Editorial

      In a society saturated with information, people often find themselves contemplating about the validity of data that seeps into their lives. Whether it is a political discussion at a family dinner or a tabloid magazine sitting in the store of a gas station, the information influx has put forth a constant need to question. News, media corporations and profitisation converge in the face of journalism and oftentimes the product of the three does not prove to be trustworthy. Not long ago, the field of journalism was sought by, what we like to call, a revolution. It was empowerment, liberation, and personalization in the palms of our audience. Citizen journalism has made its way through the advent of the internet and globalization; now with this level of progression, the world has not looked back.

     The power of witnessing events in real-time, capturing them and showcasing it to the world has opened doors to a multiplicity of perspectives. From recording the atrocities in the warzones of Syria to reading day-to-day blogs of a high school student, citizen journalism has had its fair share of bringing journalism to its supersaturated state. Therefore, channels of knowledge, data, and misinformation have appeared to be tangled for most of us, to an extent where distinguishing between credible and implausible news is a challenge. Instead of alleviating our need to question social media has, unfortunately, multiplied our concerns about the reliability of data. This constant dilemma has brought forth a need for news agencies to find a middle ground to report news that isolates information from monetary, political and even bureaucratic interests. Along with journalism, our home, Qatar has sought a wave of change as well. A change in the political spectrum has helped the nation rethink its priorities, one of which was securing the gatekeepers of the modern media landscape and to keep their people not only informed but involved.

     We saw a change in our value system, a change in the means of information, however, The Phoenix aims to push it forward using the power that exists with the people. Through being an unbiased intermediary between the entangled world of citizen journalism and systematic reporting. People require a platform that presents a public discourse, unlike the hefty news corporations who seldom democratize the channels of information. To witness a country redefine itself and open doors to the international community bring forth opportunities for us to showcase how modern media has contributed throughout this journey. We are at a time where we need to hear stories from people, from locals, from expatriates, from workers, from preachers and most importantly, from those who can present those stories in their most authentic vision. In order to present transparency and authenticity together, journalism demands a synergy between people, who are storytellers, and their institutions, who bring those stories forward. By working towards the unity between the two entities, we are on our way to witness a groundbreaking change in the modern media.

 

-By Sahar Bou Hamdan, Tayyaba Imran, and Shahan Ejaz.