Mass media's responsible role hailed

Manama, Sept. 21 (BNA): Information Minister Isa Abdulrahman Al-Hammadi said Bahrain respects greatly freedom of expression and the key and effective role played by mass media in raising social awareness and providing the public with accurate information. He added upgrading regulations organising this sector aims first and foremost at laying a sound basis for mass media to exercise their role effectively and legally. Speaking at the post-Cabinet press briefing, he stressed that freedom of expression is guaranteed in Bahrain and those regulations will not encroach on it but they rather aim at boosting efficiency of mass media as the law will define clearly any irregularities and procedures taken in this respect. He noted that the criteria will be complementary to the Press and Publication Law until the new law is issued. He added that further details will be disclosed as soon as the regulations are approved by the Cabinet. The Information Minister said the regulations pertain to media institutions licensed by the government, pointing out that concerning the use of the social networking websites, there are other laws in Bahrain regulating them. As for axing meat subsidy, he clarified that, as it was explained before, the pre-implementation phase of the decision consists in registering the families wishing to benefit from the cash payouts. He added that the Social Development Ministry had announced the start of registration through available means like websites, some mobile phone applications and eight social centres across Bahrain. Figures disclosed recently, he said, show that 132,000 families have already registered. The minister pointed out that the decision to lift subsidy on meat will go into effect in October, adding that coordination between the government and the parliamentary committee is still on to study proposals related to the implementation mechanisms. Regarding the formation of a smaller Cabinet and if reducing the number of ministries and government bodies would have any repercussions on the quality of services, the Information Minister asserted that providing people in Bahrain with optimum services within available resources has always been and will remain top priority for the government led by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. He also pointed out that forming a smaller Cabinet was not on today's agenda of the ministerial council. The minister underscored the need to get information from credible sources, adding that no deadline has been fixed yet for the formation of the smaller Cabinet.