MBC, the Dubai-based media group, is set to grow internationally and collaborate with major Hollywood players, a senior executive said on Wednesday.
The company’s Group TV Director Ali Jaber said during a panel discussion on the second day of the Arab Media Forum that the company’s chairman was “enthused” about the media company’s future plans following a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“After (MBC Chairman) Sheikh Waleed Ibrahim met with the crown prince, he is enthused about MBC and its future growth into an international organization,” Jaber said.
“It will be responsible for important partnerships between Saudi Arabia and international organizations and Hollywood,” he added.
Joining Jaber on the panel was Lebanese singer Najwa Karam who spoke of the role social media played with celebrities. “It’s more personal and we work on it ourselves but with the experts — we have a direct line of communication with the fans,” she said.
Jaber, however, dismissed social media as being dubbed a news platform but rather called it a “communication platform.”
“When you give millions of people a line of communication, you shut down the gatekeeper, making it open for all the people,” he said.
Karam spoke of the importance of knowing the backgrounds of influencers as well as dealing with negative comments that appear on her social media posts, saying that everyone is entitled to their opinion.
“Its important to know the backgrounds of these influencers: Who are they? What did they work before?” Karam said, adding that, “morality counts.”
Jaber also explained that television is not responsible for society’s health, saying that “if we do a show about reading and viewers don’t read … then it’s not television.”
“Schools, families and governmental institutions must play this role,” he added. When asked about cyber-bullying, the group TV director said that every format has its ills, with cyber-bullying being just “cyber” with the bullying always having existed.
The Lebanese singer hit out at Google’s video-sharing website YouTube, asking the company to look out for the rights of the composers, lyricists and artists when allowing a video to be uploaded.
