UAE to boost Emiratisation in media

The UAE is planning to launch a major initiative to increase the level of Emiratisation in the media sector from the existing 25 per cent, although experts and senior government officials stressed on the importance of quality over quantity.

"We are undertaking a major initiative to boost Emiratisation in the media sector including holding open days for recruitment by major media organisations with the support of the journalists’ associations where students could interact with the recruiters and understand their requirements," Ibrahim Al Abed, Director-General of the National Media Council, told delegates at the first Emirati Media Forum – that has focused on the challenges and opportunities in the growing media landscape in the UAE.

"As part of the initiatives, we are also planning to send journalism graduates for higher studies abroad who could then enrich the local media industry with international expertise. Additionally, we will launch incentive programmes to attract Emirati talent to the media industry with the help of the government bodies and the media institutions."

He said, he did not think that the media sector is unattractive for the UAE national graduates.

"Talking is easy but doing is difficult," he said of the initiatives. "We need to coordinate with relevant government bodies to undertake these incentives to Emiratis to attract them to the media sector. We need the government departments, policymakers to work together to come up with incentive programmes."

Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, Chairman of Sharjah Media Corporation (SMC), said, "The level of Emiratisation in the media sector is just 25 per cent – which is very low. Although in Sharjah, Emiratisation in the SMC is about 50 per cent and within The Sharjah Media Centre exceeds 70 per cent, we should not favour Emiratis over qualified foreign journalists.

 "We need to develop quality journalists by first offering them professional training and help them develop expertise before pushing for Emiratisation," he said. "We also need the foreign journalists to train the young Emirati media graduates and infuse skills within them so that they could become good and professional journalists."

 He stressed on the education and the professional training aspect in their career development. "The universities should start offering practical training in addition to their academic curricula so that the students could get an idea of the real-life journalism," Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmad Al Qassimi said.

"This should be complemented with the field-level training within the media organisations."

Sami Al Qamzi, Director-General of the Department of Economic Development and Vice-Chairman of Dubai Media Incorporated, said, journalism and media-related work are considered by many Emiratis as low-paying jobs.

"Should we Emiratise only the editorial positions of the media or the whole sector including administrative and technical jobs?" he asked the audience.

"We also need to talk about the quality of Emiratisation rather than the quantity. We should also look at the quality of works by the Emirati media professionals rather than the quantity."

He said, he did not think that the media industry lacked incentives. "I do believe that we have incentives in the local media," Al Qamzi said.

Raed Barqawi, Managing Editor of Al Khaleej Newspaper said, Emiratisation has remained a major challenge for his organization. "Do we want Emiratisation for the sake of it or should we look for quality human resource development programme?" he asked.
 
"There is also an issue of talent retention. Once we train them putting a lot of efforts, they are taken by the government departments with higher pay and the cease to become journalist. This beats the whole purpose of the Emiratisation." Barqawi said.

Emirati Media Forum: Is conventional media dead?

The inaugural Emirati Media Forum on Wednesday saw a debate on whether social or new media has killed off conventional media like newspapers and TV or has just dealt it a glancing blow.

"Newspapers in the print form are close to being obsolete – if they do not utilise electronics news," declared panellist Ali Jaber, Dean of Mohammed bin Rashid Media College at the American University in Dubai.

"In fact, conventional media – both Newspapers and Television – are facing difficulties. Even in TV, we are feeling the impact of new media. Newspapers and Magazines are behind TV in terms of adapting to new media," he stated.

Other panelists and audience members reacted immediately, stating that new media may be a “challenge” but it is not a “threat” to conventional media.

"Social media has liberated conventional media," said Dhaen Shaheen, Director-General for Publishing at Dubai Media Inc. and Editor-in-Chief of Al Bayan Arabic Newspaper.

He said social media has speeded up delivery of news. "It is a new vessel that needs to be utilised to serve conventional media.

The Editorial can be a hybrid providing news through several channels – through Website, Facebook, Twitter as well as Newspaper.

"True, social media is a challenge, but it also opens up wider horizons in communicating with the worldwide community," Shaheen said.

Abdulla Al Nuaimi, New Media Specialist, however, felt that there is no need any more to read conventional newspapers.

Al Nuaimi said new media has provided him with much more than conventional media. New media can address issues immediately and get feedback quickly," he said.

Khaled Al Khaja, Dean of Mass Communication and Humanities College, Ajman University of Science and Technology, said that conventional media institutions are facing challenges from new media, but he was of the view that they will be able to overcome them.

"Conventional media can compete in terms of credibility that social media sometimes lacks.

He said conventional and new media play a complementary role.

Ahmed Al Hashimy, First Vice-President of Communication and Brand at Etisalat, felt new media is not a “threat” to conventional media.

"I am of a generation that grew up with conventional media, but my 15-year-old son never reads newspapers because he is from the digital age.

"Today, we have media channels for different age groups."

Al Hashimy pointed out that the newspapers started to adapt to social media and have started using it as a part of core business. "The challenge will be in the long run."

The concluding session of the Emirati Media Forum on “The Role of Social Media in Reshaping the Emirati Media Scene” was moderated by Nour Aldin Yousuf of Dubai Media Inc.

‘Emirati media utilise less than 30 per cent of the freedom’

Most media outlets do not exercise even 30 per cent of the press freedom provided by the press laws in the UAE, Emirati media professionals told delegates at the first Emirati Media Forum held at the InterContinental Hotel Dubai Festival City on Wednesday.

 The one-day forum, aimed at highlighting the achievements of UAE nationals in media and publishing industry, was opened by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. 

"We only use 30 per cent of the press freedom guaranteed by the UAE’s press laws," said Mustafa Al Zarouni, Editor-in-Chief of Khaleej Times’ City News.

"Some of the media utilize may be up to 50 per cent of the liberty accorded in the law – but none are utilising it the fullest extent."
 
Citing his own example as an editor who trained a number of young Emirati journalists, he said, they hesitate to ask challenging and tough questions.

 "Compared to the media in many countries, I feel we are falling behind. Some of the young journalists do not dare to ask difficult or tough questions to officials," he said. "They hesitate to challenge officials with facts. Sometimes they do not even ask the right questions."
 
Although media studies are a major curriculum in the local universities where hundreds of students are trained every year, the panelists remained skeptical about the quality of the teaching faculties.

"Theoretical knowledge is very important for those who want to be practice journalists," stressed Yasser Al Neyadi, an award winning Emirati film director and television media professional. "However, most educational institutions do not offer complete courses in media that tackles electronic media, online media, social media – even there are no focused curriculum on radio journalism."

 Mustafa Al Zarouni said, "The media faculty is weak, I agree. Some media faculty members – who lack proper training in the field of the media, portray rosy picture to the students who usually come with high expectations when the apply for jobs and get disheartened when they find the practical field a bit tougher."

"The situation has also been complicated by the public relations professionals who expect their press releases to appear next day the way they wanted. I feel they are also to be blamed for the situation."
 
During the panel discussion at the plenary session, a number of young Emirati graduates narrated their journey towards excellence and how they managed to first enter the field, faced and overcome the challenges to make it big.

Sheikha Al Maskari, who played a key role in launching Masdar News as a fun project with some social media friends passionate about news, said, "When we started to network on Twitter collecting and sharing news, we did not know what to expect. It started as more of a fun project. The only common denominator among all of us was news – we were very passionate about news.

 "When we developed a single platform to post news reports and exclusives, a large number of audiences started to view our postings – that we were overwhelmed. It quickly became very popular. Soon, we had 7,000 followers following us and the words started to get out on the net.

 "What really got us going was the passion that we all possessed. We soon started to chase good news stories and develop our own exclusives."
 
An information technology graduate, Sheikha started working in the human resources department of telecom operator du. But she left the job and entered the media scene – driven by passion – something the panelists said is the single most important ingredient lacking in many students.
 "I left my job in HR as I did not find it interesting. But what worked for me is the media as I was very passionate about it. Passion helps you need to be passionate about the profession. Passion helps you to be more creative," she said.

Echoing the same, Atheer bin Shaker, an Emirati media professional who launched a radio on the Internet, said, "I had a job that made me depressed every day. So, I talked to my family and my father told me to do what I like and then I developed an interest in the media. Initially, it was a challenge.

 "Accuracy and credibility is very crucial – when you deal with information. However, most young graduates do not realize that. They enter the media with a lot of enthusiasm – but that dies down when the real test begins."

Mustafa Al Zarouni agrees and says he entered the media because he was interested in the profession. "When I studied media in the university, I found that there are lots of difference in what we were taught in the classroom and what I witnessed in the newspapers and the electronic media. This is due to the fact that most faculty members are educationists and not practical journalists and they do not have hands-on experience."

Since the media deals with serious social and economic issues, the panelists felt that the programme anchors should possess more depth. "The television anchors should be more spontaneous, at the same time they should possess more depth in the subject that they are dealing with," said Yasser Al Niyadi, award-winning film director working with Skynews Arabia. "I feel that most TV anchors are shallow and lacks in-depth knowledge on the subject that they are talking about."



 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.