A Sense of Accomplishment ---a personal reflection/opinion piece

By: Alia Humaid

With voluntary work comes a sense of accomplishment, and through voluntary work social barriers are broken. This year, I got the chance to volunteer for the Arab Media Forum which is annually organized by Dubai Press Club. And what a great experience it was! All volunteers were appraised as young professionals who  showed high level of enthusiasm, responsibility and accountability towards their job, before and during the forum.

As a volunteer, I could sense a dominating  ambiance of teamwork and unity. Volunteers have shown eagerness to perform and work on multiple tasks to assist one another. Volunteers assigned for the venue were assisting guests during registration, and volunteers at the information desk were arranging transportations and flight tickets for the speakers. This indicates their full devotion towards representing the forum according to professional standards.

The organizers of the event were keen to provide voluntary groups with all essential requirements and information. This was to help volunteers complete their tasks to meets expectations of  both the forum’s guests and organizers.

The reason I enjoyed volunteering for the Arab Media Forum is mainly because of the attention and consideration given to individuals working at the forum. It was clear that the organizers showed a lot of appreciation for the effort that has been put by the volunteering students.

 Volunteers were offered accommodations (Grand Hyatt) and free coupons for lunch and dinner. Also, there were welcomed to attend sessions ,which in my opinion is a great thing that allows volunteers to catch-up with the activities of the event. By the end of the forum, the organizers would meet-up with volunteers for a feed-back session about their performance throughout the day.

Simply put, all volunteers enjoyed their time working at the forum as they all agreed on coming back next year. You may want to keep an eye on the next round of the Arab Media Forum.

Internet Privacy Is Only “An Illusion”

By : Alia Humaid and Futaim Al Falasi

Social Media researcher Mazen Nahawi warned Zayed University students that anything they put on the internet can be read or listened to, even if it is password protected, because of new advanced software.

He said, “Privacy is an illusion that we all have. None of us have genuine privacy.”
Nahawi, president and founder of News Group company that owns Social Eyez, discussed the growing impact of social media in the Arab region with Communication and Media Studies students yesterday (May 9).

He said social media conversations are being recorded by the minute, thanks to a new application called Natural Language Processing (NLP). He said his company only monitors non-password conversations, but that others are not as ethical.

According to Mr. Nahawi, NLP is a multi-step technology process that analyze words and allows us to find where these words are being mentioned, whether on television, radio or social media. It helps you monitor media content effectively.

“NLP. Make sure you read about it, make sure you go on-line and study it. It will become a very important part of all media and technology moving into future.”

“Everyone is recording everything out there” he added.

Arab Media Forum: A New Window for Arab Youth

By: Alia Humaid

The highlight of the Arab Media Forum (AMF), recently held at Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai, was one session that was solely carried out by Arab youth. The AMF agenda came to discuss current revolution in the Arab world triggered by changes in the platform of the Arab media. Dubai Press Club was keen to dedicate sessions for young Arabs to express their opinion and ideas regarding new media, and its influence in addressing public social concerns.

The “Arab youth create their own media platform” workshop took place on the second day of the Forum, where all four speakers were communication students, coming from leading universities in the Emirates.

The speakers argued on the importance of new media and social networks in revitalizing news and personal opinions. One student, Amina Rehimi form Dubai Women’s College, said social networks such as Facebook and Twitter will eventually help change the agendas of some traditional Arab media agencies who seem to have lost their credibility due to their political stance.

On the other hand, another aspect underlined at the workshop was the accuracy of information published on social networks. All speakers agreed that new media cannot be relied upon as the main source of news and information.

This workshop gave young people the opportunity to reflect on the latest happenings in the Arab world in respect to the current role of Arab media in addressing such issues.

 

The Challenges of Traditional Media Driven by Youth

By: Alia Humaid

Communication students speaking at the AMF session

The Arab Media Forum, which was concluded recently in Dubai, focused on the challenges facing traditional media due to the generational shifts towards social networks.

This was the first time in the forum’s 10 year history that it has had youth speaking on the stage.

One workshop, “Arab youth create their own media platform”, came to question the ability of traditional media in the Arab world. New media users believe that the current shift to new media came as a result of traditional Arab media failure to satisfy and fulfill the needs of young people.

The speakers approved on the fact that new media sealed the gap created by the absence of genuine media, in the Arab world.

Abdulla Qassim, a student from the college of communication in University of Sharjah and a speaker at AMF said that youth have been excluded and disqualified from the Arab Media.

According to him, new media has an advantage in getting the voices of young people across, in a very short period of time, yet traditional media can still be used to do so

News networks have to respect the audiences' minds.

By Mariam Yousef 

Octavia Nasser during the session 

     Octavia Nasser, the founder of Bridge Media Counseling company in the USA, said that the news networks should respect the audiences' minds by giving them trustful news. She added that journalists should put in their mind that the watchers are clever enough to know if the particular videos or pictures are from the right places or not. Therefore, they should make sure about the credibility of the news sources they deal with.


       Nasser pointed that journalists have to be sure about the news’ sources before publishing the news especially if they contain pictures or videos. She suggested the news networks should hire professional teams to be responsible of insuring the credibility of the videos and the pictures that came from the news’ sources.

      That was Nasser’s answer during the Arab Media Forum 2011 when the moderator of the session  Talib Kanaan asked her about the news networks' credibility.    

The New media and the traditional media work in harmony.

By Mariam Yousef 

Octavia Nasser and Nabil Al Katib during the session. 

     Octavia Nasser, the founder of Bridge Media Counseling Company in the USA, insured that the new media and the traditional media in the Arab countries are working in harmony these days after the revolutions of some of these countries. She added “before the revolutions the traditional media didn't notice the power of the social media networks that is created by young Arabs who try to send the voice of justice by these networks".

     Nasser believes that we can't isolate the new media from the traditional one because people need both of them to build a new vision of media for the Arab countries’ future.

    Nabil Al Katib, An Executive Editor in Al Arabiya news channel, said after Nasser's point of view that TV news channels are having higher percentages of watching than the social networks. However, “the social media has more emotional impact on the audience because it comes by the people who live the events" he added.

    The session was one of the Arab Media Forum’s sessions that held in Dubai Grand Hayat Hotel before one week. The hall was full of journalists from different international countries with number of universities' students who came due to their interests in the recent media issues of the Arab world.   

Values of communication in the workplace

By Futaim Bakhit Al Falasi

In Social media most of the users have no real names, yet they really deliver a good message to the readers, said Noura Al Kaabi, one of the most powerful 100 women according to Arabian Busssnies, in the event of celebrating 100 years of women leadership in Abu Dhabi.

Al Kaabi the head of Tawasol and Human Development said," To success you have to value the importance of listening to everyone and the importance to add the human aspect to your work by being friendly and always smile".

Al Kaabi added that communication matters a lot and you have to ensure ongoing communication from top to bottom, and the powerful key is to make office visits to share ideas and ask for advice.

Amal Wael a student from Zayed University asked Noura if the family name plays a role for women in media, and Noura answered that she doesn’t really believe that a family name could play a role, what she believes in that an individual can prove herself. "It's always about the message," she said. 

Crossing the redline in TV pollutes homes

By Futaim Bakhit Al Falasi

A hot topic in the 10^th Arab Media Forum about blurring the red line was discussed, which means crossing the line of what appropriate or not to show in TV. George Kordahi a journalist and a very famous TV presenter said that programs were bought from the west had a very powerful audience like, star academy and Arabs got talent, some of them have a bad influence in public, and have incivility.

The Arab Media Forum is an annual forum for journalists and media professionals to debate and discuss upon issues that matters in our daily life.

In the beginning of the talk George said that there are Entertainment programs that touch our life, traditions and our believes and cross the red line. It attracts more viewers based on the say everything forbidden, is more in request.

"I refused to present the program – The moment of Truth, after I read it contents and I didn’t like it because this program enters in people's privacy in a negative way. The speaker Abdullah Boftain Al Rai Tv presenter asked him, do you think this program crosses the redline, and he answered, no, but it would touch the line because it's about people's life privacy.

George pointed in a very important thing that TV stations that buy pointless programs from the west, they defend themselves that now it's time that the Arab world should enter modernity and urbanization, and dare to say that what people's see in the internet through YouTube and other sites are much stronger than what we present.

Is “wikileaks” a crime or not?

By Sara Abdulla

“The US said first that wiki leaks are a dangerous crime, for who might impact and the affected communities”. But it showed later that there is a positive side and its stronger by releasing Undisclosed sources of information, opened people’s eyes to what is real about the past cases and giving  a different view or hidden side of these cases said by Hasni Abidi, director of center for studies and research on the Arab and Mediterranean world (CERMAM)Switzerland.

“An end to the era of secrecy” was one of the sessions in the Arab Media Forum, celebrating the 10^th anniversary. it was moderated by Shafeeq Ghabra, professor of political science, Evan Kraus, executive vice president and managing director in APCO, Abidi, Omar Nashabe, columnist and editor of justice section in Akhbar newspaper, Sylvie Kauffmann, editor in chief in Le Monde, France and Wayne Madsen, investigative journalist in USA. They said that wiki leaks was a media shock and gave full disclosure of information publicly.

Also they said not only affected Europe but also did the same happen here in the Arab world. And they mentioned that wiki leaks are essential source of information and it’s important for college students but not the only source of info. Also said that this confidential information is real and they check it and check it again and do interviews to check if it’s accurate. Only 3000 pieces published of this confidential information so far, and there are more than 250 000 still not published yet.

Strength your sense of personal responsibility

By Sara Abdulla

When Mazen Nahawi, the owner of Twitter account SocialEyez, did his research on trending topics about Egypt’s protests, he found when Egyptians wanted freedom. However, what the Egyptians really wanted is more government. But from Nahawi point of view was how can combine freedom with government that what he said to Zayed University students on his first visit to Dubai campus.

Nahawi said the government can’t employ everyone so with sense of personal responsibility people should empower themselves, be capable of informing their selves and compete with other people. Because liberty is to find own self of sense of personal responsibility and never relay on the government to solve personal problems.

He also said, “from your education point of view is to have the moral and ethical stands to build you a life which is defined with sense of personal responsibility”; “your happiness will rise when you start depending less on the government.”

Mazen Nahawi sharing his findings

By Sara Abdulla

Mazen Nahawi, the owner of Twitter account SocialEyez, visited recently Zayed University and shared his experience in research methods and analyzing social media in the Middle East, and his recent finding the trends about Egypt protests. One of his interesting finding is, in March, 85 million Arab are in facebook  more than published newspaper in all around the Arab world.

This is Sara reporting about the event.

Mazen Nahawi was very delighted about meeting the CCMS students and research analyzing class, over 100 girls came to attended this meeting, he was very pleased and he wanted a conversation and sharing ideas with the girls rather than just a lecture. He basically talked about how powerful the social media is and how social media allowed us to have new consciences. Also that Arabic language is the fastest growing language in facebook. This is Sara Abdulla, reporting for Zayed radio.

He also shared his knowledge where in the past people were badly informed or not at all and sometimes had no access to the right information and mentioning the past to compare it with what social media did and its power to get that point without newspapers or other old type of media to misinform people of what happening around them. 

Sultan Al Qassemi trusted by many

By Sara Abdulla

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, the fantastic government policy expert and twitter communicator, came on ZU Dubai campus and talked about many subjects like his articles and his story with twitter, saying he wasn’t expecting to be followed by over 68,000 people. he also talked about the Egypt event and because he know much about the country that was the reason why people trusted him .

This is Sara reporting about the event.

Sultan Al Qassemi was very passionate about meeting the CCMS students, over 80 girls who came to attended this meeting, were very pleased with his lecture. he basically talked about how powerful the media is and how he wanted to be the voice of the Gulf as he encouraged the girls to be too. This is Sara Abdulla, reporting for Zayed radio.

Sultan Al Qassemi also mentioned he is going to study investigating journalism.

Be passionate to success

By Sara Abdulla

Susan Macaulay, the founder of Amazing Women Rock moderated panel about Opportunities for Professional Advancement in the Middle East. The event was host by Mubadalah in Abu Dhabi  hosted an event celebrating 100 years of women`s leadership. It was about opportunities are limitless for women in the region, and women need to believe in themselves. Because opportunities are out there, women need to take the steps of finding their passion, the benefit they will get from it and marketing themselves to get what they want.

Susan lived and worked in Dubai for more than 18 years. She said in the interview that to get what you want is by take small steps, starting by focusing how it important to you, get people to understand why you want it and understand other people’s view too. One of her great quote is “Every woman is amazing, and has the capacity for greatness”.

Why media don’t cross red lines?

By: Mana

Dr.Nabil Al Khatib

l Abdullah

Taleb Kanaan the senior presenter and anchor at Al Arabiya channel asked for the panel’s opinion about some media people who says:” I prefer not to affect the politics, I am traditional”. That was specifically at the panel of Alarabiya channel under the title “Media in a shifting Arab world”, at the Arab Media Forum,2011.

Dr. Nabil Al Khatib who has been the Executive Editor of Al-Arabiya News Channel for the last seven years answered saying that he don’t think that the media should cross the red lines which are the society’s taboos and what media can’t talk about like religion, government and culture in some societies. He continued saying that media should not start talking about everything happening without limits and considerations of anything. Because, at the end of each month, there are people who are waiting for their salaries.  

His honest declaration made the crowd clap their hands for him. He added that, the owner of the media organization can risk his organization in different levels. However, the owner have his own benefits at the end that he would be thinking about. Therefore, there should be a balance between risking and sticking to the limits.

Traditional media and new media are partners!

 By: Manal Abdullah  



Alarabiya panel , AMF2011



 The moderator Taleb Kanaan started saying that the Arab world’s revolution didn’t need newspapers, TVs’ or magazines to start. A small invitation in one of the social networking websites was enough to start a revolution. This fact made the traditional media struggle to dominate. That was at a debate on how the new media affected Arab world between important media people at Alarabiya panel in the Arab Media Forum ,2011 under the title “Media in a shifting Arab world”.

 Oktavia Nasr the founder of Bridges Media Consulting and Editor of OctaviaNasr.com, disagreed saying that the partnership between new media and traditional media is obvious and undeniable. She added that new media have to work with traditional media  in order to deliver credible news to the audience. news spreads through new media is not always correct and not reliable as the traditional media’s news is ,and it needs a huge effort to make sure whether the news is correct or not in order to publish it.

Oktavia Nasr continued saying that the journalist have to know the politics, culture and the geography of the country before taking news from people and publish it. Publishing a credible news and mentioning the source shows respect to the receiver. Therefore, new media and traditional media are in need of each other and should work together.

Audio of Octavia explaining the relationship between traditional and new media octavia-audio

Red lines are moral values

George Kordahi

By Hanan Mohammed

Some of the entertainment channels in the Middle East have crossed the red lines, by offering content that directly conflicts with traditional community values and customs.

George Kordahi, Anchor in MBC Group said, there is a competition between the stations and channels because of the entertainment programs. He said, 70% are entertainment programs like celebrity news,music and health in the channels.

Al Kordahi added, entertainment programs are  like infections, and most of TV channels copy these programs from the West like Moment of truth, Star Academy and Arab Got Talent.

 He said, these channels continue to challenge the moral values, social norms and religious beliefs of Arab societies. He added, the channels, the official authorities and the audience  has the responsibility about entertainment programs. For example, the channels should choose the best for their audience and be aware about their values and beliefs. The official authorities, there must be laws to reduce these programs. Also, he said the audience play the key role to choose the best for them and their children, and they should respect themselves and don’t be affected by these programs .

 

Media Revolution in the Arab World

 

Nabil Al Katibe

By Hanan Mohammed




Traditional media such as television and newspapers still exist and play the key role in the Arab World, although social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are used more.

Nabil Al Katibe, executive editor in Al Arabiya News Channel said, today we have "Facebook Revolution " and social networking sites have contributed to political change and the arrival of events moment by moment through the pictures and videos. But television has a major role in the transfer although  there are differences in events and coverage.

 He added, people watch traditional media for 5 to 6 hours each day in the Arab countries. Also, “ In the traditional media researchers can’t see the numbers but in social networking sites, they can see the numbers of users and viewers”. In addition, one of the advantages of the new media is self-expression,  but traditional media in the same time prevented in some areas because of political systems so people turn to social networking sites.  

However, he saw in the media there is no credibility sometime, there are many images and videos that are published because they represent a specific event, but after the event, people know that it  is represents other events. For example, some channels took  pictures of the sites they represent Syria, but later found it from Lebanon.  He said,  must be measures to confirm the news such as the use and alternative ways to get the news and check the authenticity of correspondents, such as communication persons of the same area to make sure the information is correct.