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Social Media, Mobile Devices and the Reader will Decide Media Content |
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Social media is the underlying content driver today as newspapers look to re-create content and reach the reader with news and information that is in keeping with the culture and tradition of the UAE, and still inspires change. At the second Emirati Media Forum, held in Emirates Towers in Dubai, Editors-in -Chief of four national daily newspapers in the UAE addressed the unique challenges each of their media entities face in terms of evolving content today. In the first session of the forum, moderated by Aisha Sultan, writer, Aysha Taryam, Editor in Chief, 'Gulf Today'; Dhaen Shaheen, Director General for Publishing, Dubai Media Inc, and Editor-in-Chief, 'Al Bayan'; Mohammed Al Hammadi, Editor-in-Chief, 'Al Ittihad'; and Mohamed Al Otaiba, Editor-in-Chief, 'The National' cited form being as much the key ingredient as the content itself in their "media kitchens" creating today's daily news recipe. As moderator Aisha Sultan opened with media being the main pillars of development of society and enhancing identity and development, she delivered the key question: "What is content today?" Al Bayan's Dhaen Shaheen laid out the background for today's hyper-connected media world today stating: "In the 1970s and 80s local media only made up two-three per cent of coverage. In the 1990s with the internet an information chaos was unleashed. In 2000 there was a further radical change with telecoms now a key tool for content delivery. This series of change saw a transformation of concepts." Al Ittihad's Mohammed Al Hammadi said, "Today we have a new vision - which is a change in form and size. The reader has changed." "In 2011 the average time spent on a phone was 11 minutes a day. Today it is 50 minutes," he said, adding, "Al Ittihad has resorted to giving what the reader wants - a nice headline and a short story." Aysha Taryam said Gulf Today discovered that a new generation of Arab readers want to read Arab stories in English. "The expat audience also wants to read the Emirati view and has an interest in the laws and government. We often conduct polls and public surveys to understand what the reader wants." The National's Mohamed Al Otaiba said that when The National entered the media scene, now seven years ago, the market was highly competitive. "We at the National pay a lot of attention to journalistic quality in report writing," he said. |
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