DUBAI: The CEO of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, who is also chairman of the Middle East Publishing Association (MEPA), announced on Tuesday that the association would represent WAN-IFRA, the umbrella organization for the publishing industry, in the Middle East region.
Dr. Azzam Al-Dakhil said MEPA has a number of plans for the Middle East and was happy to cooperate with WAN-IFRA in several areas. He was addressing the WAN-IFRA’s fifth Middle East Conference at the Millennium Hotel in Dubai.
Distinguished international and regional figures are speaking at the two-day conference, which examines the latest newsroom strategies, advertising concepts, business opportunities as well as enabling technologies and systems from around the world.
“We welcome and foster such interest and consider it a main drive to develop the media business in the region,” Al-Dakhil said.
“The publishing industry has been going through major changes, and in some parts of the world it is facing fundamental obstacles. So far the Middle East has been least affected by these changes, partly because local economies in many countries are doing quite well.
“Local investments in the media business and its infrastructure, of which Dubai’s Media City is a shining example, have also impacted the industry in a positive way,” Al-Dakhil added.
He praised the recent merger of WAN (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers) and IFRA.
“In a modern publishing environment, especially in the Middle East, editorial and commercial development often go hand in hand, and with the greater spectrum of WAN-IFRA services, the needs of local publishers are likely to be met more comprehensively.”
In order to facilitate WAN-IFRA’s presence in the Middle East, Al-Dakhil suggested MEPA as a base.
The Nottingham Post’s deputy editor, Martin Done, talked about how regional media companies are learning to cope with change, while Douglas Okasaki, the Society of News Design’s regional director for the Middle East and Africa and a senior designer at Gulf News, predicted the newspaper of the future would be more compact. He urged a rethink of publishing now.
CEO of WAN-IFRA Germany Reiner Mittelbach delivered the keynote address, claiming the future success of media companies depended upon relationships and knowledge.