Shelina Janmohamed is an author and a culture columnist for The National
January 23, 2023
Think for a moment about how we consume information, how we read the news, through what medium and on which platforms. Now think of how all that might change in time. In five or 10 years, how will we read the news? Will we trust news sources to a greater or lesser degree? We know that the world around us changes rapidly and the online world, only more so. In this context, it is useful to bear in mind that Mark Zuckerberg announced the Metaverse less than two years ago; TikTok is coming up to its seventh birthday this year; and Twitter is 16 years old.
The transformation from traditional sources to the digital space has changed our relationship with news, as has the access to news around the clock. Citizen journalism and a distribution of power (of sorts) to new voices and influencers has also opened up platforms and ways of consuming news. Some people have called this the democratisation of news. But such changes have also introduced the perils of fake news, disinformation and online hate, all amplified by algorithms and news feeds. The result can be that we inhabit almost parallel universes, rarely encountering different perspectives, or news that doesn’t adhere to our world views.
Now add to that AI-generated news. Studies show that it can be hard to differentiate human-written news from AI-generated news. And these tools are becoming ever more sophisticated. For instance, as of late, a lot of people are talking about ChatGPT and it is great fun to try out. I asked it to write a paragraph in my style. And I am going to leave you wondering if it was ChatGPT or me that wrote this. An article published this past week in the scientific journal Nature found that ChatGPT has created studies in scientific literature that are so convincing that they are already being cited.
This then becomes a pivotal moment: will journalism and news coverage become more or less valued by society? The answer is that great news coverage and great journalism play a vital role in society and should have greater stature than it does now. But without careful safeguarding, that stature could erode.
Good journalism, as we know, must be rooted in trust, transparency and credibility. As consumers of news we learn how this is a two-way relationship, where news outlets elevate credible trustworthy voices that uphold the highest standards and build a loyal readership or an audience.
We can see this happening before our eyes in societal measures of trust. The annual Edelman Trust Barometer was released this week. The UK, for example, remains one of the countries to have the lowest faith in the media. But what is notable is that trust in the media is slowly rising. The study conducted in November 2022 suggests that this trust has risen by two points compared to 2021. But it still remains low at 37 per cent. While shared reliable trusted information about the state of society is vital to its functioning, perhaps some healthy scepticism in what is offered to us is not a bad thing. Nor is accessing a wide variety of news sources and assessing the merit.
If there is a key thing missing from consumers of news, it is media literacy and how to engage in a two-way process with news outlets. By this I mean that news publishers and journalists need to have brands and names they can trust, so that the readers or consumers can then trust a news platform. That trust is built on transparency, accountability, credibility and dialogue with their consumers, whether they be readers or listeners.
I use the term “listeners” because podcasts are now increasingly a central part of news output and consumption. In fact, I’m putting my own name to a news podcast just this week in The Shelina Show, precisely to try to inject a more nuanced, in-depth and considered view of the news headlines and the topics that affect all of us, so we can join the dots and see a bigger picture.
In the future, we may well see an increasing return to local and regional news brands, those whose credentials and the credentials of their journalists determine their popularity, their news output and build a two-way relationship with news consumers. That will be both powerful and welcome for news producers and news consumers, especially after the past years of difficult, teething problems of the transition to a changed new digital news economy. It is my optimistic view.
Oh, and in case you had a niggling doubt about whether this is a human-written piece or one generated by AI, you can rest assured that it is written by my own fair hand. Or is it?
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium (Malacca, Malayisa)
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD
* Second leg in Australia scheduled for October 10
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
