The “Young Arab Media Leaders” programme entered its second week in Abu Dhabi toady (Sunday, September 23, 2018) with a session on how to create a distinct media identity, featuring Her Excellency Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development.

The “Young Arab Media Leaders” programme is organised by the Arab Youth Center (AYC) under the patronage and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs, and AYC Chairman. Taking place over the course of two weeks, the event attracted 100 young men and women from 15 Arab countries, including media professionals and influencers.

In her session, H.E. Noura Al Kaabi asserted that the “Young Arab Media Leaders” programme is one of the most prominent of its kind in the Arab world, lauding its role in honing and developing the skills of the media leaders and professionals of the future.

“A distinct media identity is an increasingly important asset in these modern times where media channels and instruments have exploded, making the media landscape much more complex, particularly following the advent and proliferation of social media networks and the subsequent rise of influencers who, over time, channelled their influence towards commercial goals,” H.E. explained.

“Specialising in one subject and maintaining consistency is essential for creating a distinct media identity on these networks,” H.E. Al Kaabi continued. “The rampant imitation we see today in the influencer community is stifling innovation. Creativity and individuality are rooted in loving one’s work, collaboration and teamwork, as well as dedication to achieving a common goal centred around transparency and enriching content.”

The Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development went on to note that pretention does not build a solid and distinct media identity, which, instead, stems from character, playing one’s strengths and not pursuing the monetisation of content as a sole or primary objective. This identity outlines the future of influencers on social networking sites, H.E. asserted, adding that the quality of the content and message delivery are the fundamentals of popularity and success on these platforms.

“The youth have a critical role to play in building the media ecosystem of the future. We have many examples of young pioneers who succeeded in creating a significant following; the challenge now is continuity and we look forward to seeing young Arab professionals with their own popular shows,” H.E. Al Kaabi said, noting that Arab culture is rich and capable of keeping up with the rapid developments and advanced technologies.

The first day of the programme’s second week included a workshop conducted by The National newspaper, discussing how to get a scoop and dominate the digital scene in the media sector. This was followed by another workshop titled “Why We Love Social Media”, which underlined these channels’ extraordinary ability to transfer information and news, as well as their role in verifying the credibility of the sources. The following workshop introduced participants to the various media channels, while the final session shed light on media culture and the most influential media platforms in the Arab world.

The “Young Arab Media Leaders” programme includes a series of training workshops and specialised courses in traditional and digital media, which seek to hone and develop the young participants’ talents. It also includes seminars and lectures targeting young Arab journalists, as well as field visits to the most prestigious media organisations in the world, which allow the young professionals to gain first-hand knowledge and insight into media best practices, straight from the most prominent institutions and figures.

The Arab Youth Center is working with a set of new strategic partners to organise the second edition of the programme, namely: The National Media Council (NMC), Media Zone Authority – Abu Dhabi (twofour54), Dubai Media City, The National newspaper, National Geographic magazine, Forbes magazine, Edelman PR, Haykal Media, YouTube, Facebook, Pyramedia, and CNBC, in addition to the programme’s existing partners: Thomson Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg, Al Arabiya, Sky News Arabia, MBC Group, Dubai Media Inc., Abu Dhabi Media, American University of Dubai, New York University – Abu Dhabi, Twitter, UTURN, Google, Asharq Al-Awsat and Al Hayat newspaper.