By Hussain Sana

Physical matter is in a constant state of change – and so is the world of media and journalism. Working in media in 2025 means navigating a transitional era where adaptability and flexibility have become invaluable skills. According to the World Economic Forum, agility, flexibility and technological literacy ranked among the most in-demand skills in its Future of Jobs reports over the past several years.

While “traditional” journalism skills remain essential, new skills have emerged in the age of social media. The journalism industry, both locally and globally, has long faced decline. Yet the rise of social media platforms opened a new window of opportunity for newspapers to stage a comeback. This, in many ways, is the story of Kuwait Times – a print newspaper established in 1961 that has also become a relatable news source for Gen Z and Gen Alpha on TikTok today.

Social media has been both medicine and poison for journalism. On the one hand, these platforms created new advertising markets, giving newspapers and media outlets the financial means to sustain themselves and employ journalists – sometimes under new titles like “content creators”. On the other hand, these platforms are managed by corporations driven by profit, shaping a content playbook that tends to be shallow, fast-paced and entertaining rather than informative or useful. Viral content often succeeds not because of its value, but because it fits algorithmic preferences set by companies like X, Meta, Google and ByteDance.

To bridge the gap between traditional journalism and today’s social media, creators are advised to adapt: Be brief. Be entertaining. Sometimes even be shallow. Content performs “better” online when it fits into short, templated scripts — opening with a strong hook, closing with a call to action — and all within 30 to 60 seconds. Complex topics, themes and issues are often reduced or reshaped to match mass behavior and encourage engagement, interaction and sharing.

Another challenge shaping this landscape is Big Data. A handful of corporations have amassed unprecedented amounts of information about billions of users and their behaviors. This has raised concerns at the level of national security, with countries banning certain platforms or attempting to create local alternatives.

This outlook may seem critical, even negative, but it reflects the reality in which Kuwait Times and its alter ego, Kuwait News, now operate. We are working in an era defined by the Fourth Industrial Revolution – by digital sociology, by the rise of data science driven by Big Data, and by artificial intelligence born from machine learning. It is an age where capitalism and technology intersect in ways that reshape society.

This is the context in which we continue to build the legacy of Kuwait Times and Kuwait News – until the day we proudly pass these institutions to the next generation, who will face new challenges of their own.

Technology has brought about a radical transformation to the media world. The shift from a one-way, mass communication model to a decentralized, interactive and personalized ecosystem has reshaped the entire media landscape. With rapid technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, the transformation is at once all-pervasive and seismic.

As an old-school journalist, I often recall the days when editors placed truth and accuracy above all else. We were expected to gather facts meticulously, weigh their relevance and present them in a clear, structured narrative. Every word, every sentence carried weight. We double-checked names, spellings and figures — because even the smallest error could compromise credibility. The newsroom was a place of discipline, where the pursuit of truth was a craft as much as a duty.

The major disruptor

Today, artificial intelligence has rewritten many of those rules. Traditional journalistic norms are no longer the guiding force. AI has emerged as a major disruptor in the media world, transforming content creation, audience engagement, advertising and the very role of journalism. It automates tasks, creates personalized experiences and challenges long-standing roles, norms and business models.

This stands in sharp contrast to the practices I grew up with. Where once journalism was about rigor and responsibility, modern digital journalism emphasizes interactivity and thrives on immediacy, delivered across the Internet and social media channels. Generative AI, in particular, has supercharged this change. It enables rapid content production and personalized recommendations. Yet it also brings significant concerns: Copyright issues, job displacement, the spread of disinformation and the shrinking financial viability of publishers whose traffic is being siphoned away by AI-driven search platforms.

The media ecosystem today functions much like a living organism. Journalists, editors, advertisers, platforms and audiences are interconnected, constantly influencing each other. AI has altered the balance of this ecosystem — algorithms now shape what readers see, how advertisers reach audiences and even how stories are written. While this creates opportunities for efficiency and reach, it also risks turning the flow of information into an echo chamber where originality and objectivity are overshadowed by speed and volume. Today, delivering news has become a race against time.

Adapt, innovate

Media organizations like Kuwait Times are responding, innovating and developing new strategies in tune with these changes. As the Arabian Gulf’s first English-language daily, Kuwait Times has always adapted to technological shifts — from traditional print to online editions, from text to multimedia storytelling. Today, it is exploring new ways to engage readers directly, build trust through credible reporting, and even consider AI tools to support, rather than replace, its journalists. This balancing act — using innovation without compromising integrity — may well define the future of news.

But the deeper questions remain: Who owns AI-generated content? Can AI truly create or is it merely recycling what already exists? What happens when it is trained on copyrighted work? These questions strike at the very heart of authorship and originality.

I still remember how, in the pre-digital newsroom, an editor had to know the spellings of the world’s capitals by heart and calculate how many characters would fit into different column formats. A copyeditor was indispensable, ensuring clarity, precision and polish before a story went to print. Today, those skills have been made redundant. Technology has erased them — and with the arrival of platforms like ChatGPT, the copyeditor too has all but vanished.

So, is this disruption or revolution? Perhaps it is both. AI promises efficiency and reach, but an over-reliance on it risks diluting creativity. Instead of bold, human storytelling, we may end up with a media ecosystem flooded with algorithm-driven, formulaic content.

For someone who has witnessed the evolution of journalism over decades, the change is awe-inspiring, but also sobering. The modern media ecosystem may appear complex, but at its core it is still about people, platforms and technologies working together to create, distribute and consume information. Like a natural ecosystem, all of its components must remain interdependent.

Although the tools and formats may continue to evolve, the core principles of journalism — truth, objectivity and originality — must not be lost. Machines may process data, but they cannot replicate empathy, judgment or lived experience. That, I believe, will remain the irreplaceable role of the human journalist in an AI-driven media world.

For most people, appearing in the newspaper is an unforgettable moment. A story written about them is clipped, saved, and tucked away as a lasting reminder that their achievement was recognized and shared with the wider world. For journalists, however, seeing their names in print is an everyday reality – their bylines quietly accompany the stories of others. It is routine, not rarity.

And yet, sometimes the roles reverse. The reporter becomes the reported, the storyteller becomes the story. In those rare moments, a journalist finds themselves featured in the very pages they usually help to fill.

Although I am more of a newshound than a newsmaker, my first appearance in Kuwait Times was as a 9-year-old, when I took part in a fancy dress competition at a party hosted by the Malaysian ambassador. (My father worked at the embassy as a translator.) My photo — dressed as a “sheikh” and performing the Ardha dance — appeared in the Weekender magazine in November 1988.

As a young adult, I occasionally appeared in the paper for my Scrabble exploits in Kuwait, across the Gulf, and beyond. More recently, I found myself in the news as an artist, after painting a mural in the disused printing press.

May 2004

January 2009

November 1988

I see this shift as more than novelty. It is a gentle reminder that journalists are not only observers but also participants in the life of their community. They volunteer, create, mentor and achieve in ways that extend beyond the newsroom. When one of them is recognized in print, it highlights the shared humanity behind the headlines – that journalists, too, belong to the same fabric of society they cover each day.

For the individual journalist, the experience can feel almost disorienting. Many are more comfortable wielding the pen than being quoted, more at ease asking questions than answering them. To suddenly be the subject of a story is to surrender control of the narrative – an act both humbling and revealing.

But perhaps that is the quiet beauty of it. When journalists become the story, it reminds us of a simple truth: Those who chronicle lives and milestones also live their own, full of meaning and worthy of recognition. Their names may appear daily, but every so often, they appear differently – not as bylines, but as headlines. And that, for a journalist, is something special indeed.