Future of business media highlighted at WAM roundtable

The WAM roundtable in progress (Picture: WAM)

DUBAI: Media has a major role in promoting future business concepts and conveying them to the public effectively, the head of the Emirates News Agency (WAM) has said.

“The media sector is seeing remarkable progress in keeping with global technological developments, with the emergence of new technologies in media work using artificial intelligence (AI) and data, which will shape the future of business media,” WAM Director-General Mohamed Jalal Alrayssi said at the “Shaping Economic Narratives: The Role of News Agencies” roundtable in Dubai.

Prominent media figures from Asia, Africa and Europe took part in the roundtable held on Day 1 of the World Governments Summit (WGS) 2024.

The roundtable highlighted four key issues – the importance of engaging with new economic sectors, the challenges and opportunities arising from these sectors, ways to improve business journalism, and the importance of strengthening strategic partnerships between news agencies and various media outlets.

The roundtable stressed the role of news agencies in supporting future economies, promoting innovative business concepts, and their readiness to deal with emerging economic sectors.

It also emphasized the role of media professionals in future business journalism, as well as the importance of media partnerships in boosting experience exchange and upskilling young media professionals.

Alrayssi said that the meeting made several recommendations, including the need to train and enhance the aptitudes and skills of those in media outlets through partnerships with government and private institutions dealing with business matters.

Alrayssi *Center) with some of the participants (WAM)

Journalists could be trained on how to deal with data and information related to contemporary economic concepts, such as the green economy, digital currencies and AI.

Director of Pakistan Press Foundation Sana Ali stressed the importance of cooperative efforts between news agencies, government institutions and economic entities and their potential impact on supporting and promoting future economies.

She pointed to the need to work on exchanging best practices and successful case studies of partnerships that lead to the formation of clear and useful economic visions.