Print journalism in Yemen threatened by online press and technology

Participants discussed at the al-Afif the Influence of technical development in Yemeni Press

Is print journalism being killed by the rise of the online journalism? Are news websites substitutes or competitors for traditional newspapers? Did people really get sick of the papers smell and turn to their computer screens? The answers to these questions were discussed at the al-Afif Cultural Foundation last Tuesday July7, 2009.
 

Mr. Ahmed Jabr, during the discussion, read the paper presented by Mr. Mohammed al-Salehi, the managing editor of Mareb Press website, which talked about the beginning of internet usage and how this has progressively evolved to the current level.
 

He mentioned the advantages of news websites such as scoop news and video downloads, which give the website more credibility, in addition to increased interaction between author and consumer by simply posting comments to the site.
 

He also spoke about the negative aspects of these websites such as the deluge of advertisements which provid the financial security for the websites.
 

The managing editor of Al-Thawrah newspaper, Mr. Abdul-Rahman Bagash, shared with the audience some of his old memories about the exceptional circumstances that he and his colleges used to experience in the Yemeni journalism field in past days.
 

He also said that he preferred the technical development that the Yemeni press is undergoing nowadays because in his point of view the online articles are written by more professional journalists.
 

Yemen Portal website’ director, Mr. Waleed al-Saqaf, also spoke about his experience in both paper and online journalism. He believed that online journalism is less exhausting than working in a newspaper.
 

On the other hand, the short documentary film titled, “Prohibited” by the Yemeni poet Sawsan al-Ariqi was well received at the same conference. The film deals with forbidden subjects either in the press world or the culture mentality of Yemeni society.

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