Champion of the young Arabian generation

Noura Al Kaabi, the new chief executive of twofour54, says the Abu Dhabi media zone is planning investments to encourage entrepreneurship among the youth. Sammy Dallal / The National

They are young, gifted and need a voice. More than half the Arab population is under the age of 30 - but the region's youth are not fully engaged in the media industry.

That is the view of Noura Al Kaabi, the new chief executive of the Abu Dhabi media zone twofour54, who warns of a "lost generation" if young people do not become more involved in the sector.

"For us, supporting the youth is a priority of twofour54," she says.

Ms Al Kaabi formally took over as the twofour54 chief at the beginning of this week, replacing the former head Tony Orsten.

Now the media zone is planning investments to help encourage entrepreneurship among young people.

"You just never know, out of 10 start-ups maybe you will have a slam-dunk with one of them. It's just encouraging that environment," says Ms Al Kaabi.

Here, the executive shares her views on the state of the regional media, after a tough few years for the industry because of the financial downturn and Arab Spring.

What is the biggest change that you want to introduce at twofour54 since taking over as chief executive?

Focusing on youth, mostly. The youth don't understand the impact of media, or being part of the industry. That made us start a roadshow to more than 28 universities and schools, to help students understand why it is important to be part of the media industry.

And why is that important?

If we don't work in engaging the youth, and bridging the gap between them and older generations, we will reach a point where we will have a lost generation. And we don't want that to happen. We want them to be part of what is being created here. If you want to enrich the culture, you simply engage the youth.

How will this approach be reflected in twofour54's investments?

They're mostly small scale. We plan to hold a start-up weekend in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. We want to see how we can support such young talents. It's not necessarily about whether they can form a company, it's about supporting an idea.

Do we have a sustainable media industry here in the Arab world?

Yes, we do have a sustainable media. But does the content that is available match the amount of talent within the region? No, it does not. [So] it's important to create that environment that helps and supports talented Arab individuals or UAE nationals to consider that industry.

According to the Arab Media Outlook, regional unrest prompted a 10 per cent decline in the ad market last year. What's your assessment of the impact of the Arab Spring on the industry?

After the Spring, Egypt has more television channels and publications than before. So the market is growing, but I can't say it's promising in commercial terms. I just see dissemination of content everywhere, points of view … I see it as a huge opportunity.

The number of newspapers in the Arab world fell last year, and circulation figures are flat. Is print dead?

Print is not dead, it is just not as powerful as before. Now, when you [assess] the strength of a publication, it's more about what it can show you digitally. It is very challenging for the print industry. I think that print should look at different ways to encourage more readers, and engage readers.

Today is Press Freedom Day. The UAE, like most Arab countries, ranks poorly in terms of press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders. What is your view on that?

Dubai Media City started opening the door for media outlets, broadcasters such as MBC and other news outlets. We are doing the same as well. That's great. We are welcoming external agencies to cover news here in the UAE. So this is a great step. And what this is showing is that we support - with our regulations - the opportunities of such news agencies to be here in the UAE. We're allowing press freedom - with responsibility, and with objectivity.

So do you think the Reporters Without Borders rankings, in which the UAE is placed 112th worldwide in terms of press freedom, is fair?

I don't think they are fair. Being ranked below where we want to be is due to certain coverage and certain stories, rather than looking at what we are currently doing here in the UAE.

The UAE media law dates back to 1980. Do we need new media legislation in the country?

From 1980 - more than 30 years ago - we're doing great with the media law that we have. I don't think it's stopped us. I don't think it prevented us coming up with a code of content here in the media zone. We're already working with international media partners who are very comfortable with our media regulations. We have CNN, the Financial Times … all these media entities. And none of them, not a single one, have said "we can't do something because of a media law".

You're very popular on Twitter, with more than 21,000 followers. Do you think we need further regulation of social media in the UAE?

No. Regulating Twitter would defeat the purpose of it. You do that in one case only: if you are an employee of an organisation [you have] a responsibility. But if you're talking on a personal basis, you can say whatever you want. If we say "don't say this, or don't say that on Twitter" it would be nonsense.

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