The media in the UAE can rest assured that they will always be provided with the support necessary to play a constructive role
 
The leadership of the UAE has always considered the media as an important partner in the nation's development. The country's founding fathers envisaged a prominent role for media in supporting the young nation's march towards growth and prosperity. Right from the time of its foundation, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was committed to providing the media with the support it needed to perform its role as a true partner in progress.

The UAE's current leadership has continued in the footsteps of Sheikh Zayed by creating an environment for the media to flourish. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, have both reaffirmed the media's role as an important partner not only in promoting development but also in countering threats facing the nation.

Sheikh Mohammed once likened the role of journalists to that of soldiers who fight to protect the nation. He strongly believes the media has a vital part to play in safeguarding the UAE's unique culture and its deeply held values of tolerance and openness. At a time when extremist groups are trying to distort Islam's true message by spreading hatred and discord, the media in the UAE has played a commendable role in countering disruptive influences.

His Highness also sees a broader role for the media to support the Arab world in weathering the challenges of this difficult period in its history. Time and again, he has expressed his strong faith in the media's ability to play a meaningful part in reviving Arab civilisation that once was a beacon of progress and learning for the world.

In order to play these roles effectively, the media should be ready to embrace change. With the proliferation of new technologies, the pace of change today is rapid. We cannot predict what the industry will look like a few years from now. To cope with change, media organisations need to constantly develop themselves and be prepared to face new challenges.

As with the leading markets of the world, the digitisation of media is gathering speed in the UAE. More and more people are viewing media content online - on their phones, laptops and tablets. Increasingly, people are also preferring to get news and other content from social media channels.

All this has changed the competitive landscape. Local newspapers and television channels today compete not only with online news portals but also social networks and social news players.

Furthermore, today, everybody has the power to become a content creator. Individual content creators have developed a new kind of relationship with their audience, leading to the emergence of powerful 'social media influencers.'

Amidst these changes, the challenge the media faces are very clear. To stay ahead of the game, they have to fully embrace the digital world. Newspapers and magazines have to adopt a 'digital-first' approach. This involves a complete shift in the way media professionals function. Reporters and editors should be able to report and produce content that will be a good fit for digital platforms. We have already seen a number of traditional media organisations across the world who have successfully embraced the digital world.

However, while digitisation has brought many positive transformations, they have also brought new challenges. The widespread reach of digital media means that malicious forces can influence larger sections of the population through fabricated and misleading information. In some parts of the Arab world, we are seeing media outlets resorting to fake news to serve their own agendas. This is a dangerous trend. Fake news can sow disharmony, undermine security and stability, disrupt economies and heighten political tensions.

One of the unfortunate consequences of the rise of fake news is the potential loss of public trust in the media. To ensure that media can retain its credibility, it is vitally important for the media fraternity to work harder to instil strong professional and ethical values in the industry.

At the 17th Arab Media Forum organised by Dubai Press Club in April 2018, Facebook spoke about its plans to launch initiatives in the region to educate the public and create awareness about fake news. We need more such initiatives. It is very important to make people aware of the dangers that fake news poses to society. Equally important is to educate them on how they can distinguish between fake and real news.

Technology can provide innovative solutions to filter out fake news. Speakers at the Arab Media Forum discussed many new artificial intelligence tools that can be used to authenticate and fact-check news stories emerging out of social media. Media industry players need to invest greater resources to explore more such technologies that can detect fake news, fake accounts, rumours, misleading stories and extremist content in order to reinforce trust and credibility.

There are undoubtedly many challenges that the media needs to overcome, to exert a truly positive influence on society. However, at the same time, in a rapidly changing world, they have many new opportunities to redefine the way in which they contribute to development and growth.

The media in the UAE can rest assured that they will always be provided with the support necessary to play a constructive role. The Government of Dubai Media Office and its subsidiary the Dubai Press Club looks forward to working closely with media organisations to help them play their role as true partners in growth.