The growth of the media in Asia in contrast to its Western counterpart and the importance of bridging satellite space between the Maghreb and Mashreq countries will be the main sessions at the upcoming Arab Media Forum.

The ninth edition of the Arab Media Forum will take place on May 12 and 13 at The Atlantis Palm in Dubai.

“The Arab Media Forum will address some of the most crucial topics dominating the Arab and global media landscape,” said Maryam Bin Fahad, executive director, Dubai Press Club, the region’s preeminent media development organisation.

“Of primary interest to decision makers and media personalities, the event will particularly look at how path-breaking trends in technology impact the way news is disseminated worldwide,” she added.

“This AMF edition is aptly themed ‘Shifting mediascape: inspiring content…expanding reach’ and focus on the changing dynamics in the media sector across the Arab countries and rest of the world.”

“More importantly, it will review how media institutes are dealing with the global financial crisis besides highlighting the importance of producing local content for enhancing the performance of the Arab media,” said Bin Fahad.

The session Emerging Asia: The Story of China and India will spotlight the dramatic growth of the print, electronic and the broadcast media in Asian countries such as China, India, and Malaysia.

It will also do a comparative study of the industry developments in the West, where the twin phenomenon of media mergers and a migration of readers to the Web has resulted in a decline of media empires and led to an increasing closure of newspapers and high-traffic Web sites.

The second session ‘Bridging the satellite space between the Maghreb and the Mashreq countries of the Arab world’ will study the media scene in the Maghreb countries and identify the obstacles to the dissemination of content in the Mashreq region.

It will also address questions about the ability of media institutes in Maghreb countries to generate content that caters to public needs and the opportunities to bridging satellite space between the Maghreb and the Mashreq countries of the Arab world. – TradeArabia News Service