MIDDLE EAST
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THE CHANNEL
organisations that have a permanent
presence in Damascus. We have
someone constantly in the North, in
Aleppo most of the time. And we
have got someone in Damascus.
Now, a lot of people might not like
what they hear coming out of
Damascus but it is an important
side in the conflict. I think we have
come as close as possible on the
Syria story without taking sides.
The biggest challenge in Syria is
the amount of YouTube video that
comes out. You have to put your
checks and balances on these things
as much as you can and if you are
not sure, say you are not sure.
Which audiences are you targeting?
Because of the quality of our
picture and the look and feel of the
channel being HD we have
immediately attracted a younger
demographic, particularly viewers
in their twenties and thirties. In the
Arab world, TV is still the number
one medium but you have to plan
for how this is going to change. The
way our systems are built from a
technical and editorial point of
view, itʹs really one content that
goes out on different mediums. In
that sense we are looking at the
Arabic speaking viewer pretty
much anywhere in the world who
gets our content by satellite, from
our website, our apps or social
media, or our linear channel.
In building the technology for the
channel were you able to leapfrog?
I think the biggest leap at the
moment is the issue of HD.
Broadcasters who have been
around for some time are
upconverting and it looks okay but
it is not original HD. Building the
technology for the channel with HD
in mind probably gave us our
biggest advantage, plus the ability
to turn things around very quickly
in different formats. Our
information and online systems
and how the newsroom is
connected are superior to all the
other channels that are out there
but someone launching now will
probably have an advantage over
us in terms of technology – it is
changing constantly.
The region’s media environment is
becoming more complex. What is
the impact of this?
I think we have a clear view of who
our competitors are and what the
region and the sphere is that we are
competing in. I personally donʹt
believe that a pan‐Arab channel
should compete with the local
channel – they have to find a way
to complement each other. With
regard to the channels that are
beaming from outside the region,
viewers categorise those differently
to a home‐grown channel like Sky
News Arabia with our staff of 420
Arabic speaking journalists. I think
the main challenge in the region is
not the number of channels but
more technology and how you get
your content to viewers, and what
the role of social media is for the
distribution of your content. We see
that content distributed on social
media is increasing, especially in
the video area. How to use this,
how to grow this, those are the
questions broadcasters should be
asking.
How do you grow new talent?
The competition and the number of
channels is great for young
professionals. For us, being based
in Abu Dhabi, it is important to
bring new Emirati talent into the
market so we have an internship for
Emirati graduates where we give
them intensive training and then
open the opportunity for them to
either work with us or someone
else. You need to make sure from
the first day that they enter the
building that they feel the right
things about what you are trying to
achieve, and back that up with
proper on‐job training and editorial
guidance and standards on how to
write things and how to describe
things in the right way.
How important is sport in your output?
In terms of minute by minute we
probably do a lot more than others
when it comes to news channels,
and thatʹs again part of our DNA.
But unfortunately sports rights are
very difficult and expensive. And
owning sports rights and having
the rights to broadcast sports news
footage are two different things,
and thatʹs a concept that is not
available in the region. There isnʹt
an agreement amongst broadcasters
that using 20 second clips in the
news is acceptable. Someone has to
start that conversation. In the past
the Arab States Broadcasting Union
was the major sports rights holder
in the region. Now itʹs more
commercial with a number of
entities bidding. That makes it very
difficult – you have to rely on stills,
on graphics, on what sports news
agencies have cleared for you, or
what you can secure on your own.
What lies ahead?
Eventually all big international
trends do come our way. The
biggest challenge is: What is the
next thing? What is it that channels
need to do? How do you get your
content out there? We always have
to be innovative and the priority for
us is the editorial standards of our
news gathering and then using the
best means and capabilities to
distribute that content to all
viewers on all platforms.
Nart Bouran, thank you.
Someone
has to
start the
conversa-
tion about
having the
right to
broadcast
sports
news
footage
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www.skynewsarabia.com
