Innovation MediaLab – Opening seminar

To support the production of innovative French-language editorial content in Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, members of the 5 media partners of the project (chief editors and journalists) took part in the opening seminar of Innovation MediaLab held in Beirut on 12 and 13 February 2019.

Four themes at the heart of the event

• digital audience: a central and quantified figure of editorial offerings;
• innovating by establishing a relationship of trust with the audience;
• innovating with new editorial formats;
• considering innovative and/or alternative funding to develop high-quality online content

which were the focus of:

• a thirty-minute session led by three French digital journalists and a marketing expert: Diane Jean, Eric Le Bras, Laurent Mauriac and David Rofé,
• a process of reflection, led by each of the 5 media teams, on their own development project..

Lastly, at a time when democracy requires the participation and equal representation of citizens of both sexes in the economy and in decision-making, as well as in social, cultural and civic life, Nahla Chahal, Publishing Director of the Lebanese digital media outlet Assafir Al Arabi, will discuss how the question of gender is treated in the media.

Support programme

Spelling out these initial issues will help to clarify the main priorities of the support programme based on the specific objectives defined by the project:

• individualised support in the development of digital editorial content;
• individualised support to enhance access to editorial content;
• tailored advice for the reinforcement/definition of the economic model;
• group training courses in web writing in all its forms (videos, podcasts, audience interaction, data visualisation).

French- and Arabic-language media outlets in the Maghreb and Lebanon generating editorial content in French play a key role in promoting multilingualism, a major feature of both regions.

Giving women greater power to act – in other words, empowering them – is essential for ensuring equality, development and peace. The value of the gender approach is twofold, representing both a tool for analysis and an instrument of social change.
As an analytical tool, it allows for the socially constructed nature of gender categories to be taken into account and for the consideration of power relations. As an instrument of social change, the gender approach recognises the complex interaction of social, economic, political and ideological dimensions and does not view the integration of women in development as a separate issue.