At the Third Annual Arab Press Forum held in Beirut, Lebanon by the World Association of Newspapers, some of the Arab World's top editors and publishers joined to discuss the state of the press. The underlying theme of each conference session was the difficulties that Arab newspapers face in publishing news under governments that often repress journalists.

In the third session, entitled Opportunities and Choices Facing Arab Newspaper Editors, panelists presented some ideas that could be useful for editors around the world:

Focusing on professional training
Mohammad Al Rumaihi, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Awan, Kuwait

Unlike some of his colleagues, Dr Rumaihi says he doesn't suffer from
government repression. He has two other problems.

"I'm not suffering from government repression but from social forces in the
country," he said. The second problem is the low level of professionalism
among journalists.

"The issue of training is of key importance, and this importance in the Arab
world requires very deep vision of how we can change the culture of the
journalists and journalism," he says.

Mr Rumaihi's presentation focused on the growth of Kuwait's press industry,
fueled by a rapid growth in population. Where a monopoly press existed two
years ago, Kuwait now has at least 16 daily newspapers, private television,
and continues to grow, he says.

Can free papers find a market in the Arab world?
Ahmed Nachatti, Editor-in-Chief, Assada Almassala, Morocco

The newspaper market in Morocco is severely limited, says Mr Nachatti -
total circulation of about 350,000 copies a day, "a catastrophic situation
in a country of more than 30 million."

Mr Nachatti believes he has an answer, with the first Arabic-language free
sheet in the region. But it is a free newspaper with a difference - a strong
focus is put on the professional training of the staff, who do "social
journalism".

"Hundreds of citizens call us every day asking us to publish their problems
for which they don't find space in other newspapers,' he says. "So, through
a new product, we try to reach everyone -- in bus stations, cafes, the small
lanes, everywhere."

"What is important to us is upgrading the profession and updating it and
working with real journalism," he says. "A certain level of journalism is
that competitive and can enter the market.

"By doing this, we can attract advertisers and the state can't interfere
much," he says. "The more the journalist works on his article, the more
professionalism he shows, the closer he is to the real aspirations of the
people, and the more the citizens come to us. It will be more and more
difficult for the state to curb freedom of expression."

A pessimistic view of the future
Hazem Ameen, Columnist of the UK-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat, Saudi
Arabia

Mr Ameen apologized for not being as optimistic about the future of
independent Arab newspapers as his colleagues. And, since the conference is
in Beirut, he used the situation in Lebanon to illustrate why he felt this
way.

"Can newspapers overcome the division of Lebanon in the last three years? My
feeling is no," he says.

Mr Ameen says Lebanese newspapers are as divided as the country's population
and often report diverging accounts of the same event - even reporting
different election results, for example.

"The next day, neither side recognises an error, issues a correction,
doesn't explain," he says. "If this is the situation of the newspaper
business in Lebanon, how will it be for investigative journalism? It doesn't
matter if we have the techniques, this is a hurdle for any investigative
reporting. The news they choose depends only on their political position in
Lebanon."

Mr Ameen challenged the audience to commit to objective reporting and "a
minimal level of ethics."