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The
DailyStar invites AUBites to join the team
By Lama Tassabehji---
In hope of exposing AUBites to new exciting ventures emerging
around the world by entrepreneurs the Corporate Communication
Program of the School of Business hosted a presentation by Mr.
Jamil Mroue, the current Editor in Chief/Publisher of the DailyStar.
Mroue advertised to a curiously gathered crowd, the new International
Herald Tribune and DailyStar relations. The October Friday 11,
presentation, that took place in AUB College Hall B1, hosted
students, faculty, staff, as well as some AUB alumni. Some students
came as requirement for a zero credit business course. Mroue
started out by discussing "a well known marketing tool." Act
global, think local or vice versa, is the tool that the DailyStar
are now implementing by deciding to go regional. Mroue shared
with the gathered how this venture came along, as pointing out
the drawbacks and vantages that came with it. The IHT started
their venture in 1997 according to Mroue. Mroue, upon hearing
about the link between the IHT and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz
and stumbling upon the name of an old co-worker of his and decided
to call him and see what it was all about. After a couple of
days the DailyStar received a proposal from the IHT, but there
were many different occurrences in this IHT venture to be considered
before the DailyStar could agree to this Ôtransformation,Õ such
as the similar language, and its regional covering. All the
other countries working with the IHT Ôglobal organizationÕ printed
the IHT alongside their own newspapers written in their native
country language. "Our whole corporate would be merged," explained
the DailyStar publisher. After many "trial and errors," according
to Mroue, "by Ayad Tassabehji, a jack of all trades and master
of many," Mroue decided to go on the journey of joining the
IHT and going regional even though " there was a guilty feeling
in the story. It is a constraint but has to be weighed with
opportunity," expressed Mroue. The designated working teams
of each country for the DailyStar and IHT will have to keep
in mind the many markets it will be servicing. Therefore many
advancements have been made to ease this change of coverage.
" Information has been pushed down the Ôfood chainÕ by magazines,
TV, and cinema...puts pressure on Newspapers to see how to relate
to reader, by transforming content," he explained. "We cannot
just tell you the news, but explain why, how it is happening."
Mario Garcia, a prominent newspaper designer, who designed the
Wall Street Journal in Europe and Asia, helped the DailyStar
in establishing its "new look." Anzima helped create localy
software programs to make communications among newsrooms easier
and more accessible, as well as communication between the newspaper
and the advertising companies. "The software allows editors
to recognize writing, and when they are writing it, so as not
to get two similar articles if not more," explained Mroue. The
11:00pm deadline would be reached much quicker, since these
programs will be solving not be depending on phones. Mroue wrapped
up the presentation by inviting the AUBites to join this expanding
business. "All of these tools are useless if we donÕt have the
right people," stated Mroue. |
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