The sports community registered its presence at the Jeddah Book Fair 2022 as part of a panel discussion titled “The Culture of Sports Programs and Its Impact on Youth”, which took place as part of the cultural program accompanying the exhibition held at the Superdome. The moderator was sports journalist Sultan Al-Gashian. Sports presenter Waleed Al-Faraj, Muhammad Al-Mishal and Dr. Sultan Al-Lihyani.
At the beginning of the symposium, Al-Faraj initiated the symposium by thanking the Ministry of Culture, represented by the Department of Literature, Publishing and Translation for the reception and great support of culture and creativity, pointing out that the influence of the visual media is no longer what it was before, after the release of various programs of “social communication” to the media scene, where they have become a strong presence that requires professional and increased attention to them. During his speech, he criticized the sports programs that are broadcast on many sports channels for their inability to influence and introduce something new, explaining this with the words: “Because these are programs that involve people who have no experience and do not add anything new,” adding that this is generalized, except for “two or three programs, or the rest is ineffective,” he said.
Al-Faraj identified the attributes of a successful sports program, saying, “There is a set of elements that must be available for a program to be successful, including a break from traditionalism, speed of communication, blindness, and distancing from bigotry. He added, “The viewer needs a concise information, away from pomp and length. Therefore, I try to develop and provide the best, and our novelty is to focus on different games, and also shed light on different women’s games.
For his part, Al-Mishal said: “Sports programs have a great impact on the awareness and culture of young people, as young people follow them passionately from the age of 15 to 40 years. Improve guest matchmaking and there should be presence and commitment from the Ministry of Sports, the Saudi Arabian Federation and the Saudi Arabian Media Committee to develop the infrastructure that facilitates this. And he added: “Sport is not only football, these are different games. The sports tournament, which finally ended in the Kingdom, was a great success, so all games should be watched without being addicted to football, and sports are not entertainment, but rather human life and health.” Emphasizing that the criterion for successful sports programs is what attracts the viewer, although most programs are owned by commercial organizations looking for material and increasing the number of subscribers.
As for Dr. Al-Lahani believed that the viewer needed trust in sports programming, pointing out that the bigotry of any channel kept audiences from watching it. He said about the impact of sports programs on players: “A player can be influenced by what is shown on satellite channels and social networking sites. In the past, there were only some sports programs and newspapers, but nowadays social networking sites have a great influence on the player, and Criticism can be useful for a player, it can also affect him negatively.”
