The English Language Section at the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University, organized a seminar entitled The Road to International Success in the Media Industry, which was held under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Hanan Gunaid, Faculty Dean and under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Nermine Al-Azrak, Head of the English Department at the Faculty, with the participation of Mr. Khaled Al Baramawi Journalist and TV presenter , Mrs Mona Salman TV presenter , Mr Ahmed Esmat Media Technology and Didital Transformation Consultant and Media Entrepreneur, Mr Mohamed Zidan investigative Journalist and international media trainer.

At the beginning of the seminar’s activities, Prof. Dr. Hanan Gunaid welcomed the guests speakers and praised the students and encouraged them to develop their skills and to learn the capabilities needed in the new media industry, then Dr. Nermine Al-Azrak welcomed the guest speakers as well as the attendance of students from different academic levels in the faculty, noting that this seminar comes within the framework of the faculty and the English section’s keenness to give advice to students through meeting with practitioners in the field of media work to give the greatest benefit to students on how to develop their skills to be ready for the labor market and to become influential media professionals.

Journalist Khaled Al-Barmawi said during his speech that the media is an industry and a profession, and in light of the economic crises suffered by media institutions around the world, including digital media institutions, the media graduate has a challenge to develop his skills and increase his media work skills in light of the revolutionary and radical changes that have occurred In the media industry and the need to keep pace with these changes.

Al-Barmawi added: “The media student must understand the labor market and the tools, skills and knowledge you need in order to have a place in the media industry, discover the skills that you have during the academic years, continue research and try everything, don’t be afraid of making mistakes, and obtain online training courses to be a distinguished and different media person from your colleagues”.

Al-Barmawi mentioned a number of skills that those who work in the media industry must possess, the most important of which is the skill of collecting information, whether an editor, photographer, or reporter who uses the mobile phone, especially in the midst of the false information that surrounds us and the lack of reliable sources. Then the skill of processing such as montage, editing, graphic design for images and video, augmented reality, proof reading, and dealing with artificial intelligence. Then comes the skill of distributing or marketing content on digital platforms, a step that did not exist in the traditional media industry, and here the skill of working on social media appears. .

Al-Barmawi added, directing his speech to the students:” Meet the desires of the masses through diverse content and application of professional standards, Develop skills, tools and applications that you work on during studying at the faculty, benefit from the basic rules of the media you learn as a student such as accuracy, objectivity, professionalism, fairness, verification of news, impartiality, documentation of information, and the difference between audience types, patterns and desires.

At the end of his speech, he praised the students of the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University in particular, and that they have a bright and brilliant future if they are able to develop their skills and follow up on everything new in the media arena, especially digital media.

TV Presenter Mona Salman said that the media graduate must learn everything that is new to keep pace with technological progress and digital media, because the media now has not become just traditional media jobs such as a broadcaster or journalist, but rather to be a comprehensive media person (one man show) who creates the content he provides, in light of the large number of media departments and faculties in Egypt, and that the graduate should possess various new skills, beside the traditional skills such as good English language, fluent Arabic language, general knowledge, sufficient amount of information.

Salman explained that the shape of the media profession has changed, the journalist now owns the tools, and journalism has become the context, and putting information in the context is the most important thing, as well as the TV broadcaster`s profession which has evolved and become more complex, and the broadcaster must learn new skills, for example, live coverage has become a great challenge now.
She added that the journalist should have enough information about the topic he is covering and the sources or people within the topic, such as covering a session in a conference, he should know the attendees, speakers, their backgrounds and positions, and thus be distinguished from other journalists.

At the end of her speech, Salman gave a set of advice to the students: “In order to compete, I must have an understanding of the nature of my profession and why I work, and to have my own style and personal imprint, be yourself and know your points of distinction and focus on them, Do your Research, it is now very easy because of the internet you can do any research on google, learn to work on new platforms, improve your Arabic language and learn from the surroundings, update your skills, and learn everything new, so that you behave professionally in any situation you face."
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Digital Media Consultant Ahmed Esmat said: “The shape and form of the media profession has completely changed now. There is a robot that broadcasts news 24 hours a day in the official news agency in China. So the traditional jobs in the media have changed, and every media graduate must learn new programs and skills, in addition to learning the skills of writing, press coverage and photography and program directing and other media basics that the student studies during the academic years, the media students must possess a set of new tools and skills in light of the successive new developments and media transformation”.

Esmat addressed the students with the skills they should have or learn to be a part in the new digital media, first of all learning presentation skills and body language, developing Arabic language skills, learning different tools like design, photoshop and graphics, the basics of designing, and the basics of programming and taking advantage of the initiatives offered by various ministries such as the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, to attend various training courses they offer to develop skills in the field of digital media.
Adding that “The world is open and people are open to different cultures and different contexts affect us in Egypt, Various tools and traditional functions are no longer exist, one should understand the nature of the media industry and the context in which it operates – the local, regional and global contexts”.

Esmat assured that Social media is not the new media anymore but the digital media became the new media now, Digital media is the whole idea not only platforms like the social media platforms, and that the digital media has many different formats like e-commerce, e-gaming…
Finally he gave advice to the students:” You should be creative and present your own content not presenting the already made online content or templates, you should have the enough skills to be yourself, You should exert effort during the academic years and doing the projects, Make mistakes and learn from them, get training during the summer vacation to face the media labor market”.

At the end of his speech, Esmat praised the students and graduates of the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University in particular, and that it was a wonderful opportunity for them to join the university, and it has weight in the media labor market.

Journalist Mohamed Zidan said: “The fields of media work differed, and the journalist who does not develop himself is unable to continue in the media work. For example, press investigations have changed their shape in the new media. They are no longer just long written investigations, but it has become possible to make a digital investigation of three to four minutes, which attracts the attention of the public audience more. Traditional media jobs disappeared due to the emergence of new alternatives and the digital media platforms”.

Zidan added that the basics of traditional journalism must be learned, in addition to the need for constant development in order to keep pace with technological developments in the new digital media.
He advised students to join internships and training courses during their studying academic years and interact in the street to learn, gain experience on how to deal with individuals and sources as the most important skill in a professional journalist is the ability to find solutions.

“You must be creative, develop you skills, improve your English and Arabic language, Learn a second foreign language beside English, Learn the basics of design, Learn to use the mobile phone in photography and video shooting, and use new software programs of editing, video Recording, audio clips, montage, and try doing Podcast”, Zidan added.
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By Sara Sherif