December 23, 2020
Entrepreneurialism should be encouraged in the news industry to create more authoritative voices, says AMF speaker
Entrepreneurialism should be encouraged in the news industry to create more authoritative voices, says AMF speakerEconomic impact of the virus and the restructuring around it will create a new urgency around the ongoing reinvention of news, says Merrill Brown, Former Editor in Chief of MSNBC.com
Industry needs to work collectively so that that the public is not left on their own to verify news,
At a time when growing consolidation and economic pressures created by the pandemic have put many news organisations out of business, it is important to encourage entrepreneurialism and create more authoritative voices in the media so that news consumers are not left on their own to verify news, said a prominent industry leader at the 19th Arab Media Forum.
Organised virtually under the theme ‘Arab Media: The Future is Digital’, the 19th AMF brought together prominent industry leaders, scholars and experts to discuss the outlook for the region’s media sector.
Speaking at the Forum, Merrill Brown, Principal of MMB Media and Former Editor in Chief of MSNBC.com, said: “We need to encourage entrepreneurialism in the news field including within newsrooms. People need to be able to launch news ideas. We need to keep newsrooms afloat with new funding mechanisms at a time when the public seems to be more willing than ever to pay for news. We need new approaches to covering stories that engage and inform people beyond simply giving them lengthy pieces and long television segments. It is up to all of us to keep at it collectively. We cannot just leave the public on their own.”
The session was attended virtually by Chairman of the Dubai Media Council HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Brown said the year 2020 has been a turbulent year for the media. For local media in particular, we have seen the decline of the newspaper in many parts of the world. National media as well are under enormous economic and editorial pressures, he said.
He talked about a column he had written for CNN a few months after the onset of the pandemic in which he “lamented the accelerated damage that COVID-19 would inflict on the news industry.” “The thesis of the piece was that the consolidation worldwide would give fewer and fewer opportunities for new voices to surface.”
The piece also said that “chunks of the media would look like an oligopoly. In particular, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and others would be increasingly important on a daily basis.”
He expressed concern at the large number of news organisations closing down. “In the United States, a quarter of the newspapers have closed since 2004 and 1,800 communities here have no local news coverage at all. 36,000 job losses have taken place in the news media since the pandemic began,” he pointed out.
“Most importantly, these are difficult times for verified information. For facts, we are very much on our own. News consumers are isolated and seeking guidance and looking for new ways to engaged and informed,” he remarked.
However, he noted that the media has changed in some ways for the better. “News consumption is high and there is some good news for some news publishers who see an opportunity to engage in new ways with more people and engage with new forms of news. News publishers are responding with new products and new initiatives. Local news is more valued than ever before,” he said.
The public is more willing to pay for news, he pointed out. “30% of Americans are willing to pay for well-researched and reliable news after the pandemic. The figure is even higher among the young. 53% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 say they are interested in paying for news, compared with only 15% of people aged 55 or older,” he said.
Furthermore, there are new initiatives throughout the global news industry that will benefit the industry. “For instance, there is an initiative called the American Journalism Project, which is raising hundreds of millions of dollars for news,” he noted.
Stressing the need to help the public learn to be better consumers of information through more news literacy programmes, he said: “Some universities and non-profit organisations have done a lot of work in this regard. The industry itself hasn’t done enough.”
“I predict that this will be a long process and that the economic impact of the virus and the restructuring around it will create a new urgency around the ongoing reinvention of news,” he concluded.
Held under the theme ‘Arab Media: The Future is Digital’, the 19th edition of the Arab Media Forum saw more than 10,000 people tune in to the Forum’s sessions, which were broadcast live on a special platform set up for the Forum and through the live feature on DPC’s official Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. The Arab Journalism Award ceremony, which honoured 11 outstanding journalists in the Arab world, was also broadcast live.
The largest gathering of media industry stakeholders in the region, the annual Arab Media Forum has provided a platform over the last two decades to discuss ideas and solutions for enhancing the progress and prosperity of the region.
