#InspireMe

Sometimes we fall into the trap of feeding our audience the same stories, the same themes, and then act surprised when we’re told that people are moving away from news!

It’s not that people don’t want to follow stories about world events or read an alarming analysis on climate change. It’s not that they don’t love a good political scandal (who doesn’t?). What we find surprising, however, is that journalists sometimes forget that our job isn’t just to inform and educate, but to entertain, distract and, occasionally, to inspire.

That’s why we chose this issue to focus on inspirational stories. The theme was inspired (pun intended) by an excellent story in Asharq Al Awsat by our colleague (and SRMG Academy Fellow) Christine Habib , a heart-warming tale of a Lebanese vocal orchestra that transcends the country’s fractious sectarian and social divisions.

Among its ranks we find judges, doctors, ice cream sellers and security guards. Its conductor tells Christine that you don’t even need to have a good voice to join. We hope he doesn’t regret saying that because it’s a tempting invitation!

To prove our point, the story did amazingly well: it was the most read on the website for the day, and the video was played close to 80,000 times on Instagram last time we checked.

Scroll down for an interview with Christine on why she likes inspirational stories and how she chooses her heroes. We also must insist on informing you of other activities, including our ongoing collaboration with Al Eqtisadiah to help its team in its exciting digital transformation. Enjoy!

Alaa Shahine Salha

- Latest Updates

SRMG Academy and Al Eqtisadiah

The academy kick-started on April 15 a six-week training campaign specifically designed for Al Eqtisadiah, as part of the digital transformation plan of the business news publication. The training focuses on four components that include editorial training, visual storytelling, social media and fact-checking. Around 35 journalists chosen by editor in chief Mohammed al Bishi are being trained on the different segments, according to their specialty. All courses are given onsite, in Al Eqtisadiah’s newsroom, except fact checking, which was delivered online. The campaign should conclude in the first week of June with the social media training, to be delivered by Janay Boulos.

Headlines with negative and emotional words increase the click-through rate by 2.3%?- based on a report by Nature that discusses how negativity increases news headlines

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Full report?here

- Industry news & reports

Stop updating me!

Newsrooms often think that audiences crave those 'Update me' stories—the quick bursts of information about what's happening right now. That's why online publications flood our feeds with these updates, sometimes prioritizing speed over depth or analysis.

But here's the catch: in today's fast-paced digital world, where news is constantly buzzing and our attention spans are shrinking by the minute, these quick updates aren't always hitting the mark. SmartOcto, a digital analytics tool, found that people are starting to want more than just the latest headlines. They're looking for stories that go beyond the surface, providing deeper insights and a better understanding of what's really going on.

So, news organizations are facing a dilemma. They need to strike a balance between keeping us informed with timely updates and offering the context and analysis that keep us engaged. It's no longer enough to simply churn out updates; they also need to provide value by adding insights, perspectives, and background information.

This means integrating 'Update me' stories into broader content strategies. It might involve following up on breaking news with in-depth analysis, incorporating multimedia elements like videos or infographics to enhance understanding, or finding new ways to connect with readers through interactive features or community engagement.

That's where the 'Story Life Cycle' comes in. It's a term used to explain that news isn't just a one-and-done thing—it's a continuous process of creating, sharing, and refining content. It's about more than just hitting publish. By constantly tweaking and improving based on audience feedback and data insights, newsrooms can keep us coming back for more, even in a world overflowing with information.??

By taking this approach, newsrooms can keep readers coming back for more, even in a world overflowing with information. It's all about finding that balance between staying relevant and providing value.

To read the whole report click?here

- Short interview with

Christine Habib

Senior Journalist at Asharq Al-Awsat

A Lebanese journalist specializing in culture and arts, Christine joined Asharq Al-Awsat in 2022. She had previously served as editor in chief of Anghami music broadcasting platform, and before that she worked as a field reporter and news anchor. She studied French literature and obtained a postgraduate degree in journalism from the University of Paris 2. She has published a poetry collection.

Q&A with Christine Habib 1. ? ? ?The latest we read from you was an article about "Al-Fayhaa Choir" in Asharq Al-Awsat. What inspired you to write this article, and how do you choose subjects that have the potential to inspire your readers?

I was attending a concert by the Al-Fayhaa Choir on Christmas Day last December in Beirut. It was a highly professional and magical concert that was very emotional and moving for me as I watched them. I thought that there must be people among them who work in ordinary professions and come at night to rehearse and sing in the choir. I thought that if we could tell the story of these people, we could depict the contrast between their daily life and their lives with the choir. That's when the idea was born, and this was five months ago. As for how I choose topics that can inspire readers, I always go for the human side. I like the angle to be human. I like it to be a success story of someone who started their journey in any field with difficulty and did not imagine that they could reach success, and I like it to be about people from the general public, people who look like us, so that readers can identify with the stories of simple people that inspire our story of success.

2. ? ? ?In your storytelling, you managed to capture both the personal and collective achievements of "Al-Fayhaa Choir" What is your secret to blending individual narratives with broader social and cultural themes in long-form articles??

We learned, whether in university or in our professional experiences, that the story of a person can be a great introduction to a smart article or photo reportage based on the fact that today, the reader and the viewer seriously need to identify with someone who resembles them. From this standpoint, I like to tell individual stories, and from there I enter to the “expected topics.” When you tell the story of a choir, the reader expects that they will read about the music, about the type of songs and how they train. The reader might not expect to read individual stories that go along with this musical choir. It is nice to surprise the reader and color to the text or color in the video with individual stories that are inspiring. This way, the audience can identify with the characters and say, if so-and-so made a success story or if so-and-so who is an ordinary person was able to create joy for themselves, why can't I do the same thing??

3. ? ? Your writing highlights the transformative power of music and community. How do you believe stories like that of "Al-Fayhaa Choir" contribute to a deeper understanding of cultural and social resilience among your readers?

When you tell such a story, you are delivering a social story, a story about a nation. When I filmed with them and saw the people there who are from different religions and political affiliations but have become friends. There is not only musical coherence between them but also a humanitarian understanding. When I saw that, I realized that art could create miracles and I wish there were many other initiatives like this choir in Lebanon to break the biases and all the superficial differences such as politics that are breaking and destroying culture and traditions. This choir reflects how the Lebanese society could become on its own if it were left without the interference of politics and religion.?

4. ? ?The article is accompanied by a video about "Al-Fayhaa Choir" How do you choose what the video will show to complement the article rather than replace it? And what is the goal of producing both the video and the article on the same topic?

Not all articles are accompanied by videos. There needs to be a reason to have a video, especially since we are talking about the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, which is a readable media outlet and is not television or just social media. I often think that there is a subject that should be seen by the audience of the newspaper, I start thinking about how I want to get that to them.

The point of having a video and an article on the same topic is because this topic benefits from the video. Their music and their voices are magical, and I couldn’t imagine that I was only writing an article about this. Because they deserve to be heard, that their story is told visually, I decided to use the video.

I filmed on my own, it was a pleasure for me to do that. I filmed a lot and then selected the bits I wanted to use. Although there was a lot of work and editing, it was still a pleasure to do that. When I am still producing, before publishing, I feel if I am working with love or not. In this story, the main ingredient was that I worked on this with love without being biased in delivering the story.