LONDON: The second stage of the “professional registration for media professionals” was initiated by the Saudi Media Regulatory Authority on Monday.

All individuals employed in the industry are now required to complete this registration process before the first half of 2024 concludes.

Minister of Information Salman Al-Dosari stated on X that the project’s aim was to preserve rights, regulate and protect the practice of the profession and the anticipated “continuous development, for the sake of a profession that we are betting on and on its practitioners.”

أطلقت الهيئة العامة لتنظيم الإعلام اليوم، المرحلة الثانية من مشروع "التسجيل المهني للإعلاميين" المتخصصين، الذي يهدف إلى المحافظة على حقوقهم، وتنظيم ممارسة المهنة وحمايتها.

+5500 إعلامي وثّقوا بياناتهم المهنية
+50 مهنة إعلامية

تطوير مستمر، من أجل مهنة نراهن عليها وعلى… https://t.co/INBwojdnxD

— سلمان الدوسري (@SalmanAldosary) December 4, 2023

The Saudi Media Regulatory Authority highlighted several advantages that professional registration would offer, including priority access to specialized events, workshops and seminars. It also noted that the registration encompassed more than 50 different professions within the media industry.

To register, the candidate must be working in the sector or related fields, unless they can provide evidence of previous experience in the specific field they are applying for, and must also submit experience certificates from all their previous employers.

Omar Abu Bakr, regulatory affairs adviser at the authority, explained that this step aimed to inform practitioners of the profession and of the latest regulations and legislation.

In a statement to Al-Ekhbariya channel, Abu Bakr urged all media professionals to complete registration by the first half of 2024, emphasizing that practicing in these occupations beyond that timeframe without proper registration would be considered a punishable offense.

More than 5,500 media professionals have benefited from professional registration since the project was launched in 2020, during its first phase.

Similarly, in October 2022, the General Commission for Audiovisual Media introduced a new licensing system to monitor the influencer industry.

The regulatory framework requires that Saudi and non-Saudi content creators in the Kingdom who earn revenue through advertising on social media must apply for a three-year permit for a fee of SR15,000 (roughly $4,000).

GCAM said that the new legislation was required to guarantee greater transparency and better regulation of the industry and its professionals.

DUBAI: CNN producer Ibrahim Dahman lost nine relatives in an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza, CNN reported.

Dahman had escaped to Egypt with his family, but on Sunday heard news that at least nine family members were killed when the building they were living in Beit Lahia took a direct hit by an Israeli strike.

His uncle, and the uncle’s wife, daughter and two grandchildren, as well as his aunt, her husband and two children perished, while at least two other relatives are in critical condition and others are still buried under the rubble.

Dahman’s childhood home in Gaza City was also destroyed in a separate strike on an adjacent building the same day, CNN reported.

“I will never be able to forget every stone and corner of the house in which I was born and raised and in which my children were born,” Dahman said in the CNN report.

“They were extremely peaceful and simple people, and their entire lives were devoted solely to work and raising their sons and daughters. They have no affiliation with any organization or group… Pray to God to have mercy on them all.”

Dahman’s brother had earlier called to tell him that his home in Gaza City, where he was born and grew up, has been reduced to ruins by the Israeli bombardment.

He had just finished renovating the apartment months before the Hamas attack, and told CNN he had fond memories living there, including celebrating his sons’ birthdays with cake and candles surrounded by family.

“Unfortunately, I left all my memories, my belongings, and the gifts that my bosses sent me at work in this house, all of which were lost under the rubble now.”

Israel’s military resumed combat operations against Hamas in Gaza last week after accusing Hamas of violating a seven-day temporary truce by firing toward Israeli territory.

The seven-day pause, which began on Nov. 24 and was extended twice, had allowed for the exchange of dozens of hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and facilitated the entry of humanitarian aid into the shattered coastal strip.

Israel has sworn to annihilate the Palestinian militant group, which rules Gaza, in response to the Oct. 7 rampage when Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages.