UAE to launch several initiatives to boost Emiratisation in media
The UAE is planning to launch a major initiative to increase the level of Emiratisation in the media sector from the existing 25 per cent, although experts and senior government officials stressed on the importance of quality over quantity.
"We are undertaking a major initiative to boost Emiratisation in the media sector including holding open days for recruitment by major media organizations with the support of the journalists’ associations where students could interact with the recruiters and understand their requirements," Ibrahim Al Abed, Director-General of the National Media Council, told delegates at the first Emirati Media Forum - that has focused on the challenges and opportunities in the growing media landscape in the UAE.
"As part of the initiatives, we are also planning to send journalism graduates for higher studies abroad who could then enrich the local media industry with international expertise. Additionally, we will launch incentive programmes to attract Emirati talent to the media industry with the help of the government bodies and the media institutions."
He said, he did not think that the media sector is unattractive for the UAE national graduates.
"Talking is easy but doing is difficult," he said of the initiatives. "We need to coordinate with relevant government bodies to undertake these incentives to Emiratis to attract them to the media sector. We need the government departments, policymakers to work together to come up with incentive programmes."
Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, Chairman of Sharjah Media Corporation (SMC), said, "The level of Emiratisation in the media sector is just 25 per cent - which is very low. Although in Sharjah, Emiratisation in the SMC is about 50 per cent and within The Sharjah Media Centre exceeds 70 per cent, we should not favour Emiratis over qualified foreign journalists.
"We need to develop quality journalists by first offering them professional training and help them develop expertise before pushing for Emiratisation," he said. "We also need the foreign journalists to train the young Emirati media graduates and infuse skills within them so that they could become good and professional journalists."
He stressed on the education and the professional training aspect in their career development. "The universities should start offering practical training in addition to their academic curricula so that the students could get an idea of the real-life journalism," Sheikh Sultan Bin Ahmad Al Qassimi said.
"This should be complemented with the field-level training within the media organizations."
Sami Al Qamzi, Director-General of the Department of Economic Development and Vice-Chairman of Dubai Media Incorporated, said, journalism and media-related work are considered by many Emiratis as low-paying jobs.
"Should we Emiratise only the editorial positions of the media or the whole sector including administrative and technical jobs?" he asked the audience.
"We also need to talk about the quality of Emiratisation rather than the quantity. We should also look at the quality of works by the Emirati media professionals rather than the quantity."
He said, he did not think that the media industry lacked incentives. "I do believe that we have incentives in the local media," Al Qamzi said.
Raed Barqawi, Managing Editor of Al Khaleej Newspaper said, Emiratisation has remained a major challenge for his organization. "Do we want Emiratisation for the sake of it or should we look for quality human resource development programme?" he asked.
"There is also an issue of talent retention. Once we train them putting a lot of efforts, they are taken by the government departments with higher pay and the cease to become journalist. This beats the whole purpose of the Emiratisation." Barqawi said.
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