Arab Media Forum focuses on growth, decline of newspapers

The eighth annual Arab Media Forum will include a number of workshops and sessions that debates some of the vital issues that concern the media in the region.

The Arab Media Forum is scheduled to be held on May 11 and 12 at Hotel Atlantis in Dubai. It will be attended by approximately 600 prominent media persons. The Forum will include two sessions on the growth and decline of daily newspapers in the Arab world and the West and will also focus on the current developments on the new media scene in the region. One session is on newspapers: 'Daily Newspapers: Crisis in the West, Growth in the Arab World,' focuses on the challenges facing the print media as a result of the advancements in the communications technology. In the Arab world print media is growing in more than one country; for example, in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the number of daily publications have multiplied. According to a report in the Gulf News, "...the number of participants from outside the [United Arab Emirates] has reached 300, representing 27 countries within and beyond the Arab world." They include: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Mauritania, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine, Malaysia, the US, Great Britain, China, France, Italy, India and Russia. A second session, titled 'The New Media: New Platforms that Change the Scene,' will look at the latest developments in the New Media in the region. There has been major developments in the media due to the electronic revolution.