Today's Edition
KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (ABU DHABI)
Industry leaders and experts at the Global Media Congress on Wednesday made an impassioned appeal to their colleagues to work with algorithms and find solutions to the pressing challenges in digital media, without losing the quality that made their work worthwhile in the first place.
The rise of social media, declining attention spans and completely transformed business models that are often heavily reliant on virality have in recent years seen media companies and Journalists prioritise what feeds the algorithm, rather than what makes news.
However, in a panel discussion at the GMC at the ADNEC Centre, there was a resounding call to prioritise human creativity and ethical practices over blind reliance on algorithms.
"We must be sure to update, to inform, put things in perspective, inspire and put things together for our readers," said Nakhle Elhage General Manager of Blinx, a Dubai-based digital media company.
"For us, if something does not fulfil the first three, it is not a story."
Elhage acknowledged the need for innovative storytelling techniques to engage younger audiences, something that Blinx has attempted to do with their unconventional style but urged his colleagues to not forget the principals of the profession in the process.
"There is always space for media, I don't think any medium for media ever died, we saw how radio declined, but it has just come back as the podcast." he said
His comments were echoed by Richard Fitzgerald, the CEO and Founder of Augustus Media which publishes titles like Lovin Dubai, who said he still believed that longer form, more in-depth content still had a place.
"We have this situation where we are being pushed to almost being a slave to the algorithm," he told the congress on Wednesday.
"It shouldn't be our only input… obviously the mobile is the main reason we have shorter content, but I know when I read a long New Yorker article, it still gives a great sense of fulfilment.
"I fully believe in long form, I just don't believe the business model is there for it right now."
Fitzgerald said he believed the relative infancy of the media in this part of the world, and the strong macro-economic situation gave him confidence in the continued growth of the region.
"I'm personally super-excited for media in this region," he said.
