Head of the National Authority for the Press (NAP) Abdel-Sadek Al-Shorbagi announced on Saturday that NAP has launched Spot, a new online publication.

“Spot aims to provide easy access to the news published by national press organisations in an attractive way that makes use of the latest information technology,” he said.

Currently in an experimental stage, coordination between NAP and the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology to refine the service is ongoing.

Spot replaces NAP’s older Nabd application which had faced a number of technical problems. The publication will act as an online gateway for millions of readers to keep abreast of the latest developments taking place in Egypt and the Arab world. “Spot will not be confined to republishing the national media’s online material and content, it will also publish its own news,” said Al-Shorbagy. “We will focus on feature stories, and the production of videos, infographics and tables.”

Staff operating the publication have received intensive training, overseen by Google experts in Dubai at the United Arab Emirates, in online journalism and video montage.

The service will be both in Arabic and English and has been designed to become a centre of training for young journalists seeking to keep abreast of the latest media technology.

“In the end,” said Al-Shorbagi, “Spot will be an Egyptian and Arab media hub competing with major Western press organisations.”

Sameh Abdallah, editor-in-chief of Spot and a member of NAP board, said Spot was continuing with its initial “experimental launch”, explaining that while the current focus is on republishing national media content new services will soon be introduced.

“Currently we are republishing the best material from national press online portals, formatting them more attractively and supplementing them with videos and pictures, allowing readers to access the best of what is being published on a single portal.”

Ahmed Salah, in charge of implementing Spot’s technological infrastructure, said the portal had been designed to withstand infiltration and that reporters would receive the highest level of technical support in overcoming obstacles such as disruption to Internet lines. The new portal can be accessed at spot.eg

*A version of this article appears in print in the 1 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.