.
The meeting concluded with a number of important recommendations, including the launch of a permanent international platform for dialogue between media professionals and professionals, the establishment of academic programs specialized in media education within universities, and the development of organizational legislation for social media content, while stressing the importance of the continuous training of journalists, and their commitment to the highest moral and professional standards.
At the end of the event, the participants expressed their great appreciation to the Kingdom of Morocco for its generous hosting, and raised a telegram of thanks and gratitude to King Mohammed VI, in appreciation of his efforts in supporting civilized dialogue and consolidating the culture of understanding and peace, stressing the importance of continuing this type of initiative to enhance the media status as a pillar of development and societal awareness.
