His Royal Highness, Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Asir Province is inaugurating the International Conference on Media and the Rumor: societal risks and ways of confrontation. The conference which is being organized by King Khalid University will hold in Abha from 3 to 5 Safar, 1436 AH, corresponding to 25 to 27 November 2014 AD.

His Excellency the University President, Prof. Abdulrahman Hamad Aldawood, has reported that the university found it necessary to study that modern communicative phenomenon scientifically and applicably. He added that studying that phenomenon became important especially with the remarkable widespread use of social networks, and tools, and with the growth of the number of users of these tools and techniques that have contributed a lot in spreading rumors in different communities in general and in our society in particular. Aldawood clarified that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, like other countries, suffers from the spread of rumors through personal contact or through social networks without the slightest scrutiny or auditing of the information contained in some Internet contents. Such phenomenon needs to be confronted by showing its risks on the community and on the youth in particular, and by identifying ways of confronting it, depending on scientific methods, in addition to taking advantage of international experiences in this regard.

On this regard, the University Vice - President for Academic and Educational Affairs, who is also the Head of the organizing committee of the conference, Dr. Mohammed Al-Hassoun explained that the conference committees have completed the necessary arrangements for the conference, in terms of organization, hosts, publications, registration and so on. Moreover, the Scientific Committee has completed its program of meetings and is in the final stage of completion of the conference publications. So also the Women's Committee has completed its preparations for the reception of guests and has arranged their procedures and scientific participation in the conference. The Head of Media and Communication Department, who is also the Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Conference, Prof. Ali Shuweil Al-Qarni said that the Scientific Committee has received up to 700 requests to participate in the conference from within and outside the Kingdom. The Scientific Committee sorted the 700 requests, and accepted 48 researches and scientific papers, which are divided into 12 sessions during the three days of the conference. Al-Qarni added that the conference would organize a special open session to discuss the role of Saudi institutions in confronting rumors. A number of ministries, Saudi entities and institutions will take part in the discussion. The number of participants to the conference has reached about 80 from within and outside the Kingdom.