Watani’s 4 June 2023 issue carried an interview with Khaled al-Balshy, Head of the Journalists Syndicate; the interview had been posted on www.wataninet.com on 30 May. The talk involved bold, candid discussions of the challenges facing journalism as a profession, including an assessment of the current situation and an exploration of the outlook for change. Mr Balshy declared his intention of holding a general conference at the outset of 2024 to discuss journalism and the problems it faces as a profession. Furthermore, he said there was an intention of holding a conference to discuss the economics of the journalism industry, specifically of printed papers.
Speaking for Watani, our challenges lie not in the professional aspects of journalism that other fellow news outlets may be encountering. Regarding freedom of expression, Watani handles that challenge through consistently honouring its professional commitment to meticulous, accurate, credible reporting; also through respecting free opinion by adhering to the ethics of dialogue and difference, and steering clear of verbal battles. When it comes to securing the jobs of those working in Watani, this was realised years ago when Watani took strict decisions to completely separate the reporters’ work from the financial situation of Watani Corporation.
However, economic trials remain as the challenge that eclipses all others where the future of print journalism is concerned. I thus keenly await the resolutions to be issued by the economic conference which the Journalists Syndicate plans to host. Facts on the ground affirm that as long as the prices of paper and other printing requirements continue to rise, the burdens of financing print papers will keep swelling. Coincidentally, the revenue of print papers keeps declining, given that their only legal sources of revenue, according to regulations by the Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR), are sales, subscriptions, and advertisements. As more and more readers resort to reading news and papers on the Internet, the gap between revenue and cost gets larger, and the future of print papers looks bleaker by the day.
I believe I belong to the last generation of readers of print paper. Yet I am pragmatic about the inevitability of their leaving the stage to digital versions. This is an on-the-ground fact, regardless of the revenue-to-cost ratio. It is the reality of a new era with new characteristics, tools and technology for sharing information and swiftly reporting events and following up on them. The market will have the final say, subject to the eternal law of supply and demand for a given product, in this case print paper. Today’s consumers, our children and grandchildren, have given up print papers in favour of electronic ones and digital news.
If we are serious about media outlets that can thrive in the present and future, we must quit the stubbornness of insisting that printed paper is indispensable and could never go away. This would be no more than vanity and a denial of the birth of a new era of media and information, as well as futile resistance to the inevitability of handing over to new generations. In this context, I tell all who are in charge of print papers that those who wish to have a place in the journalism of tomorrow must avail themselves of the tools of electronic journalism. They must equip themselves to attract readers and followers, bracing themselves to substitute digital content for their print content.
Among the promising aspects in this context, is the initiative by news outlets who publish in both print and electronic forms to offer their online readers PDF versions of their printed papers. This, I believe, may satisfy the appetite of those of my generation who, not being used to the online presentation and breakdown of news and stories to fit into various categories of a news website, still favour the paper interface.
Change is inevitably coming, and there is no pushing it back. Yet the critical issue and the challenge facing both Journalists Syndicate and SCMR remains: What to do vis-à-vis the losses incurred by press corporations, which are bound to be carried over when they shift to electronic media? How can we work on securing sustainable resources sufficient to fund their activity without having to resort to ‘aid’ doled out by the Syndicate in the form of monthly bonuses to the journalists for occupational hazards, placing them thus under the mercy of the government? How can we secure independent financial resources for the Syndicate and legal support resources for the SCMR that would at the same time guarantee the independence and dignity of the digital media outlets of tomorrow?
Watani International
9 June 2023