المنتدى السعودي للإعلام 2026 من منصة للحديث... إلى غرفة صناعة المستقبل

By the will of God and under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, may God protect him, we present to you the fifth edition of... the Saudi Media Forum 2026. This appearance comes at an exceptional moment in the history of the profession, a moment when media is no longer just a news transmitter... but a maker of opinion... and an influencer in national security... and the economy; it is, in fact, the image of the nation both at home and abroad.

(A Saudi Media Forum)...

It comes after years of significant transformation that the Kingdom has witnessed under Vision 2030, where almost everything has changed... and the question remains:

Has our media changed enough?

From a seasonal event to a national project

The forum started in its early years as a platform that brings together media leaders, experts, and content creators, successfully drawing attention to digital transformation...

new media, content economics, and the Kingdom's rising status in the regional and international influence industry...

With each edition, the forum has evolved from being merely a "conference" to becoming a national project aimed at building a new Saudi media mindset that transcends traditional molds...

and approaches the language of the generation, the speed of platforms, and the challenges of the open world.

Its importance lies in the fact that media is no longer a luxury

and that the significance of the forum today does not come from the number of speakers or the crowded halls... but from its position on the front line of major issues:

• Intellectual security in the age of digital chaos

• The image of the Kingdom in global media

• The fierce competition for the minds of citizens and youth

• The transformation of news into a weapon, and information into a pressure tool

Today, media is no longer a profession...

but a soft sovereign responsibility...

and its true role has shifted

from discussing media...

to media production.

The role required from the forum is not to repeat slogans of development, but to move from describing the crisis to designing solutions, through:

• Connecting universities and media institutions with the real job market.

• Creating successful national models in digital and technical media.

• Turning recommendations into executable programs whose results are measured after a year, not after a session...

And its presence: the important thing is not who attended... but what will each participant bring back?

The forum today is attended by decision-makers, editors-in-chief, influencers, and ambitious youth. However, the real value is not in the collective image:

but in the simple question:

What will each participant bring back to their institution?

And what will actually change after the forum ends?

And did it achieve some of its goals?

Yes, the forum has achieved tangible successes

in:

• Raising awareness of the importance of new media.

• Opening discussions about media economics.

• Attracting international and regional interest.

But the road is still long, because the impact is not measured by the number of sessions, but by the number of policies that have changed, the personnel that have been retrained, and the platforms that have emerged from the womb of the forum.

What is required of it now?

We are in a new year, with a new awareness and challenges more complex than ever. What is required from the Saudi Media Forum 2026 is to be:

1. A laboratory of ideas, not a hall of speeches

2. An incubator for projects, not a public relations exhibition

3. A platform for building, not a beautification podium

We need a forum that creates media:

• That unites rather than divides

• That builds rather than destroys

• That differs without being contentious

• That discusses without excluding

From Ahmed Said... to today's algorithms

You lived – as you said – in the era of loud media, the era of Ahmed Said, when the voice was louder than the truth

and when the radio was the only window

to the world.

Today, everything has changed.

The loudest voice is no longer the victor, but the smartest algorithmically, the most professionally honest, and the closest to the people.

Media is no longer managed from a studio... but from a phone in the hand of a young person, or from a trend that is born in a minute and dies in an hour.

Conclusion

——-

The Saudi Media Forum 2026 stands before a historic opportunity:

It can either be a bridge to a new Saudi media, or remain just a beautiful date on the calendar.

A nation the size of Saudi Arabia, and ambition with Vision 2030, deserves media that:

understands the world... before

it speaks to it.

And builds trust... before it asks for it.

And finally, a salute of appreciation to my brother

The Honorable Minister of Media

Salman Al-Dosari

and to my brother the forum's president, Mohammed bin Fahd Al-Harithi, and his assistants... for their diligent and continuous efforts to make this important media forum a success...