One hundred and fifty journalists from various media organisations operating in the UAE attended two workshops, held in Abu Dhabi and Dubai to highlight the topic of the foundations of creative leadership in journalism and new media.

The two-day workshops which concluded yesterday were organised by the National Media Council, NMC, and the UAE Journalists Association in co-operation with the UAE's telecom provider Etisalat, to address issues such as the main foundations of new media, management of social media accounts and public opinion, news editing and reporting.

Among those who attended the workshops were Ahmed bin Ali Senior Vice President Corporate Communications and Official Spokesperson of Etisalat Group, Abdulkareem Al Senani, Treasurer of the UAE Journalists Association Rashid Khalfan Al Nuaimi, Executive Director Executive Director of the Support Services Department at the National Media Council, and Juma Al Leem, Director of the NMC office in Dubai.

Bin Ali spoke about the a world of media that is fast shifting to digital platforms and the massive growth in internet usage. "Smart digital media are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the cultural, social and economic aspects of society, which means we have serious responsibility to expand journalists' knowledge of the various types of media and digital journalism while opening up to, and learning about digital media, including social media’s power of influence."

Al Senani described the workshops as initiatives that help empower and train journalists in the advanced techniques employed by new media.

Al Nuaimi said the main goal of the partnership between the three institutions was to improve journalists' professional skills in a fast-changing media landscape where the widespread social media outlets which are clearly influential.

Experts from Atlas for Human Resources Development moderated the two workshops.

Dr. Tahseen Al Hantouli spoke about excellence in media organisations, the role of management in their development, the use of technology and smart applications, as well as the role of social media in strategic planning and identifying goals that keep pace with new technologies.

He also spoke about the role that journalism and digital media plays in new media, and how brainstorming of journalists enables them to respond to the needs of their audience.

Jamil el-Baramawy made a presentation on ways of using new media tools, and focused on new news editing techniques with an emphasis on accuracy, honesty and objectivity.

Duaa Alian lectured on ways of using social media platforms to serve the media industry and recommended that media organisations should train their staff on how to use these tools.