The conference on Arab media in the information age concluded [in Abu Dhabi] yesterday with a clear message that the media should be given full freedom to carry out its duty in a balanced way.

The three-day conference, organised by the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), focused on issues like how media is influenced by governments as well as by regional cultural considerations and the roles that these considerations could play both as a bridge and a barrier to cross-cultural understanding.

Media experts from around the world addressed access of information and control of media by political and commercial interests. They investigated whether the media can remain impartial in situations of war and crisis.

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