‘It’s a no-brainer to go where the progress is,’ Fortune editor-in-chief tells Arab News ahead of Riyadh summit on women in business

For Alyson Shontell, editor-in-chief and chief content officer of Fortune, there’s no more exciting place for her team to be right now to covering the world of business and women’s progress than Saudi Arabia. (AFP/File)
Short Url
Updated 19 May 2025
Follow

‘It’s a no-brainer to go where the progress is,’ Fortune editor-in-chief tells Arab News ahead of Riyadh summit on women in business

  • Alyson Shontell finds Kingdom’ Vision 2030 transformation “remarkable,” so the magazine wants to see it for itself and show it to the world
  • The CCO says aim is to build a global network through which women in the Middle East feel connected to women in other parts of the world

RIYADH: The Fortune Most Powerful Women franchise, which includes an annual list of the 100 Most Powerful Women, began in 1998. Now, nearly three decades on, the publication is entering the Middle East region with the Fortune Most Powerful Women International conference in Riyadh on May 20 and 21.

“More and more women were getting into the upper ranks of business,” and “we wanted to be on the ground covering it,” said Alyson Shontell, editor-in-chief and chief content officer of Fortune.

“There’s no more exciting place for us to be right now (than Saudi Arabia) covering the world of business and women’s progress,” she added.

Despite reforms and transformation in the region, some still view it as a place with restricted freedom for women and media. However, Shontell is “excited to go in judgment-free,” and connect with women in the region and “show what they’re doing to the world,” she said.

The transformation in the Kingdom since Vision 2030 has been “remarkable” and, she added, “we want to see it for ourselves and show it to the world.

“It’s a no-brainer to go where the progress is: the Middle East.”


EXPLORE: A New Era for Business: Partnering for Global Prosperity


Fortune’s ambition is “to connect global power and the biggest businesses in the world,” and so “we would love to build the most powerful women’s network into a global network,” through which women in the Middle East feel connected to women in other parts of the world, she explained.

This year, 11 percent of Fortune 500 companies are run by women, which is the highest number it has ever been, Shontell said.

There is still a long way ahead before gender equality is reached in businesses, but “that’s a big reason why we think it’s still important to show the changing evolution of power,” she said.

Last year, Fortune also published a Most Powerful People list — “to recognize powerful people as powerful people” — and that list was dominated by men.

“That’s how the world is, and we’re not going to pretend that it’s otherwise,” Shontell said, adding that it is part of Fortune’s mission to track progress, present the world as it is, and when there are changes, to showcase them as well.




For Alyson Shontell, editor-in-chief and chief content officer of Fortune, there’s no more exciting place for her team to be right now to covering the world of business and women’s progress than Saudi Arabia. (AFP/File)

At the beginning of this year, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his second day in office calling titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”

He has issued multiple orders since then aimed at rolling back the diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI) policies of major corporations, foundations, non-profits, educational institutions and even the government.

One order, which deems DEI policies “illegal,” suggests that these policies are a “guise” for “dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences.”

The directives have raised several concerns, some around women’s participation in the workforce.

Shontell, however, remains optimistic. “There’s a pretty strong commitment from women in the United States,” she said.

“We have made a lot of progress over the last 50 years here, and I don’t think many people would like to see that backslide.”




Alyson Shontell says that despite US President Donald Trump's policies aimed at rolling back the diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI) policies of major corporations, foundations, non-profits, educational institutions and even the government, women have made a lot of progress in the United States and there is no sign of sliding back. (AFP/File photo)

Shontell herself has been part of that commitment. She joined Business Insider in 2008, as the company’s sixth employee going on to become editor-in-chief in 2016.

When she was appointed as editor-in-chief at Fortune in 2021, she became the youngest and only woman to serve in that role in the company’s 95 years.

“When you think of who the editor-in-chief of Fortune, or even Business Insider, is, you don’t think of a young woman,” Shontell said.

To illustrate her point, she said that even if one asked AI what it thought the editor of a business magazine looks like, it would draw up someone like JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO, Jamie Dimon.

And she was right. We asked Meta AI and ChatGPT: “Can you generate an image of the editor-in-chief of a major global business publication?” The former gave us four images: one of a woman and three of men, while the latter gave a single image featuring a man




There is still a long way ahead before gender equality is reached in businesses, but “that’s a big reason why we think it’s still important to show the changing evolution of power,” says Alyson Shontell. (AFP/File)

The most common reaction Shontell receives is surprise. But she doesn’t mind. Rather, she likes surprising people and the feeling that “no one sees you coming.”

It “kind of gives you something to work toward something to be extra proud of when you achieve it,” she said.

For Shontell, the industry has been nothing but change since she stepped into it, which was well after the days of leisurely business lunches and thick magazines, she says.

“A lot of the trends that we’re seeing now are just completely different than they were before,” and much of the conversation in the newsroom is around future-proofing the company, she said.

 

 

The key, according to her, is a flexible team and the knack to recognize trends and understand which ones are here to stay.

When she was at Business Insider, her goal was to get everyone to read it. Fortune, on the other hand, is not about scale.

“My goal is to continue to up our relevance and to broaden the audience just a little bit, but to keep it very much thought leadership,” she said.

Shontell explained that it is hard to run a company in a fast-changing and unpredictable world, and so, the question is: “How can we be the best asset for this global leadership reader?”

The aim is to “give them the information they need to do their jobs through the best of their abilities, so that the rest of us can all benefit from them making better decisions.”




Alyson Shontell says she doesn’t mind the still prevailing common perception about gender in the business world. She likes surprising people and the feeling that “no one sees you coming.” (Instagram: fortunempw)

Fortune was relatively slow to embrace digital media with its website only launching in 2014.

By the end of 2024, it had 24 million global users, and its social channels have a total of 7 million followers.

Still, not many younger audiences are aware of the brand or consume its content. Shontell admits that while Fortune has been very good at reaching C-suite audiences, “we have increasingly been bad at reaching the next generation and pulling them up through their career path.”

But now, with social media, she says “we have permission to show up differently on different platforms” to reach a potential reader.

That means speaking in a different tone of voice perhaps to reach GenZs and millennials on platforms like TikTok, which would be “their first experience with us,” she said.

It is a “delicate balance” of “how do you get that next gen reader so that Fortune will continue to exist and be read and widely known in 20 years, and how do you maintain that thought leadership at the same time?”

As part of this effort, Fortune is reinventing its video offering this year and launching podcasts.

Artificial intelligence is at the core of technology and any conversation about it, and undoubtedly is an “incredibly powerful tool,” said Shontell.

Despite the dangers of AI — fake news, misinformation, deepfakes — and concerns about potential job losses, Shontell believes AI will bring journalism back to its roots.

Any news or information that can be rounded up and aggregated does not need humans and will be done by AI, but that is an “exciting opportunity, because it will bring journalism back to its core roots of seeking original information and facts and bringing it to readers first with the best analysis (and) the best new information that you can get,” she said.

Shontell says that in the last decade or so, the news media industry has almost lost its way, partly because the business model is predicated on cutting through noise and grabbing attention, instead of delivering news in a way that is aligned with the news company’s specific approach.

There will be “hard change,” and news firms can either be a big publication with scale and a “solid” business model like The New York Times or Bloomberg, or a smaller, niche publication; anything in the “messy middle” will have a difficult time, she said.
 

 


WhatsApp ‘concerned’ services to be blocked after Iran calls on citizens to delete app

Updated 18 June 2025
Follow

WhatsApp ‘concerned’ services to be blocked after Iran calls on citizens to delete app

  • Iran state broadcaster urged the public on Tuesday to delete the messaging app from their devices, saying it was sharing data with arch-rival Israel
  • WhatsApp said it does not “provide bulk information to any government”

WASHINGTON: WhatsApp said it was “concerned” that its services would be blocked in Iran after a state broadcaster urged the public to delete the messaging app, saying it was sharing data with arch-rival Israel.
State television IRIB appealed to Iranians on Tuesday to delete WhatsApp from their phones, alleging that the app collected users’ personal data and “last known locations and communications,” and shared them with Israel.
On Wednesday, Israel and Iran exchanged fire for the sixth straight day, with Israel saying it struck a nuclear site near Tehran.
A WhatsApp spokesperson dismissed the IRIB claims, saying all messages sent on the app were “end-to-end encrypted,” with only the sender and recipient able to access them.
“We’re concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most,” the spokesperson told AFP.
“We do not track your precise location, we don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging and we do not track the personal messages people are sending one another,” they said.
WhatsApp also does not “provide bulk information to any government.”
Israel launched a massive bombing campaign against Iran on Friday that has hit nuclear and military facilities, as well as residential areas.
Iran has responded by launching missiles and drones, and early Wednesday said it had fired hypersonic missiles at Israel.
Tehran announced Friday that it was placing temporary restrictions on the Internet for the duration of the conflict.
Numerous sites and apps have since been at least partially inaccessible.
The authorities appealed to the public on Tuesday to “minimize their use of equipment connected to the Internet and to take appropriate precautions” online.
For their own safety, civil servants and their security teams have been banned from using any connected devices, including smartphones, watches and laptops during the Israeli air offensive.
In the wake of nationwide protests triggered by the 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, Iranian authorities had blocked several apps and online services, including WhatsApp.


All new Facebook videos to be classified as Reels soon, Meta says

Updated 18 June 2025
Follow

All new Facebook videos to be classified as Reels soon, Meta says

  • Social media giant said change would simplify how users publish visual content

LONDON: All new videos uploaded on Facebook will soon be classified as Reels, simplifying how users publish visual content, social media giant Meta Platforms said on Tuesday.
The Instagram parent said Reels on Facebook will no longer have length or format restrictions, and include all types of video content — short, long and live.
Previously uploaded video content will remain as such on the platform while videos posted after the change will be classified as Reels. The company will also rename the Video tab as Reels tab.
As part of the update, users will be prompted to confirm their audience setting or select a new one if their feed posts and Reels currently have different settings. The update will also give users access to more creative tools.
Meta said it will gradually roll out these changes globally to profiles and pages over the coming months.


Trump to extend TikTok sale deadline for third time, White House says

Updated 18 June 2025
Follow

Trump to extend TikTok sale deadline for third time, White House says

  • Trump said in May he would extend the June 19 deadline after the app helped him with young voters in the 2024 election

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will extend a June 19 deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US assets of short video app TikTok for 90 days despite a law that mandated a sale or shutdown absent significant progress, the White House said on Tuesday.

Trump had already twice granted a reprieve from enforcement of a congressionally mandated ban on TikTok that was supposed to take effect in January. “President Trump will sign an additional executive order this week to keep TikTok up and running,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

That would extend the deadline to mid-September.

“President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” she added, saying the administration will spend the next three months making sure the sale closes so that Americans can keep using TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.

Trump said in May he would extend the June 19 deadline after the app helped him with young voters in the 2024 election.

Earlier on Tuesday, he had told reporters on Air Force One he expected to again extend the deadline.

“Probably, yeah,” Trump said when asked about extending the deadline. “Probably have to get China approval but I think we’ll get it. I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.”

The law required TikTok to stop operating by January 19 unless ByteDance had completed divesting the app’s US assets or demonstrated significant progress toward a sale.

Trump began his second term as president on January 20 and opted not to enforce it. He first extended the deadline to early April, and then again last month to June 19.

In March, Trump said he would be willing to reduce tariffs on China to get a deal done with TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the short video app used by 170 million Americans.

A deal had been in the works this spring that would spin off TikTok’s US operations into a new US-based firm and majority-owned and operated by US investors, but it was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump’s announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

Democratic senators argue that Trump has no legal authority to extend the deadline, and suggest that the deal under consideration would not meet legal requirements.


Iran celebrates state TV presenter after Israeli attack

Updated 18 June 2025
Follow

Iran celebrates state TV presenter after Israeli attack

  • “This dust you see in the studio...” she began, her finger raised, before being interrupted by the sound of yet another blast

TEHRAN: Facing the camera with a defiant gaze, her index finger raised in the air, Iranian TV presenter Sahar Emami became an icon in her country after an Israeli attack on the state broadcaster.
“What you can see is the flagrant aggression of the Zionist regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian broadcaster,” she said on air Monday as several explosions were heard in the background.
“What you just heard was the sound of an aggressor against the motherland, the sound of an aggressor against truth,” added Emami, who is known for her impactful interviews with government officials.
“This dust you see in the studio...” she began, her finger raised, before being interrupted by the sound of yet another blast.
The journalist, clad in a black chador, rushed out of her seat and disappeared from view.
The destruction in the studio, which quickly filled with smoke and dust, was broadcast live before the transmission was cut.
Emami, who Iranian media say is in her 40s, is a familiar face to viewers in the Islamic republic after some 15 years on air with state television.
She resumed the broadcast just a few minutes after the attack, as if nothing unusual had happened.
The broadcaster’s headquarters in the capital Tehran with its recognizable glass exterior was badly damaged in the fire that broke out as a result of the Israeli attack.
Official media shared images of charred offices and studios no longer usable.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday denounced Israel’s “cowardice” in striking the state television building, in an attack that the broadcaster said killed three people.
“The attack against the Iranian broadcaster demonstrates the Israelis’ desperation,” Araghchi said.
Conservative newspaper Farhikhtegan said on its front page on Tuesday: “Female journalist’s resistance until the last moment sends a clear message.”
Ultraconservative publication Kayhan said: “The courage of the lioness presenter surprised friends and foes.”
The government put up a banner in Tehran’s central Vali-Asr Square honoring Emami, showing her image paired with a verse from the Persian poet Ferdowsi that celebrated the courage of women “on the battlefield.”
The state broadcaster has aired the clip of Emami during Monday’s attacks multiple times since then, celebrating its presenter.
State TV meanwhile mocked a reporter for the London-based Iran International TV, which is critical of the Iranian government.
In footage from a live broadcast, the reporter in Israel is seen rushing to a bomb shelter after warnings of incoming missiles from Iran.
 

 


Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

Updated 18 June 2025
Follow

Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

  • Iran has blocked access to various social media platforms over the years but many people in the country use proxies and virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access them

Iranian state television on Tuesday afternoon urged the country’s public to remove the messaging platform WhatsApp from their smartphones, alleging the app — without offering specific evidence — gathered user information to send to Israel.
In a statement, WhatsApp said it was “concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.” WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, meaning a service provider in the middle can’t read a message.
“We do not track your precise location, we don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging and we do not track the personal messages people are sending one another,” it added. “We do not provide bulk information to any government.”
End-to-end encryption means that messages are scrambled so that only the sender and recipient can see them. If anyone else intercepts the message, all they will see is a garble that can’t be unscrambled without the key.
Gregory Falco, an assistant professor of engineering at Cornell University and cybersecurity expert, said it’s been demonstrated that it’s possible to understand metadata about WhatsApp that does not get encrypted.
“So you can understand things about how people are using the app and that’s been a consistent issue where people have not been interested in engaging with WhatsApp for that (reason),” he said.
Another issue is data sovereignty, Falco added, where data centers hosting WhatsApp data from a certain country are not necessarily located in that country. It’s more than feasible, for instance, that WhatsApp’s data from Iran is not hosted in Iran.
“Countries need to house their data in-country and process the data in-country with their own algorithms. Because it’s really hard increasingly to trust the global network of data infrastructure,” he said.
WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
Iran has blocked access to various social media platforms over the years but many people in the country use proxies and virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access them. It banned WhatsApp and Google Play in 2022 during mass protests against the government over the death of a woman held by the country’s morality police. That ban was lifted late last year.
WhatsApp had been one of Iran’s most popular messaging apps besides Instagram and Telegram.