Broadcast journalism

Broadcast journalism as a career has great potential in the UAE. Aya Hussain reports

Making a career in broadcast journalism in the UAE takes talent, perseverance and hard work.

"We do maintain a keen eye on developing indigenous talent, so long as it adheres to certain prerequisites such as a proven track record, visible talent and willingness to learn and work hard towards achieving personal as well as professional objectives," said Jihad Ballout, director and corporate communications spokesperson at Al Arabiya TV.

"There is room to grow," said Keith Tomasek, adjunct professor of mass communications at the American University of Sharjah and former director of news programming with CHUM Limited's TV operations in South Western Ontario, Canada.

"Residents of the UAE would benefit from more local, privately operated TV news."

According to Tomasek, local concerns should be directed towards a "fragmented audience" which makes it hard to build a news show that would gain mass appeal.

Kenneth Starck, dean of the College of Communication and Media Sciences at Zayed University, called broadcast journalism in Dubai "close to saturation". On the contrary, Ballout views Dubai as "a hub for the communications industry".

What's next?
Starck said the next developments would be "participative and technological".

"By technological, I'm referring to media convergence where the distinction between traditional print and broadcast and even within broadcast becomes even more blurred.

"We'll have access to more and more news streaming through computers and other devices such as iPods."

Starck believes that in a world where blogging has become so common, everyone is a potential journalist. Everyone has the chance to express opinions and write. This is called "citizen journalism".

Which is better - TV or print?
Starck says print and broadcast journalism share high credibility ratings.However, people seem to prefer television. He said a media survey conducted in the UAE by Zayed University students found that television was the most frequently used medium.

Eight out of 10 people watched TV daily.Fifty three per cent read a newspaper daily. A little less than 50 per cent listened to the radio everyday.

What students say ... .
Hana Yazbak, broadcast journalism junior at the American University of Sharjah (AUS), said: "I always wanted to be on TV  ... I worked hard to reach this point and I'm not going to back off now."

Another broadcast journalism junior at AUS, Eman Saeed said: "I started doing broadcast journalism mostly to explore the different types of journalism. What started out with something that was meant to last three months is now going to reach a year ... ."

The writer is a journalism student at the American University of Sharjah