Media experts recommend leveraging new technology to stimulate growth

Using the dynamism of innovative technology to enhance quality and accuracy of content, providing real time reporting and reaching wider audiences are the challenges the media has to face, according to experts attending the Arab Media Forum 2007 at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai.

Zaven Kouyoumdjian of Future TV mediated a discussion on 'The Effect of Technology Innovation on Today's Media'. Ali Al Assam, Managing Director, KnowledgeView; Samih Toukan, CEO of Maktoob.com; Ashish Patil, General Manager, MTV Asia, India; Osman Sultan, CEO of du; and Qassem Ali, CEO RAMATTAN, Palestine, participated in the panel discussion.

The two-day forum on 'Developing People, Developing Organisations', organised by the Dubai Press Club, has brought together over 600 regional and international media persons, including editors in chief, journalists, columnists, academics, analysts, commentators and senior government officials.

In his presentation, 'Convergent Newsrooms: Challenges for Publishers in the Internet Age', Al Assam highlighted obstacles faced by traditional news channels like newspapers due to the advent of Internet technology. He cited the loss of revenue of major European newspapers - up to 50 per cent - to Internet giant Google. Citizen journalism, a by-product of the Internet boom, poses a serious dilemma for newspapers, claimed Al Assam, forcing them to 'change the newspaper business to news business.'

Representing one of the largest online Arab communities, Maktoob.com, Toukan underlined the growth potential in the Arab world for Internet penetration. With only 26 million people enjoying access to Internet - 8.5 per cent of Arabs - and 60 per cent in the region under 25 years of age, the Arab world has a significant vacuum that needs to be filled if it is to catch up with global trends.

Toukan added: 'The Internet will become the fourth largest advertising platform in the UK, a far cry from the role of Internet in Arab media. The way forward is for traditional media to adopt the Internet as a tool and opportunity, rather than seeing it as a threat.'

Ashish Patil, General Manager, MTV Asia, India said social settings have gone cyber, and illustrated new ways of social interaction through the fusion of online technology and with traditional mediums such as television.

Osman Sultan, Chief Executive Officer of du, addressed media members on the convergence of technology and its impact on transforming consumers from passive - receiving content - to active, possessing the ability to manipulate and use content at their own will and discretion.

'It is the devices that have changed and altered the way media and communication are understood,' he added.

Sultan also linked the discussion to the greater theme of progress, pointing out how the region uses technology rather than making it - an impediment to development and growth. Sultan presented the current information age as a window of opportunity the Arab world must not miss, as it did with the industrial revolution.

The Arab Media Forum 2007 will conclude with the launch of the Arab Media Outlook, a report analysing trends and forecasts for the industry.