They emphasized that the function of the media is enlightening, not economic
Journalists: Economic returns and digitization of the media are the most prominent challenges for the Egyptian press
During a session entitled “The Future of the Egyptian Press.”
Photography: Ahmed Ardeti
picture
Media professionals participating in the Arab Media Forum affirmed that the Egyptian press has faced many challenges in recent years, most notably the economic returns and the development of media forms and tools.
During a session entitled "The Future of the Egyptian Press", during the activities of the Arab Media Forum in Dubai, which was moderated by the journalist Moataz Al-Demerdash, the media called for the need not to place the economic aspect above the enlightenment and awareness aspect of the newspapers.
The editor-in-chief of Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, Abdel Latif Al-Manawi, confirmed that digital media has witnessed a great development at the expense of print newspapers in recent years, especially after the “Corona” pandemic, where statistics estimate that digital platforms have acquired about 60% of readers, compared to 40% for paper newspapers.
He said that the Egyptian press faces great challenges that greatly affect it, most notably the introduction of new forms of media, which requires rehabilitating and rehabilitating generations of newspaper workers, to keep pace with these new forms and templates of media and content.
He pointed out that newspaper distribution rates have declined significantly in recent years, which cast an economic shadow on them, and created another challenge for their continuity, noting that recent statistics showed that 65% of society members in general obtain their information from social media.
For his part, the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian Al-Shorouk newspaper, Imad El-Din Hussein, stressed that it is not important for the name of the media outlet and its size, but for the content it provides that takes into account professional and ethical standards, stressing that the reader usually goes to the distinguished content, away from the medium.
He stressed that professional media content that can be audited and investigated in accordance with professional rules and standards is the basis for the success of any media outlet, stressing that the Egyptian press was finally able to provide distinguished quality content.
In turn, the head of the Cairo Center for Strategic Studies, writer Ahmed Al-Maslamani, stressed that the goal of the media’s role should not be economic at all, but should focus on the educational and scientific aspect primarily, noting that the most prominent challenges facing the media is the chaos of information sources, which It directly affects its credibility, as we find that every medium conveys the truth completely differently from another.
He stated that modern technology has provided about four billion people with articles and opinion writers through social media, which has lost specialized scientific opinion, amid a torrent of non-specialist opinions, which led to the existence of a few elites and a lot of populism.
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