Coronavirus: How the Covid-19 pandemic prompted digital transformation in UAE media industry

Dubai - A survey conducted in the country addressed the UAE media amidst the global challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

An industry survey in the UAE has gathered insights from media professionals and journalists from Arab and international organizations.

The survey has addressed the UAE media amidst the global challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and their overall impact on the industry.
The survey underlined the pandemic's major role in accelerating the digital transformation of print media institutions, which was presumably planned for a full transformation to take place over the coming years. It also highlighted the importance of upgrading digital media content within the plan to make the print editions obsolete. On the other side, respondents indicated that the main challenges they faced under these exceptional global circumstances are as follows: Difficulty to get interviews, delay in submitting material, as well as the difficulty in accessing information.
The research team, conducting the survey concluded the study with a set of recommendations, including: It is essential to expedite an integrated digitization process, developing mechanisms and laws governing the remote working operations, adopting alternative sources of finance to avert financial crises, as well as the progressive reduction of print media and giving greater focus to online.
Journalists in the print media made up 48.3 per cent of the total survey participants, while participants working in the broadcast and digital media constituted 33.3 per cent and 18.4 per cent, respectively. Respondents' job positions varied between reporters and editors (39.8 per cent), managers (21.6 per cent), freelancers (26.1 per cent) and presenters and producers (12.5 per cent ). 74.2 per cent of all respondents had worked remotely during quarantine, while 25.8 per cent worked out of their offices.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com