RiyadhCiti.com - Lifestyle Magazine

TwoFour54, the emirate’s media free zone, is an excellent vehicle for this strategy. It was created to free investors of needing a local partner, allowing local content producers and international concerns alike to set up on the fly.

TwoFour54 is working to address the drastic imbalance between English and Arabic content in mainstream media. Its creed: content creation — turning the region from mere consumer to creator and mediator in global discourse. TwoFour54 has already become a haven for international names such as CNN, Financial Times, Bloomberg News, Thomas Reuters, Viacom and others.

International superbrands benefit Abu Dhabi in two ways. First, they generate business and employment. Second and perhaps more important, their global cachet attracts other businesses. Their logos are excellent marketing devices, and their lure builds support industries around them. As large producers, they cannot exist without smaller firms servicing their physical and expertise needs – from camera repairmen to voiceover artists. The result is the economies of scale that were the driving force behind the industrial revolution, with Detroit becoming the center not just for automobile production but for ancillary services, causing other areas to become uniquely geared to industries like textiles.

Then there is The National, Abu Dhabi’s flagship newspaper, staffed by journalists who worked in places like Fleet Street and noteworthy publications like the Wall Street Journal. The National has weathered well the financial problems that have blighted many of its competitors.

Abu Dhabi is operating according to a game plan dubbed the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030. Operating on the belief that media and culture are crucial components of a global city, Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 is working improve skills and expertise, improving transparency while maintaining responsibility to culture and values.

It’s a delicate balance, but one Abu Dhabi is prepared to strike. With all its gleaming edifices and media investments, Abu Dhabi must also take into consideration tradition and values reflected in media production and expression. There is a traditional tolerance of media – but with limits. A journalist once observed that the sort of people who produce award-winning dramas can sometimes be the sort to run naked down the street after an all-night binge. And that Abu Dhabi cannot and will not allow. So the challenge for Abu Dhabi will be to seek out creative minds while preserving the values of its land and people.

Singapore’s experience will provide valuable lessons. In recent years, that country attempted to modernize its media systems on the belief that investment and infrastructure alone would be sufficient to attract the brightest minds. When, after much initial outlay and years of development, the carefully fabricated media zones lay largely empty and devoid of original creativity, research reports were commissioned. It was found that Singapore’s sterilized environment was not held in the highest esteem by the non-conformist types needed to power a creative revolution. The result: Singapore was forced to relax certain socio-cultural pre-conditions.

Abu Dhabi is carefully heeding these lessons as it works to strike a balance between ideology and economy. As such, it’s in the best possible position to become the media powerhouse of the region.