by Bennette Roach –
In the following are excerpts from an article by Mohammed Al Otaiba with the above caption, published on July 28, 2015.
Otaiba writes: “A willing leadership is best positioned to face unforeseen situations. And while oil has served the UAE well, our continued prosperity requires further anchors to the world of trade and commerce. Thankfully, we are doing just that. The government is spearheading new industries – from building giant aeronautical parts to micro-scale electronic circuitries. Our young are being encouraged to explore the wide commercial landscape, to determine and exploit the opportunities that present themselves to small, nimble enterprises. All this has been an exercise in courage, to break through the comfort of what has worked before and to attempt new things. From this we are transitioning to what are new economies, both large and small.”
Montserrat is so privileged. It has no debts, due primarily to the facts, 55% – 60% of its government’s recurrent budget being paid by Her Majesty’s Government (HMG), along with its capital budget and a commitment to assist in making Montserrat self-sufficient by 2020. All it is asked to do is accept and practice a “partnership” agreed between HMG and its Overseas Territories (OTs), which encompasses and practice Good Governance. HMG has constantly acknowledged and offers to treat Montserrat in accordance with its special circumstances and needs, because of a tragedy it faced beginning 20 years ago in July 1995, when volcanic eruptions destroyed Montserrat (most of it) not known ever before.
Otabia, writing in the UAE National Newspaper’ says: “We, as a newspaper, have a part to play in this transition and we can help the media sector become a stout pillar of the new economy.
“This new paradigm in economics is driven, of course, by expertise and ingenuity. But genius is only the starting point. Our new industries are propelled by information, by “knowledge” about our competitors, by innovation and by many more things. It may seem surprising, even ironic, that our new economy should be predicated on an idea that is so resolutely old world: the role of media – news outlets, for one – to secure a stream of “knowledge” to drive commerce.
“Now, it might appear that all we need to do is to rededicate ourselves to the traditional virtues of journalism in the region. The reality, however, is that our new economy requires a new journalism that fits the purpose. Just as our economy is being retooled, our news media needs rejuvenation and regeneration as well.
“We are attempting to do precisely that at this newspaper. Each day, we strive to add a page to a new Emirati journalism that suits the country’s best interests. We do this by attempting to put stories into their appropriate context. We try to take information – raw news – and transform it into useful “knowledge”. We are keenly aware of the role we must play in the national economic interest.”
At The Montserrat Reporter the expression of this is to those who should be rushing to understand this, in and at the appropriate places, but the situation in fact gets worse as it appears there is a serious misunderstanding of ‘knowledge’, ‘information’ and ‘education’. Somehow even though TMR has been a forerunner in ‘social media’, no one understands better than us and thus we crave that same understanding; it is really a small but also important part of the ‘media family.’
The rest of the article may be read in the whole article at www.themontserratreporter.com at TMR’s Facebook page and on twitter, under the same caption.
It may be surprising to note that support is sought in a place like UAE, but the reality is that we can well imagine the case is far more acute in Montserrat where it is badness, selfishness rather than ignorance that prevents us from this understanding. The simple answer of course, is the strive to Good Governance
We at TMR can identify with everything said in the article as it relates to Montserrat. WE would challenge anyone to show us different, even DFID who 16 years ago charged that our journalism was bias towards Montserrat. They and the others muss asses us now down through the years.
The article says: “Although The National has played an important role in the development of journalism in the UAE, there is more to do. We welcome that challenge. We must continue – together – to redefine UAE journalism to the needs of the times.”
This, but for the severe lack of support, is exactly where TMR wants to be, in spite of all the discouraging actions and behavior, and starvation.
See: “Two major media houses to merge operations.” This story comes out of Jamaica, understand the relevance.
