Seminar discusses ‘future media’ amid different variables

MUSCAT, May 14 - The Office of Oman Vision 2040 organised a seminar on ‘future media’ on Monday in cooperation with the Ministry of Information as part of its initiative to have community participation in building Oman Vision 2040. The seminar was held at Sultan Qaboos University under the auspices of Dr Abdulmunim bin Mansour al Hasani, Minister of Information. Various media representatives, academics and researchers attended the seminar. Talal al Rahbi, Head of the Technical Committee of Oman Vision 2040, said that the seminar was expected to formulate concrete steps in future media, which is one of 2040 Vision’s communication strategy initiatives. “Orders of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos have adopted a participatory approach to formulate a clear vision for the future. His Majesty wanted this vision to be shaped by Omanis for Omanis, achieved by all sectors and represented by all members of the society with no exceptions. We have worked in response to this through systematic stages to prepare the vision, covering three main pillars: human and society, economy and development, governance and institutional performance,” he said. Al Rahbi mentioned that after the success of “All Oman” initiative, the role of local media at this stage is important, regarding the Vision’s issues. “We rely on the initiative of ‘future media’ as a rich addition to this approach, because of its special importance as the voice of Oman at local and international levels,” he emphasised. Dr Hosni Nassr, Head of Media Department, SQU, talked about the future of journalism in the digital era. “Traditional and digital media have fused and turned out into platforms for publication basically. Both use potentials on a wider range,” he said, arguing that the print media would still survive and no other means of media would pose a threat to its existence. Dr Nassr indicated that the golden era of print media is yet to come because they take advantage of social media to distribute its content and make profits compensating losses of printed copies. Papers were presented during the seminar. Dr Abdullah bin Khamis al Kindi, a Journalism Associate Professor at SQU, elaborated on strategic planning and future media in Oman. Dr Chris Moody presented a paper on future of media in the age of disruptive technology. Zainab al Nassri