https://arab.news/zvtqg
- MBC鈥檚 Group Director Ali Jaber highlights social media power
- Youth mobilized around Gaza as Western media 鈥榝ailed鈥� in duty
DUBAI: 鈥淣ews is a human need and not a luxury,鈥� said MBC鈥檚 Group Director Ali Jaber in Dubai on Tuesday.
鈥淚t is a need for everyone to know what鈥檚 happening around us, a world without news is not a world that we would ever live in,鈥� said Jaber in a session at the Arab Media Summit.
鈥淪ocial media and traditional media have a complementary relationship, social media has none of the restrictions that traditional media outlets have.
鈥淪ocial media platforms are not journalistic platforms but can be utilized for that purpose,鈥� he said.
Jaber said social media has proven to influence change in the news world, and cited the crisis in Gaza as an example. Jaber said he believes global outrage from the youth was mobilized by social media.
鈥淪ocial media moved generations during the Gaza crisis, especially since traditional media in the West failed. Social media filled the gap that was generated by the obvious bias in Western traditional media,鈥� said Jaber.
鈥淯nder the motto of freedom of speech, social media is attracting a larger number of audience who are trying to find faster and shorter news to consume,鈥� he said.
Jaber said traditional media needs to implement the quick and fast nature of social media.
鈥淲e are in a changing world, it鈥檚 naive to say traditional media will stay dominant 鈥� We have to teach newsrooms to write 360 news that can be adapted into any form including social media,鈥� he added.
鈥淭V benefited a lot from social media, we use social media as a means of promoting for us, we need to have a community that we can work with around the clock and that is promoted by social media,鈥� he said.
Jaber said although he is an artificial intelligence skeptic, he believes education is key to utilizing this technology safely and to their full potential.
鈥淎I is a real milestone and a great pillar of everything we want to do 鈥� AI will be a key part of our work in the journalism world,鈥� he added.
鈥淲e need to educate people on how to deal with things like fake news and other problems that may arise from utilizing AI,鈥� he said.