TEHRAN The print media play a major role in shaping the public opinion. And although the electronic media today dominate the world, they have not been able to marginalize the print media.

This shows the high status of print media on the scene of information dissemination. Thus, those in charge of print media should avoid resorting to foul means to achieve certain political objectives in order to preserve the dignity and credibility of the print media.

Last week, the two UAE dailies (Persian) ****Gulf News**** and ****Al-Ittihad**** quoted an unnamed Saudi official as saying that he did not rule out a Persian Gulf Arab economic and political boycott of Iran with regard to the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf. There is currently a misunderstanding between the UAE and Iran over the islands, and Tehran has suggested direct talks between the two sides in order to remove this misunderstanding.

In an analysis published by the TEHRAN TIMES on Wednesday, the daily said that the story carried by the Emirati dailies was only the figment of imagination of their writers.

On Friday, Saudi Arabia denied the story carried by the two dailies, calling it totally baseless.

The staffers of the two dailies are advised not to undermine the credibility of their publications through such baseless stories. However, since both dailies are state-run, the writers of the story may have come under pressure from some political circles to fabricate this false report. Thus, those Emirate politicians and political circles should also be reminded that such nasty tricks are no longer effective, since in today's world which has been rightly called the information age', facts are revealed sooner than they can imagine.