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Twitter is faster than an earthquake. The micro-blogging website ran an ad campaign back in August that touted the fact that Twitter messages hit New York City before the 5.9 magnitude earthquake that shook Virginia had a chance to reach the Big Apple. The ad was meant to highlight the efficiency and speed at which information can travel through Twitter, but more importantly, it hinted at how developments in web and mobile now have the potential to upset the structure of news reporting and even bypass traditional broadcast channels.

More and more individuals nowadays turn to their social networks and channels to get information on current events and happenings. The newspaper industry has been the most obvious victim to this shift suffering a fast decline in sales and advertiser interest. Meanwhile TV news channels have been scrambling to keep up by integrating social into their news gathering and reporting.

In this regard, the ArabNet Digital Summit 2012 will include a panel entitled “The Future of News” with several leading figures from the media industry shedding light on the opportunities and challenges in light of the emergence of social media and citizen journalism.

Moderator:
Alexander McNabb - Director at Spot On Public Relations

Alexander has worked with information technology, media and communications in the Middle East for over 25 years. Alexander is an experienced presenter and public speaker as well as conference moderator, MC and workshop leader. He is a regular commentator on marketing and communications issues as well as emerging technology and communications trends and is a regular contributor to radio, television, print and web-based media.

Panelists:
Sultan Al Qassemi - UAE Columnist

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a UAE based columnist whose columns have appeared in publications within and outside the Arab Gulf region. His columns have appeared in The Gulf News, The National Newspaper, The Financial Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, The Globe and Mail amongst others.
 

Nakhle ElHage - Director of News and Current Affairs, Al Arabiya News Channel

Nakhle joined MBC Group in 1991 in London as chief sub-editor of news. He was the first Arab news editor in a Pan-Arab satellite channel and was among the first to contribute in Arabizing technology in the news business. At the inception of Al Arabiya, he established the department of Current Affairs and was responsible for the launching of 15 different programs.
 

Turi Munthe - Founder, CEO, Demotix

Turi is the CEO and founder of Demotix, the multiple-award winning image newswire, with over 6,000 reporters in 190 countries around the world. The Daily Telegraph describes Demotix as "journalism for the 21st century". He has written for many of the world’s leading English-language newspapers, appeared on CNN, BBC, NBC, al-Jazeera, Asahi, Reuters, and elsewhere, and has lectured on new media all over the world.

Nart Bouran - Head of SkyNews Arabia

Nart launched his career in television journalism in 1990 as a video journalist in the Middle East covering some of the biggest news stories of the early 1990's such as Somalia, Libya, and Palestine. He then moved to London in 1995 and became the MEA Regional Editor at Reuters Television. He joined Abu Dhabi TV, 2002, as Director of News. In 2006 Nart re-joined the Reuters News Agency where he was responsible for video products and services on the World News Service.