For his part, Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Dr. Mohammad Momani expressed his compliments to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its leadership role in the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, as well as for its great efforts and service in fighting extremist terrorist ideology. He also said that Hosting this meeting is not only exceptional because we, as Muslims, are a community of peace, justice, moderation, and tolerance; but also because we are at the forefront of fighting those who would spread fear and intimidation, and kill in the name of our Islamic religion. The nowadays wars are fought through media and communication channels. As a result, the Communications Domain has become a domain of confrontation, little different from the traditional military and security domains. "Over the past months, the spineless terrorist gangs have suffered major defeats and setbacks. However, the war is not yet over, especially in the Media and Communication Domains. We will continue to fight, in order to strengthen our societies against the threats of obscurantist ideology, and we will leverage our media to be an effective tool enabling our societies to fight extremism and terrorism. The war on terror and the confrontation of extremist terrorist ideology in all its aspects is a continuous process and an essential battle. The comprehensive strategy, which was devised by your brothers in Jordan to combat obscurantist ideology, and translated the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein. This strategy was, focused to a large extent on the Communications and Ideology domains, requiring time and effort to raise awareness about obscurantist ideology as well as promote the true path of Islam, all in an innovative and sustainable manner," he said. As Arab and Islamic countries, we need to intensify coordination and cooperation amongst one another, and share expertise and experiences, and build on the achieved successes to set up effective mechanisms that contribute to combating terrorism on the ideological and intellectual levels, as well as counter the allegations, myths, and misconceptions that conflict with religious and human values. Professional, enlightened, and balanced media must have the upper hand and the utmost impact. It must surpass all the means used by the enemies of humanity and their media to undermine our identity and our history, he added. Perhaps one of the most important roles that various media outlets in the Arab and Islamic countries should assume is to refute the false allegations and the major fabrications that terrorist groups use to justify their global crimes . In addition to refuting these allegations, the role of the media should be to proactively broadcast and produce truthful content that cherishes the true values of Islam, with all its lofty human dimensions. The Media should sow these seeds in the minds of young people and future generations, to make them protective shields for their societies against plans aimed at destroying the Nation and eradicating its history, he said. The responsibility for refuting the false allegations and spreading positive content falls on all of us, especially given global connectivity, the great technological development of modern media and the explosion of social networking. The latter is exploited by terrorist groups to spread their poisonous ideas, recruit supporters to their extremist tendencies, and wrongly attribute these ideas and tendencies to our Islamic religion, he said. We should acknowledge that we were taken by surprise by the scale of the sophisticated use of the media and social networking by the terrorist organizations. This has challenged us to respond swiftly by harnessing advanced expertise in search of effective and convincing mechanisms to reach all segments of society and protect them from the extreme content produced by extremist, terrorist gangs, he added. "Our Jordanian experience in dealing with the media and the various communication channels, which represent one of the most important fronts in fighting terrorism, is based on a three level approach. First, the political and professional level, which defines the frameworks, policies and interactions to be used in dealing with all forms of media in an open and professional way. This framework aims to promote the professional media that are seeking the truth rather than distorting it. Second, the legal level, which is applied through legislation and regulation, protects societies and establishes clear legal controls on abuse of media. Finally, there is the security level, which relates to all aspects of media that infringe on the national security of a country, such as diffusing hate speech, promoting extremist ideas and recruiting terrorists. The interaction at all three levels has proven to be an efficient way to transform the media so that instead of being a vulnerable weakness, media becomes an agent of prevention and immunization of societies against extremism," he added. The challenge awaiting us today is historic and unprecedented. We need today, more than ever, to utilize non-traditional means that can contribute towards defeating extremist ideas. The media and Social Networks should stop being a weak point that can be exploited by those who want to undermine our societies, spreading division, strife and fanaticism, as well as foment chaos to make our security and stability more fragile. Hence the importance of creating a conscious and educated younger generation that believes and trusts in its future, and doesn't bend towards negative or dark ideas. This means a brighter future, a more proficient society and a more cohesive community. All hope rests with God to enable all of us to achieve our goals and aspirations, which will serve the Arab and Islamic nations, he concluded. --More 18:48 LOCAL TIME 15:48 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w546862