The workshop underscored the growing importance of smart phones in media work and their role in the rapid dissemination of information and production of news stories -- visual, audio and print -- today. It introduced participants to key applications and software for producing content and to various display platforms.

The SPC workshop stressed the need to take into account journalistic values, ethics and principles, together with the privacy of others. It outlined best ways of harnessing modern communication technologies and social media in the media industry, as well as methods of achieving the widest dissemination of content, including planning, determination of target audience, timing, and selection of appropriate display platform.

The Mobile Press workshop featured exercises in which participants produced press content using their mobile phones.

HE Tariq Saeed Allay, Director of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau, said the SPC strives to keep abreast of latest changes and trends in the press and media sector and to enhance the capabilities of journalists and media professionals in keeping pace with these developments.

He pointed out that smart phones are becoming an integral part of the media industry, especially with the rapid advancement being witnessed in digital media, and the ability of these phones to produce media content, across various stages from editing to final broadcasting or publishing.

Allay noted that the Club, as an ideal networking and professional platform of the media fraternity in the UAE, seeks to offer a variety of training opportunities for government media professionals, journalists as well as students of communication and media, in collaboration with local and international institutions besides organising events and meetings that serve the press and media sector.