DAMMAM, 8 August 2003 — The cycle is complete.
It was exactly 17 years ago that Arab News editor in chief Khaled Al-Maeena asked me to get ready to travel to Dammam to open an Arab News office for the Gulf region.
It was a challenging job, especially as I had joined Arab News just a year previously. Plans were made, Al-Maeena briefed me thoroughly on the region and the new challenges, and on Sept. 5, 1986 I landed at Dhahran International Airport. To me it was like coming to Saudi Arabia again. New people, a new place, no acquaintances and a very demanding task. There were apprehensions and a kind of insecurity, but the trust of the editor in chief kept me going.
So the Arab News Gulf Region Bureau made its humble beginning at Dammam Industrial City I, where our printing press was based. It was a one-man team. The task was enormous. It was not just reporting, but also preparing a foundation for the paper, building rapport with relevant authorities, officials and all those who were important for the paper. Since I had done a similar job earlier in Western India, when I opened the bureau for the daily Indian Express, I knew how to go about it. But my confidence was shaken by a small incident. I went to interview a leading businessman in the region; he refused the interview on the grounds that he would have to pay for it. I was shocked and asked him why. He shot back: “Because you will be advertising me.” It took me nearly an hour to convince him that the interview would not cost him anything and that there is a difference between advertising and a news story. It was this incident which led to follow my strategy — to educate people about journalism in the region.
News coverage and public relations continued side by side and within a year’s time my efforts started paying dividends. Maher Abbas, who started as a reporter for our Arabic sister publication Asharq Al-Awsat, soon joined me. And a year after that, the group launched the first Arabic daily sports newspaper — Arriyadiah. Once again we were asked to help in hiring the staff and setting up office there.
In 1989, Al-Maeena visited the Gulf Bureau. He liked everything except the location. In those days Dammam Industrial City I was a secluded area, neither in Dammam nor in Alkhobar. He immediately ordered the office moved from there to Alkhobar. In 1989 the entire Saudi Research and Publishing group shifted to King Abdul Aziz Street there. It was one of the finest locations at that time. Just a few minutes drive to all most all the important places like Aramco, KFUPM, Half Moon Beach and King Fahd Causeway.
We were now growing. The staff strength increased to six — two reporters for Arriyadiah, one for Asharq Al-Awsat. At Arab News, Muhammad Abdul Qader Ambah, an energetic and enthusiastic young Saudi who had a very brief but productive stint with us, joined me. Muhammad Khalil Muselhi, an Egyptian, joined the team as an office boy.
Soon after, in 1990, Iraq attacked Kuwait and our Gulf Region Bureau became the center of activity not just for our publications but many other international newspapers. Dozens of foreign journalists made frequent visits to our bureau, some of them celebrities like the legendry Oriana Fallacci, Carol Murphy of the Washington Post, David Shorrock of the Guardian and Christiane Amanpour of CNN. It is no exaggeration to say that during the war the media was operating from two locations — the joint Information Bureau at the Dhahran International Hotel and the Arab News Gulf region office in Alkhobar.
The war undoubtedly boosted the importance of the Eastern Province, and the Saudi Research and Marketing Group kept growing against this backdrop. The company finished its advertising rights contract with Tihama and decided to open its own advertising company, and as a result Khalijiah came into existence. Soon Khalijiah directors visited Dammam and sought Arab News expertise in opening a branch for the Eastern Province. In 1992, it was decided to set up all sister companies of the Group in one location, and as a result the Gulf Bureau moved to the Al-Akariyah Building in Dammam in 1992. It operated from there for all most 11 years and in that period it expanded in leaps and bound. Al-Eqtisadiah was launched along with other publications like Alam Arriyadiah, Urdu News and finally the baby of the team, Malyalam News. In a span of 17 years, an office opened and manned by one staffer grew to a strength of over 40 people.
At this juncture the company planners decided to have a facility of their own, and as a result construction of the SRPC regional office began at Dammam Industrial I.
Now all the publications of SRPC and office staff have moved to the new location. To many it may be yet another move. But to a man who started the group from this very location, it is a completion of a cycle which brings back many memories.