It was 1984, and I had just joined the pan-Arab Al-Majala Magazine, as its editor in the Kingdom. My first request to the publishers was to meet with then Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz, not as the Emir of the Riyadh Region, but as the Emir of Media and Culture, as I used to call him.
That was my first meeting with Abu-Fahad, now Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, and he was so kind to the just-graduated journalist, and met me one-on-one, in his Riyadh office. My reason for the meeting, I explained, was to to ask his advise on my dilemma. My teenage years was spent in the local press, and this was my first time to be in such a position, and to enter the international media arena. “As my media guru,” I requested, “What is your advice?”
He smiled his magical smile, and said: “Simply write the facts, and let your audience make their minds about them. For example, we had just built a solar-powered village outside Riyadh, to experiment on renewable energy. So, if you could write a factual report about it, Arab readers will judge for themselves how they like it, and how they view our development strategies. No need to state your opinion or praise the project!”
I took his advise to heart for many years to come. Then, I went to pursue my higher studies in the United States, with his help and recommendation to the Higher Ministry, and came back with a PhD in Journalism and Mass Communication. Al-Watan Daily hired me upon my return in 2000 as its Local Affairs editor.
I requested an audience with him, and he granted me another private meeting. He looked at my thesis and made a few comments, then asked me if I needed anything. I reminded him of his advice in our first meeting and asked if it still applied to my new position.
He gave me that same magical smile, and answered: No! It is different now! Then, you were speaking to foreign audience. Today, you are carrying your message to your own people. Now, you need to explain, analyze and relate facts in the local context. Your mission is not just to carry a message, like a postman, put also to translate it to your people.
Our third meeting was different. This time he asked to see me. Dr. Abdulaziz Khoja, former Information and Media Minister, told me that the Crown Prince called him in the Royal Court, to ask if he knew me, and requested me to see him. Two days later, I was in the HRH office, in Jeddah, discussing my latest oral history books. He amazed me, once again, with his intellectuality, sharp memory, and precise questions and points
. I wished then I knew which of my books to study, so I won't be found guilty of forgetting my own writings. At the end of the meeting, he asked me with concern, how could we get the message across to the youth? Our country, he contended, was not built by his father and entourage alone. Many great men and women, national and guest, from all regions and walks of life, helped in making this country great. We needed to show the young that their own ancestors were among those pioneers, and so they could be. “But, alas, our sons don't read, Khaled. How do you see the solution?”
I was ready with a project. “We haven't forgotten you,” is TV documentary series about the unknown heroes and heroines—Saudi and non-Saudi. I shadow-wrote the autobiographies of many, and had a long list to complete. Using multimedia to present them on TV and Youtube, with discussion on Twitter and Facebook, would take the message to where the young prefer to receive it.
He was sold instantly on the idea, and sent me over to Dr. Khoja with his approval. The project was enthusiastically supported by the minister but went dead in the corridors of of bureaucracy.
My last meeting with my intellectual guru, was last Ramadan. As I came to shake his hand, he took me by both hands, and told the audience about my latest books — the five biographies I promised him to publish. Later, he sent me a note with his appreciation and some comments.
“As a King, do you expect him to still be the intellectual he was? He must be very busy now … things are different!,” asked Nadin Bedeer, of Rotana Khalejeeh TV, after hearing my experience with him. I told her, “Yes I do. Great minds only become greater with age. Intellectuals never ceased to be what they have always been—It is in their DNA. King Salman, the thinker, will always be what he was born to be.”
— Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him at Twitter: @kbatarfi
