Forum discusses media challenges

Supporting local talent and enhancing laws and policies were some of the suggestions media industry experts have broached to help media companies go regional during Northwestern University in Qatar’s (NU-Q) Qatar Media Industries Forum (QMIF).
The forum titled “Going Regional: Taking a Media Company Beyond Borders,” held at W Hotel Doha yesterday, gathered top representatives in publishing, electronic media, digital media, public relations, and advertising.
It focused on the challenges media companies face when expanding beyond national borders, discussed examples of how media companies have solved these issues and suggested ways for regional policy-makers to help enhance the regional expansion of media enterprises.
Moderated by Associate Professor Ilhem Allagui, the panel comprised Fares Akkad, head of distribution and digital business development at MBC Group; Redha Al-Haidar, board member at Tihama Holdings; and Raza Rizvi, head of Tecnology, Media and Telecommunications at Simmons and Simmons, Middle East.
Al-Haidar stressed embracing and developing the capacity of local talent as well as supporting entrepreneurs and small and medium businesses are of paramount importance.
“Governments and big companies have a role to play. They are the ones who can support and guide the transformation in the marketplace and they can do that by supporting entrepreneurs and guiding them into the right direction when it comes to developing their business,” said Al-Haidar.
He encouraged governments and big companies to pay attention on providing framework in terms of legal expertise and business development required to leverage the talents in the region.
Akkad was of the same view on a unified strategy to "support the acquisition of local talents.”
“The most developed markets have regulations that mandate that national distributor has to carry a certain percentage of locally produced content which also includes local actors and productions which really helps promote local talent,” he said.
From the legal standpoint, Rizvi said one of the challenges faced by media companies when going beyond national borders is how fragmented legal systems are across the region.
Concrete steps, he said, are needed on enhancing laws and introducing GCC-wide initiatives that can make it easier for businesses to look at a more regional footprint rather than just national footprint.
NU-Q Dean and CEO Everette E. Dennis underscored the importance of organising the biannual forum and the significant role the media industry plays as the country transforms from carbon-based to knowledge-based economy.