President of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) Abdullah bin Fahd Al-Hussein stressed today that paper press and various media forms are undertaking a transitional phase with an increasing presence of technology. He also referred to the differing perspectives when it comes to the fate of paper press saying that some media specialists believe that "paper press is a thing of the past and on its way to extinction whereas others see it as still maintaining some of its old glamour". This came during a televised interview Sky News Channel held with Al-Hussein who pointed out that journalism in general has been affected by the new changes and advances in media-related technologies thus creating a need for change in the long-established ways of journalism in terms of dealing with news sources. He informed Sky News that "In light of the huge current flow of news, newspapers nowadays are in a dire need to bolster their capabilities to ensure quick and immediate access to the recipient. I say "recipients" because people can receive news on their mobile phones and portable devices exactly in the same way they would receive them through newspapers. Therefore, there is a general tendency in journalism to adopt the two essential directions to achieve success". Commenting on the extensive coverage of special news items or news relevant to specific geographic areas or political and social events, Al-Hussein said that news agencies do not offer the aforementioned aspects as compared to covering other aspects complementary to journalism which offer easy access to usually inaccessible news material. Speaking of newspapers future needs, SPA President said: "Over the next phase and in light of the increasing technological advances, newspapers do not offer the old paper editions only but instead have turned to offering a mixture of journalistic services on all available platforms such as text news, videos and websites". He also pointed out that the need to cover the aspects not accessible by newspapers is on the rise such as investment in TV reports production stressing that newspapers are trying to catch up with the rapid advances in journalistic production which have weighed on newspapers owners and publishers thus causing the demise of some and the rise of others. --More 21:32 LOCAL TIME 18:32 GMT تغريد
