During the first Hispano-Arab Media Forum held in Madrid on May 17 and 18, 2022, the President of HACA called for countering the polarization of public opinion on issues of common geostrategic interest.
“For the improvement of the media representation of the Other in an international context, the primary challenge is to prevent the media from acting as a factor of polarization of public opinion, particularly on issues of common geostrategic interest”said Latifa Akharbach, President of the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HACA), during her participation in the Hispano-Arab Media Forum, organized on May 17 and 18, 2022 in Madrid by the Spanish public audiovisual group RTVE.
During the work of this forum inaugurated by Ahmed Abo El Gheit, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, José Manuel Pérez Tornero, President of RTVE, and Irene Lozano, director of the Arab House, the president of HACA also recalled that “the real challenges of promoting the quality and diversity of the media representation of countries, peoples and societies go beyond the simple challenge of strengthening the soft power and influence of one or other of the parties to public opinion or business circles..
“The real challenge is to succeed in building trust, promoting mutual knowledge and strengthening awareness of the shared general interest to ensure the support of public opinion and the various actors”believes Akharbach.
“This support, dependent on the action of the media, is necessary to guarantee the commitment and support of citizens to the efforts and dynamics of building common spaces, shared prosperity, concerted action, continuous mobilization and participatory evaluation. »she added.
In conclusion, Akharbach recalled the renewed needs in terms of promoting mutual knowledge through the initiation of a new dynamic of exchanges between the media and a truly inclusive dialogue. More than ever, she declared, it is urgent to face together and in solidarity this problem of representation of the Other “especially when this Other is the neighbor opposite, the one with whom you share the memory, the geo-strategic space and the awareness of an interdependence of becomings”.
During this forum, called to become an annual meeting, the participants, coming from several Arab countries and representing the audiovisual media, the regulatory authorities, and the academic circles met the Vice-President of the Spanish Government and Minister of Foreign Affairs Economics and Digital Transformation, Ms. Nadia Calviño Santamaría.
The heads of delegation were also received, on Wednesday May 18, in audience at the Royal Palace of Zarzuela by the Spanish sovereign King Filpe VI.
