2006/181

UNESCO official:

MEDIA SHOULD PROVIDE PEOPLE WITH INFORMATION

TO ENABLE THEM TO MAKE INFORMED CHOICES

TERHAN, 5 September 2006 (UNIC)—United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) Representative in Iran Dr. Abdin Salih said here Tuesday that providing people with information to enable them to make informed choices, is at the heart of a professional mass media.

Addressing the participants of the regional workshop on “Globalization, Conflict and Cultural Heritage: The Role of the Media” he said that over the last half century, natural disasters and conflict have been factors in increased human insecurity. He added that this can lead communities to understand “culture” in narrow and sometimes sectarian ways and precipitate confused or violent responses and can end up destroying the diversity, dynamism and cohesiveness of the very “culture” they are trying to preserve.

“In such scenarios, the mass media has an essential role to play in promoting cultural heritage and identity in an appropriate and sensitive way to reinforce cohesive values while mediating the changes inevitable in an era of globalization,” the UNESCO official said.

Dr. Salih emphasized that the role of the media is therefore much more than simply promoting sites or traditions. It also involves understanding and communicating the dynamic process of creation, assertion and protection of identity through both monumental and intangible culture.

Organized and facilitated by the Cultural Heritage News Agency of Iran, with support from UNESCO, the aim of the two-day training workshop, followed by a half-day cultural tour, with media professionals from selected Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries will be to train media workers and or media policy makers from selected OIC countries, whose heritage have suffered as a direct result of war, natural disaster or unplanned urbanization, to portray the diverse and dynamic nature of their cultures.

***