arabianEye, the UAE’s leading visual content provider, recently hosted a forum in Dubai to discuss how the UAE was represented in the media and whether this representation was an accurate one.

Around 150 invited guests met at the forum held in conjunction with the Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy to listen to a panel composed of a cross section of the media industry.

“We were expecting a lively debate tonight and we weren’t disappointed,” said Celia Peterson, managing director of arabianEye.

“It was good to hear a mixture of opinions being presented on the night – I strongly feel that discussions like this are healthy, as it helps us to examine how we present ourselves to the wider world,” she added.

Among the themes addressed at the forum included issues around the cultural stigma of appearing in photographs and whether the marketing industry is guilty of presenting a too ‘rosy’ picture of life in the Emirates.

Addressing these and other relevant topics were Alia Al Shamsi, a local photojournalist and a winner of the Qatar Al Thani Awards in 2004, James Langton, deputy editor of The National on Saturday, Nezar Andary, professor of film and literature at the Zayed University of Abu Dhabi, Rami Al Farook, a member of the Sheikh Mohammed Establishment for Young Business Leaders and Kamal Dimachkie, managing director, Leo Burnett - Dubai, Kuwait and the Lower Gulf.

With the panel comprising differing segments of the media, both Arabic and English, a number of alternative views and interpretations were put forward for the issues under discussion.

The two hours concluded with a lively question and answer session that brought in the audience to share their views.

“We wanted to promote an interactive forum and the audience members were certainly able to express their feelings on the subjects,” said Peterson.

“We hope that this debate is one that is ongoing – we intend that tonight’s forum will be just the first of many that we will be holding and it will be interesting to see if opinions and feelings have undergone any changes by the time we host the next one,” she added.

The Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy, which sponsored the event, recognised the panel discussion as being a timely opportunity to confront questions about UAE identity. – TradeArabia News Service