Princess Rym Ali
Former producer and correspondent for CNN, BBC and Dubai TV, Founder of Jordan Medi Institute (JMI)
Princess Rym comes from the media world and speaks on how media is affecting people’s views and opinions rather than informing them of facts. How this impacts choices in terms of democracy is covered.
Full Profile
About Princess Rym Ali
Princess Rym Ali stands out as one of the Arab world’s leading voices on the transformative power—and risks—of media in society. As Founder of the Jordan Media Institute (JMI), she has spearheaded efforts to elevate standards in journalism and anchor media education across the region, nurturing new generations of ethical communicators and critical thinkers. Currently President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, she champions Euro-Mediterranean dialogue and collaboration, further deepening her influence on global conversations about freedom of speech, democracy, and information literacy.
Drawing from her distinguished background as an award-winning journalist for CNN, BBC, and UPI, Princess Rym brings unique, deeply informed insight into how today’s media shapes public opinion, the critical role of higher education in democratic culture, and why information overload doesn’t always make us wiser. With degrees from Columbia University, the Sorbonne, and Sciences Po Paris, she delivers thought-provoking, actionable content tailored to business leaders, educators, and policymakers navigating unprecedented change in the digital age.
Business Challenges Addressed
Princess Rym addresses multiple business-critical themes, including:
- Organisational and Brand Reputation: Understanding how media framing and misinformation impact public trust and corporate credibility in a polarised world.
- Democracy and Civic Engagement: Building inclusive workplace cultures and supporting democratic values through transparent communication and media education.
- Leadership in Digital Transformation: Navigating the firehose of information, mitigating fatigue, and cultivating digital literacy at all levels of an organisation.
- Diversity and Social Impact: Advocating for women’s leadership in media and film, and leveraging Ubuntu (“I am because we are”) for team cohesion and social responsibility.
- Change Management: Helping leadership teams adapt to media disruption, from shifting audience expectations to personalised news cycles and the risks of echo chambers.
Notable Achievements
- Founder, Jordan Media Institute, advancing journalism excellence across the Arab world
- President, Anna Lindh Foundation for intercultural dialogue
- Former Board member, Royal Film Commission – Jordan
- Former correspondent and producer for CNN, BBC, and international outlets
- Decorated by the French government as a Knight of the Legion of Honour
- Recipient of Columbia University Journalism Award and the Global Thinkers Forum Award for Excellence in Media
Princess Rym Ali’s presentations equip audiences with the critical tools to navigate information resets, drive organisational integrity, and lead with empathy and vision in the ever-evolving media landscape.
Talks
What if the tool that frees you is the same one that binds you?
The media age was hailed as a most promising era for freedom of expression. But it doesn’t always quite feel that way. It also feels like we no longer know who really decides what is OK to publish in today’s media. There are so many media outlets, and so many media platforms, it can be dizzying to make sense of the reality around us, who is really expressing themselves behind a screen and whether they are talking freely.
We were told by many that Facebook and Twitter were bringing democracy to the Arab world.
As a former journalist, Princess Rym Ali is acutely aware of the role that the media plays in a democracy. As the Founder of an NGO that depends on funding for projects, she also hears the word democracy thrown around at almost every project proposal, aimed at “building democracy.”
As an educator, Princess Rym knows that democracy doesn’t happen in well-intended projects, or over Facebook, or Twitter. Democracy comes as the result of having built a culture of democracy. And that begins in school.
Princess Rym Ali stepped into the newly designed control room, an entire wall panel of little screens, each showing a different video. Her host proudly explained to her what the future of news was going to look like – and his company had the technology: the personalization of information and programs has been coming to us for years. On your own TV, at home, you will no longer be subjected to content dictated by editors anywhere. Based on your likes and dislikes, you can be shown only things you like to see. But what does that mean for humanity when we no longer share information or certain interpretations of this shared reality? How do you make the case for Climate Change and urge fellow humans to do what is right by Mother Earth if part of the world’s population doesn’t share the same awareness about the issue?
As Princess Rym Ali watches today’s teens juggle learning and sharing through their fingertips, she can’t help but wonder how their understanding of the world compares to hers at their age.
They can, if they want, access the same amount of information Princess Rym can today, as quickly -maybe even faster because they are more digitally literate: before she even steps out of the house, she has read a variety of news articles of her own choosing and opened links sent to her on various topics that have to do with everything from how to be a parent to how to make a given recipe to why the price of fuel is up again and who is winning in the war in Ukraine – courtesy of the great algorithms that rule her on-screen life.
In many ways, that means our teenagers and we are just as wise.
But among all that information her brain downloaded, how much of it has she truly absorbed so it is useful? Maybe being wiser is about knowing how to use that information. Have her teens learned that too?
If the Pandemic taught us anything, it is that we do not exist as individuals in a vacuum.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights tells us we have rights as individuals, and we do, of course.
The African Union’s Charter of Human and People’s Rights reminds us that the enjoyment of our rights is tied to the performance and duties of all our fellow humans.
Or, as Nelson Mandela famously said, that none of us are free until all of us are free.
That is Ubuntu.