The Arab Cultural House (The Diwan), an affiliate of the State of Qatar’s Embassy in Germany, organized the first German-Arab Media Dialogue Forum in Berlin, on Thursday.
The two-day event, held in collaboration with the Al Jazeera Media Institute, aims to raise awareness on the stereotypical coverage of Western media, specifically in Germany, through qualifying young journalists to be German media outlets correspondents in the Arab region.
In an inaugural speech, HE Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Germany and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Diwan, Abdullah Ibrahim Abdulrahman Sultan Al Hamar said that dialogue is not only a necessary response to violence and exclusion, but is its arch enemy.
While violence in its various forms seeks to sow division among people and to make diversity a source of conflict, dialogue aims for unity, and is capable of transforming diversity into a key driver of progress and growth, His Excellency said.
His Excellency highlighted the great opportunities to boost c
ooperation among all media professionals – journalists, film directors, or producers – to work on joint programs, train and qualify young journalists, launch fellowship programs, incentive awards, or even establish a German-Arab media council that is concerned with providing recommendations and guidance to avoid cultural misunderstandings.
Speaking to Qatar News Agency , Die Welt’s Daniel-Dylan Bohmer hailed the forum as a timely event because lengthy Middle East conflicts would further deepen disagreement between Western journalists and the Arab public on the way of coverage and discussion of events.
The Diwan’s hosting of this event is highly appreciated because it provided an opportunity for a dialogue on disagreement points in a bid to find common ground, Bohmer said, voicing hopes the forum would contribute to a further honest bilateral discussion.
The dialogue makes us see some issues from the same perspective as the other side, he added.
Meanwhile, Karim Ghaleb from Junge Welt commended the forum a
s a great initiative, hoping a wider participation from German journalists, whom he held responsible for making further efforts to get clearer information about the Arab region, away from stereotypes.
The first day of the forum featured discussion panels gathering German and Arab journalists based in Germany. Among the participants were Der Spiegel’s Susanne Koelbl, Die Welt’s Daniel-Dylan Bohmer, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’s Rainer Hermann, along with journalists Tilo Jung, Louay Al Madhoun, Nasser Jabara, Ahmed Obeida, and Yaman Shawaf.
The two discussion panels were moderated by journalist Sami Zidane.
On the second and final day, there will be several workshops on critical issues. Tilo Jung will moderate a workshop on crowdfunded journalism, while the Al Jazeera Media Institute experts will moderate others on artificial intelligence impact on the news accuracy, mobile journalism, and data journalism.
Source: Qatar News Agency