Minister of Higher Education to sponsor Media and Rumor Conference at the University next Safar.

70 participants expected from within and outside the Kingdom.

King Khalid University is organizing an International Conference on Media and Rumor: Societal Risks and Ways of Confrontation. The Conference which is sponsored by the Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Angari, will be held in Abha, from 3 to 5 of month of Safar 1436 AH, corresponding to 25 to 27 of November 2014 AD.

His Excellency the University President who is also the General Supervisor of the conference, Prof. Abdul Rahman Bin Hamad Al-Daoud has stated that the conference is an evidence of the university's belief in serving the society and and the country as a whole to achieve scientific objective, which is an important subject for the conference.

The President explained that "the university felt that it is its duty to examine this modern communicative phenomenon in terms of scientific and applied research, especially with the widespread use of social networks and appliances, and the growth of the number of users of these tools and techniques that have contributed a lot in spreading rumors in other communities in general and ours in particular".

Al-Dawoud added that the Kingdom, like the rest of the world, suffers from the spread of rumors through personal contact or through social networks without the slightest scrutiny or reviewing of the information that flow on the Internet. Such phenomena needs a conscious societal scrutiny so that the youth in particular can be in a position to confront its risks through scientific ways by attending to gatherings such as this, to benefit from international experiences expected to be shared.

On this issue, the Vice - President for Educational and Academic Affairs - the Head of the Organizing Committee of the conference - Dr. Mohammed Al-Hassoun has confirmed that the conference committees have completed all the necessary arrangements for the convening of the conference on time, and that work was underway on the final touches for a successful the event. He added that the committees had completed procedural arrangements needed by the Conference regarding hospitality, organization, brochures, registration... etc.

Earlier, the Scientific Committee has designed its program of meetings and it is at the final stage of finishing the conference's scientific brochures. Accordingly, the Women's Committee has designed its program for the reception of guests and arrangement of the conference procedures as well as their scientific participation.

The Head of the Department of Information and Communication, who also serves as the Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Conference, Prof. Ali Bin Shuweil Al-Qarni has mentioned that the conference delay was as a the result of the high demand for participation on the issue to be handled in the conference, to the extent that the Scientific Committee has received about 70 intending participant from inside and outside the Kingdom.He added, the Scientific Committee has sorted out these requests, and 48 scientific worksheets and researches were accepted and were distributed among the 12 sessions of the three days conference.

Dr. Al-Qarni concluded that the conference will organize a special session as an open discussion of the role of Saudi Arabia in confronting rumors. Many ministries, Saudi institutions and governmental bodies will be involved in the discussions. The total number of participants in the conference reached more than 70 personalities from inside and outside the Kingdom.