Al Jazeera English’s experience with live blogs on its website, Shar- ik (“Share”), the innovative service which allowed the public to share clips from the field with news teams. At one point, these videos reached 1,000 in number. This work really transferred the new media culture into the newsrooms of the network’s channels. After all these successive initiatives and projects on both the tech- nical and editorial levels, which were a bit dispersed to some extent, the digital department was established in 2016 as part of Al Jazeera’s insti- tutional development. Among the objectives of establishing the digital section was to continue Al Jazeera’s leadership in digital transformation to keep pace with technological advancements, enhance Al Jazeera’s competitiveness, and consolidate its position as a leader in this sector. This digital department works to support all websites and digital ser- vices of the network’s components as well as overcome some of the disparities in this area among the network’s different departments. An- other goal is also to unify publishing systems across the network given that there were six different systems managing the network’s different sites. Establishing a digital department has saved a lot in terms of costs and enhanced the network’s role in a rapidly evolving world that is difficult to keep up with. This was done by launching, embracing and maintaining several digital initiatives and services. Since its inception, Al Jazeera’s digital unit has overseen the production and formation of a network of more than 40 digital platforms in six different languages. Conclusion The changing digital media landscape revolutionised the way tra- ditional media organisations covered the news. It showed the impor- tance of easily accessible news and information while engaging with global viewers – particularly those under the age of 30 who largely consume digital content. Al Jazeera has long recognised the impor- tance of digitisation and role of social media. Before it transformed to a network, and since its establishment, it had a forward-looking vision as its foundation, which can be described as “a digital mind-set”. It was a way to search and strive for an electronic presence in this environment by establishing digital platforms to deliver the network’s message to as many of its web visitors as possible, in various ways.
103
EN2.indd 103
20/02/2022 4:14 PM
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter