With prudent support, the media can be at the heart of economic growth

A willing leadership is best positioned to face unforeseen situations. And while oil has served the UAE well, our continued prosperity requires further anchors to the world of trade and commerce. Thankfully, we are doing just that. The government is spearheading new industries – from building giant aeronautical parts to micro-scale electronic circuitries. Our young are being encouraged to explore the wide commercial landscape, to determine and exploit the opportunities that present themselves to small, nimble enterprises. All this has been an exercise in courage, to break through the comfort of what has worked before and to attempt new things. From this we are transitioning to what are new economies, both large and small.

We, as a newspaper, have a part to play in this transition and we can help the media sector become a stout pillar of the new economy.

This new paradigm in economics is driven, of course, by expertise and ingenuity. But genius is only the starting point. Our new industries are propelled by information, by “knowledge” about our competitors, by innovation and by many more things. It may seem surprising, even ironic, that our new economy should be predicated on an idea that is so resolutely old world: the role of media – news outlets, for one – to secure a stream of “knowledge” to drive commerce.

Now, it might appear that all we need to do is to rededicate ourselves to the traditional virtues of journalism in the region. The reality, however, is that our new economy requires a new journalism that fits the purpose. Just as our economy is being retooled, our news media needs rejuvenation and regeneration as well.

We are attempting to do precisely that at this newspaper. Each day, we strive to add a page to a new Emirati journalism that suits the country’s best interests. We do this by attempting to put stories into their appropriate context. We try to take information – raw news – and transform it into useful “knowledge”. We are keenly aware of the role we must play in the national economic interest.

Although The National has played an important role in the development of journalism in the UAE, there is more to do. We welcome that challenge. We must continue – together – to redefine UAE journalism to the needs of the times.

Other industries – such as aviation, renewable energy and manufacturing – have grown in a short time with prudent support. The news media, too, can rise to its new challenge, and by doing so form the bedrock of our new economic ecology.

To do so requires an appreciation that the news industry is an integral part of the drive towards economic diversification. Conceived this way, the news sector can support business, while at the same time gestate new creative industries that add sinews to our diversification efforts.

How do we do this? First, we need to understand, and for our readers to appreciate, what constitutes news. It isn’t simply the reproduction of press releases. We are not a bulletin board. Press releases can form the germ of a story as they alert us to what may turn out to be news – as opposed to an announcement – through doing our own reporting. That is what I mean by context.

We also need our readers and community to appreciate that what we publish is in the service of the greater good. Businesses need information to process efficiently. What newspapers make known to all is often what was previously known to only a few. Because newspapers are freely available, they provide a level playing field in access to information.

We might, and indeed do, also profile businesses and their leaders. But we don’t do hagiography. Our interest in this regard is to inform present and future stakeholders, and by doing so allow people to make better decisions as well as build a stronger case for good corporate governance that encourages trust, openness and a sense of belonging.

Indeed, one aspect of good newspaper practice is in the service of the economy, to make it more efficient with a surplus of reliable information. That is what editing is about, as opposed to random Twitter feeds, for example. To use a word gaining increasing currency, we objectively “curate” information from an emotion-charged world that often finds an outlet in social media. We publish what is true, rather than what people may want to believe.

And as we pursue our job, our readers and community should appreciate that we fully understand that news is credible only if it is perceived to be honest. So we must dispel outdated notions, as well as protect journalists doing an honest day’s work.

Next, we have to distribute the stories we write in a manner that conforms with how consumers live today. Many still prefer a morning read of ink on paper. And there are features of a newspaper that work particularly well in this format. Our beautifully designed and thoughtful Arts & Life, Weekend and The Review sections invite a leisurely perusal that entertain and provoke thought. Our Sport section’s feature stories and our Comment pages fall under this category, too.

But there is, of course, news that demands more immediate reaction. This is where newspapers meets new technology – online through Twitter, Facebook and the various mobile platforms. We have embraced new technology because if the media is to support the new economy, it must be of the new economy itself. (At The National, we have seen a near-doubling of our online readership since last year, with more than 50 per cent of our online readers coming from abroad.)

News, as a part of the media landscape, contributes to expanding that horizon itself. To our cadre of Emirati writers, editors and designers, we are opening new opportunities to contribute outside traditional news roles. For example, there are apps that must be created that are appropriate to our unique audience. And then there are new commercial opportunities that push and challenge creativity anew, from advertising to graphic design.

This will be a significant contribution to a flowering of the entire media sector, such as that envisaged by the establishment of the media free zone, Twofour54, in Abu Dhabi, and initiatives such as Dubai Media City. Today, the whole media sector represents less than 0.5 per cent of the UAE’s GDP. In the UK, by contrast, it accounts for 5.2 per cent of the economy and is worth £71.4 billion (Dh407bn). South Korea’s media and culture industry contributes 10 per cent to the national wealth. Norway, an economy not unlike ours, spends 1 per cent of its budget on culture.

This is a high-value sector that also significantly raises our country’s profile internationally. Imagine what just a 1 per cent share of the UAE’s GDP might mean in terms of an expansion of the country’s wealth, as well as the bounty it will provide to our cultural sphere.

At this point, readers may wonder how a news organisation like The National might fit into the culture industry. It requires leadership, imagination and courage. For a start, it requires an abandonment of hoary old ideas of how newspapers operate.

This is where leadership comes in. We need to explode dusty notions of the relationship between our business side, our digital endeavours and our newsroom operation. The particular importance of leadership in this regard is to not let commercial imperatives pollute journalistic honesty. Then, we need imagination to develop new products that leverage the strengths of good journalism. And finally, we need the courage to do all this.

I see The National, for example, taking our hard news on to other platforms such as TV and internet-delivered television. I see our feature stories in Weekend and The Review as the inspiration for outlines for documentary productions suitable for TV, the big screen and other formats. And all this critically supported by an understanding of quality as demonstrated by our staff. This is just for starters. The upshot is we can make culture better and help grow it, too.

But to do this much, we too need support. Indeed, with a little help, courage and renewed leadership beyond this newspaper, we might more quickly accomplish our ambitions for the paper, for the larger media sector and for the country. A broader and more active leadership within the media and culture space to identify talent, and fund and provide patronage to the sector, would greatly expand the universe of what constitutes the media space. For our part, a more robust intellectual property regime would better protect us commercially as we invest into new businesses, while laws mandating greater transparency would dispel anti-competitive tendencies in the transit of advertising. Of course, a fuller dedication to the free market, unfettered by the anti-trust instincts of vested interests, will also benefit the entire economy. And if this begins with the news media and the media sector as a whole, the effects will eventually provide a bracing benefit for the entire economy.

The National has led the region into new frontiers in journalism. In the seven years of its life, the paper has carved a niche for itself in telling a fuller story of this country and of the Middle East through the perspective of the region. We are proud of the UAE and seek to contribute to its development through our campaigns, such as our Road to Safety, Earth Matters, Women’s Health, Financial Literacy, #heathyliving, #CycleTo WorkUAE and #UAEinnovators initiatives. Through these, we are building a community.

Expect more to come.

Still, what cannot be denied is that if our country’s aspiration for economic diversification is to be achieved in the most effective and most prudent manner, we need to embrace a dedication to the news media as the bedrock of the knowledge economy. As it is envisioned by The National.

malotaiba@thenational.ae

On Twitter: @alotaiba_m