By Lamin Kujabi & Kumba Leigh
The Global Media Congress (GMC) 2022 came to an end at the International Exhibition Centre in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital city of Abu Dhabi on Thursday 17th November 2022.
The forum was organised and hosted by the United Arab Emirates News Agency, for media personnel, and professional and business owners from all over the world.
Some delegates from the Department of Information Services were in attendance of the 3-day maiden global media event on the special invitation of the Emirates News Agency, and they had been covering activities of the conference for Gambia Daily newspaper, as well as exhibiting the works of Gambia News Agency since its revival.
The GMC provided media practitioners and moguls a rare opportunity to exchange innovative ideas on the global media industry, facilitate crucial business connections, engage with leading suppliers from across the world, source great products, technologies, and services, inspired by impactful workshops, exciting features, and ground-breaking conference sessions with world renowned speakers.
Speaking at the closing, His Ex cellency Saeed Mohammad Al Eter, Chairperson of the Media Office of the Government of United Arab Emirates (UAE) underscored the need for media to find answers to the challenges of youth as media has great impact on human capital.
In an interview with Gambia Daily, Mr. Mohamed Al Rayssi, Chairperson of the Organising Committee of Emirates News Agency (WAM) affirmed that they have a mutual relationship and good diplomatic communication with The Gambia.
“I am hoping to see more media engagements with The Gambia, especially on content sharing, and cultures, and to receive more Gambians in the next Global Media Congress. Because this has enhanced diversity collaboration and networking,” he added.
Other international delegates had been sharing with Gambia Daily their impressions about the forum and their views on the global media landscape in general.
Eisa Alhabib, Content Creator for Nas News Arabia in Dubai, and he had this to say: “The event provides a networking space with other people in the same field of expertise or even different fields where we all learn from each other and share experiences’’. He said the media industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world but that there are concerns about this growth; whether is the security or financial regulation; hence this congress was organized to look into the future and map a way forward.
Mr.Rodolio Cardareli from Italian News Agency said his company has a long history of providing reliable information and news to Italian news agencies since 1945 and has best practices to fact-check - artificial intelligence to make sure information is reliable.
Alberto Massango Journalist for Mozambique News Agency applauded Global Media Congress for adding value to his work as a journalist; saying he is fully acquainted with the knowledge and skills on the various technological appliances on content creation, style, and creative ways of writing articles for both online and mainstream media. Adama Kante Marketing Manager and Media Person for APANEWS Dakar asserted that the GMC was a great opportunity for their media in terms of exposure, and promotionof their media as well as news publications enhancement, collaboration, connection and networking.
At the end of the event recommendations were made including one to to the UAE Government, for them to build a media academy to provide training to journalists on tolerance, as well as for intensification of advocacy on tolerance
