Arab Media Forum 2009 for Transparency and Flexibility to cope with changing trends

Moderated by Al Arabiya presenter Cyba Audi, the panel comprised Mazen Hayek, Marketing Manager of MBC group; Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Editor in Chief of Gulf News; Azzam Al Dakhil, CEO of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, and Sami Raffoul, General Manger of Pan-Arab Research Centre.

While the speakers unanimously concurred that the Arab media had undoubtedly been impacted by the global crisis, Abdul Hamid Ahmad took the stance that the crisis among the Arab press did not begin with the credit crunch but instead existed for several years before, due to the rise in print and logistics costs that impacted bottom lines.

Azzam Al Dakhil seconded the view saying the Arab media has grown complacent and that "many are like bedridden patients dependent on artificial feeding." To remain competitive, he advocated that media companies investigate mergers to streamline logistics and distribution for lowering cost overheads.

However, the issue of mergers touched on a point on which all panelists agreed that the region was not favorably disposed to mergers because of lack of transparency in the private sector.
Azzam said it was almost impossible to deduce what impact mergers might have as no reliable data was available. Dismissing the theory that mergers could revive the Arab media sector as a convenient excuse, Azzam added the crucial issue was to compete at the level of content.

Mazen Hayek of MBC supported the opinion and added that Middle East markets must begin to invest in their own content and stop importing from abroad. His observation brought back the discussion to transparency, with the panelists agreeing that if there are no reliable statistics to show a return on investment in content, there will never be a motivation for spending on locally-produced programming.

Cyba Audi went on to raise the issue of the media's response to the high ratio of people in the Arab world who are under 25, and how established media should respond. Her comments that sparked a new round of discussion saw Ahmad terming the demographic as 'the Google generation,' and agreed with Azzam on the need for both specialized content and innovative delivery of news such as mobile phone services.

Finally, the panel agreed that without diversification, traditional media such as newspapers would die out as a response to the changes in both economy and demography. From specialized, improved content to new offerings such as education solutions (to cite the example of The Washington Post), Arab media must be flexible to move forward, pointed out the speakers.

The two-day Arab Media Forum is being held at the Atlantis Palm Hotel in Dubai. It has brought together over 1,000 eminent media personalities, including 57 speakers, 11 moderators, and 300 foreign participants from abroad and 600 from the UAE.