RIYADH — Waleed Al-Ibrahim, chairman of the Board of Directors of the MBC Group and Al Arabiya Network, announced that the MBC Group is working on a giant project that aims to document the history of Saudi Arabia, starting from the first Saudi state until the present day. "This global project, which will be in segments, will be implemented spanning over a period of 12 years," he said while attending a session titled "Media between the Past and the Present" at the 3rd Saudi Media Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday. Al-Ibrahim said that the most important thing is that all those working on this project will be young Saudi men and women because they know well how to show the best in this country's history. "Today we have an initiative for television and film production with the Qiddiya project to create studios for external production with NEOM. Film shoot was done with them more than once, as well as in AlUla, and also in Asir to exploit some areas there for the outdoor photography that we needed," he said while emphasizing that the projects will encompass all regions of Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, addressing the forum, Minister of Media Salman Al-Dosary said that the launch of the Saudipedia project will be a reliable digital source in six languages, starting with Arabic, and aims to reach 58,000 articles and visual materials by the end of 2025. He said that the ministry launched the Media Oasis project, in conjunction with the Kingdom's hosting and participation in major summits and events. More than 2,600 media professionals, who represent over 455 local and international media outlets from 60 countries, have benefited from it, and during which they learned about 30 national projects. This is in addition to completing the Mediazone initiative to provide a joint media work environment, he pointed out. Al-Dosary said the ministry launched, a few days ago, the Hajj and Umrah Mediathon project for media innovation, which enhances creative and innovative media coverage. The Mediathon is dedicated to fostering innovative solutions to address media challenges within the realm of Hajj and Umrah. The minister also announced the launch of the Hajj Media Hub initiative to provide an integrated media community and environment during the Hajj season, and the establishment of an interactive media exhibition highlighting the services provided to benefit people, including more than 2,000 media professionals and international visitors.
