Doha, November 03 (QNA) - Following is the text of the Speech of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, President of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA) to the concluding session of "Satellite Channels and Ethical and Moral Challenges Facing Gulf Youth Forum - Toward Facing Gulf Youth Forum" held here today:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, At the concluding session of this forum, I would like to commend the efforts of all the participants, who thanks to their deep faith in its mission and objectives have been able over the two days to create an environment for constructive, independent and conscientious discussion. The almighty Allah has endowed our region with strategic and financial benefits and more importantly a wealth of human resources. This is our real asset and it is up to us to nurture and preserve it to the best of our abilities in order achieve the legitimate goals of sustainable human development. While our Arab states are proceeding with ambitious plans to modernize education and scientific research, it is no longer acceptable to leave some satellite channels demolish what others build. In order to protect our youth and future generations against such improper content broadcast by such programs and channels, I personally believe that it is first an obligation and a challenge for all members of the society before it can be considered a challenge for those working in the media. Ladies and gentlemen, An ambitious reform project aimed at building an educated generation should be based on two pillars: ?the family institution - and the "the educational institution". However, family and education alone, and in light of the technological and information revolution in which we live, can not succeed without the assistance of the media. If we are working to encourage the media to participate in education and development and to support the complementary role of the family and educational institutions, I believe we can not allow destructive satellite channels undermine the established moral, ethical and social pillars of our societies or hamper their scientific and educational legitimate ambitions. How can educational institutions nurture scientific awareness and prevent such channels from alienating the youth and isolating them from their origins and societies'  Although our Arab societies have realized the importance of education and of the media and have invested in building the minds of tomorrow, they unfortunately set different objectives for each of these institutions, resulting in one undermining the other and consequently weakening the two main institutions: the family and education. This leaves the media to forces of the market place without any consideration to moral mission and values.

Ladies and Gentlemen, a conscientious media is one which provides good examples and models to be followed, and not one which allows improper images infiltrate the minds of our youth and broadcast offensive values. These programs and channels should not be allowed to spread the offensive programs and imported values which contradict our ethics. Learning and copying from others is not wrong if it is to follow or set a good example, nor does importing new experiences contradict the wisdom urged by our religion as long as it provides sound examples, which do not harm the building of our personality and culture. Ladies and Gentlemen, Our region needs to accelerate the eradication of illiteracy. Media illiteracy however is just as harmful. It is precisely because of this information illiteracy that the viewer is no longer able to distinguish between what to watch and what to avoid. This is a two way illiteracy: illiteracy as to the source of the information and an illiteracy of the receiver towards this information. At this forum I take the opportunity to call for concerted Arab efforts to media literacy through schools and training workshops, Especially since mainly -as all of you know- media and information is no longer simply limited to official TVs and satellite channels but extends to the emerging electronic and online outlets which are expanding with amazing speed and which are rapidly widening the gap between generations. I look forward to seeing all your recommendations implemented as I am also sure many hands in our Arab societies will reach out to you and support you because of the seriousness of the issue, of which we are all aware. The media is directly responsible like the family, the school and the mosque in building and promoting our values. An

Arab poet once said: Nations are morals; If lost the nations disappear Finally, all our success depends on our abilities to mobilize our forces and resources to the success of the campaign: "Towards a Conscientious media environment", whose start I am pleased to launch here today in Qatar, hoping to move to the Gulf States and the Arab world at large. This is of course to reiterate that the initiative of this forum is not to limit or confiscate the right of free media. Rather, it seeks to provide alternatives to rationalize it by offering quality content that would benefit our young generation in the present and the future. Thank you for all your efforts and all what you have offered to this forum and I wish you all the success. (QNA)