Souq Okaz kicks off with diverse cultural activities

On behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal on Tuesday inaugurated the seventh chapter of Souq Okaz.
Many academics and intellectuals are taking part and attending this annual event, reflecting the volume of this cultural phenomenon that has transcended the geographical boundary of the Kingdom to become a hub of intellectuals and literary scholars in the Arab world.
Prince Khaled conveyed King Salman's greetings to the participants and to the brave Saudi soldiers who are stationed on the southern border of the Kingdom. 
Later, the audience witnessed performances depicting daily lives in the Okaz market such as camel convoys, poets on camels and horses, recitation of poems in classic Arabic, popular games, handicrafts being worked by male and female artisans from the Kingdom and other Arab countries, shops for popular foods made by productive families, and folk dances.
President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH) Prince Sultan bin Salman appreciated attention paid by the king to the national heritage projects.
Minister of Culture and Information Adel Al-Toraifi on Wednesday said the Okaz festival reflects a positive image of the Kingdom to the world and expressed gratitude to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Naif and his deputy Prince Mohammad bin Salman for their efforts and the efforts of the brave Saudi soldiers who strive to maintain the security of the nation, enabling the community to enjoy such festivals and cultural activities.
Al-Toraifi said: “Our brave soldiers on the southern front deserve all respect because they protect the nation.” He offered condolences to the families of martyrs. 
He also said media coverage of the war was given priority on Saudi Arabia TV Channel 1, and a special team was sent to coordinate with the ministries of Defense and Interior, as well as a number of other pertinent ministries, to broadcast news from these areas.
He said he was proud of journalists for giving the world news about “our brave soldiers on the southern border” and added that training sessions have been held on war coverage to encourage the younger generation to work in media covering war.
“The Kingdom is undergoing a great transformation thanks to the wise vision of the leadership, despite the fact that there are attempts to distort our cultural projects, such as Souq Okaz,” he said.
About journalists who cross the red line, Al-Toraifi said: “We all have a duty to support journalists and writers when they make a mistake, because we all make mistakes. Anyone who makes mistakes should apologize first, according to rules and regulations, and I can say that some newspapers that made mistakes showed exceptional cooperation and I thank all their employees because they corrected the mistakes immediately after publication.”
The ministry has committees that look into issues that infringe on the nation’s security; these committees were formed under royal decrees and are also tasked with looking into media violations.
“We need to differentiate here between media violations and media crimes. If the writing was a journalistic error, this will be the domain of preliminary committees,” said Al-Toraifi, adding that “during the next 10 days we will have compiled media violations, which will be sent through SMS on mobile phones with the number of document and the date of the session.”
There is also a measurement index at the ministry, without a title, because these could be related to special issues.