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Wilson feels that her staff can benefit from spending time on both sides of the camera. Employees at the City 7 studio are encouraged to try different job roles, presenting, producing and editing, in order to gain a better understanding of their colleague’s specific requirements.

In a more mature market, achieving the highest possible standard of content could be as simple as teaching staff how to use the newest piece of technology bought by the channel's benefactor. Wilson says there are more fundamental issues to be wrestled with in the Middle East.

"I have to instil basic skills in staff. It is a very young market and people have got used to doing things in a way that is perhaps not very disciplined. My style of management is to allow staff the responsibility to evolve through doing rather than observing. They ask themselves ‘how am I going to get better, how am I going to make the station better' instead of me telling them how to do that," she explains.

"People have preconceived ideas about City 7; they think it should be the same quality as Sky News, CNN or ABC but that's not going to happen immediately. Because this is a new market, people should sit back and allow it to grow and evolve. It's brand new, it's a baby and it has to be nurtured."

The target audience of City 7, being an English language channel in an Arabic country, is rather mixed. American and European expatriates, some people that have lived here for years and some that may only be passing through. At her former employer in the UK, ITN, Wilson gained experience identifying and tailoring local content for a diverse audience. ITN has always placed huge emphasis on its regional news programming, splitting the UK into fourteen sections, each with its own newsroom.

"I think people like to own part of where they live even if they aren't there for long. It makes them feel secure and you can do that through a TV channel," explains Wilson. "The viewers can identify with the people on the screen and the news itself. We try to create more ownership of the stories for the viewer."

The level of professional standards is likely to advance as the workforce gains experience over time, claims Wilson.

Waiting for improvements in infrastructure on the other hand, is not something that typically creates a problem in Dubai, she adds.

"The amazing thing about Dubai and about the company is that if something needs to change, it will be changed immediately. That's what I love about it here. In the UK, you would have to wait a couple of years for something to change. In Dubai, things can happen overnight, literally! I came here as senior news anchor of the 7 and 10 pm bulletins and to produce some occasional one-off documentaries. Now I am the director of news. It's been a bit of a whirlwind four months."

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