MyAdhan Blog

Link: Dubai: Making media interactive

“It is the right time to talk about technology in the Arab world, be it online or mobile. Things are changing fast in the world and this is a great chance for the Arab media to see what the world can offer them,” said Khadeeja Al Marzooqi, the General Manager of Shoof TV, the first full -time user generated TV station in the region. Speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the Arab Media Forum, that concluded yesterday, she emphasised the need to integrate technology with media. “Television, radio, newspaper and all forms of media should be as interactive as possible. Globally, the online medium is taking control. However each media form has its challenges and we should try to overcome them,” she said. She noted that in the GCC, journalism and technology were comparatively new vis-a-vis countries like Europe. Touching on the media constraints in the Arab world, Mazrooqi said, “It is not what we wish it to be. However things are changing and journalists are catching up. Slowly, even people (society) are accepting the changes. Even if the government is open minded about what can be said in the media, people are still not ok with it. However, it is slowly changing.” She said that even journalists sometimes shy away from portraying the ugly side of life. Shoof TV, set to be launched by the end of 2008, is a 100 per cent user generated TV station, which will have no in-house production, rather will rely on all clips sent from people uploaded on their TV’s website. She observed, “We do not want to enforce what people want to see, instead want them to choose what they want to watch on their television sets every night. People should, experience, share and interact not just with our TV station but with each other. People in the Arab world are used to sit and receive information, but are not used to interacting. We need to teach them how to use technology to interact.” Mazrooqi observed that the number of local women in media was also increasing steadily. She recalled that when she started working in media in the year 2000 there were barely about 2-3 local women “In the last 6 to 7 years, lots of local women are a part of the media and it is progressing very well. There are a huge number of women graduating from media in universities in the UAE.” Since the UAE was a male dominated society, she conceded that it does affect the workplace as men find it hard to accept women managers. However, that was changing due to the leadership of the country, she observed.