DR. Al-Sada Stresses Importance of Credibility in PR

Doha, May 15 (QNA) - HE the Minister of Economy and Finance Dr. Mohamed bin Salih Al-Sada has underlined the importance of establishing credibility and professionalism as a key approach for public relations (PR), highlighting its role in tackling emergencies and reducing the damage that might inflict the corporates' reputation. This came in his speech at the opening of the 3rd Public Relations Regional Conference being hosted by Doha during the period 15-16 May, with the participation of over 300 participants from in and outside Qatar. He explained that a small piece of information might make a huge difference, pointing to the incident of hacking the twitter account of a major news agency and publishing false information which led to immediate and sharp fall in the exchange markets. He said that the incident has reflected the important of public relations, and the effect of credibility on people and their reactions. Social networking tools play a huge role in the transfer of information, and creating a state of interaction with all kinds of developments and even with the opinions and viewpoints, HE Dr. Al-Sada said pointing to the great role they played in the Arab Spring revolutions and to how they became an essential alternative to the traditional means of information transfer. The PR mission will never be accomplished for it is an ongoing process as long as the message is present and persistent, he said adding that the biggest challenges are how to cope with these variables and elevate the profession to new levels commensurate with this new reality, and to develop new and advanced PR strategies. He stressed that the digital revolution is more of an opportunity that must be seized than a threat to be faced, especially in light of the increasing reliance on the internet as a means of communication and obtaining information. In this context, HE Dr. Al Sada noted that that 2.5 billion people around the world are linked to the internet, among those 125 million Internet users in the Arab world, and 53 million active users of social networks, noting that 46 per cent of Arab youth are using Facebook and 28percent of these young people obtain news and information from social networking sites. (QNA)