Arab News is Saudi Arabia’s first English-language newspaper. Now 39 years later, we reflect upon how this landmark decision by brothers Hisham and Mohammed Ali Hafiz to establish an English daily has transformed the landscape of journalism in the Kingdom for good and its contribution to various aspects of Saudi economic and social developments.
Being the pioneer of English journalism in Saudi Arabia, the “green newspaper” — as the English-reading expat communities fondly call it — Arab News became the primary source to inform the region and the world about what is happening in the Kingdom — politically, economically and socially.
When Arab News cranked to life in 1975, its founders promised it would be the source of information for the expat communities on current events and developments in the Kingdom as well as a source for the business sector to communicate their views, their products and services either in the form of news or through advertisements in a balanced way.
Remarkably, over the period of 39 years, that commitment hasn’t changed. The paper still insists that its obligation to its readers is the fuel that powers the engine of growth. For one, the business community and entrepreneurs in the Eastern Province takes pride in the contribution of Arab News in the furtherance of their activities and products by delivering accurate information not just about the economy but the entire gamut of business spectrum, not to mention the recruitment of qualified personnel through classified ads run in the paper. Hence, Arab News becomes an indirect yet indispensable partner of business people.
Today, no one feels as if he or she needs to wait until tomorrow for the news. In the Kingdom, Arab News — as a newspaper and as a news-gathering organization — remains the source where people go to find out who has been elected or indicted, what stock is going up or what companies are merging or diversifying, who won, who lost, and how.
The distance of 39 years is best measured not in terms of what was, but what Arab News is right now and its future vision. In the newsroom, what was true in Hafiz brothers’ time is true today: The management in Arab News believes that a free and vibrant press is crucial to providing readers — both citizens and expats — with information they need to be provided.
For Arab News critical reporting is heroism at best. It does not fit well for companies and individuals that have bias toward truth telling. Today, 39 years later, no one denies that Arab News has emerged as an informed voice in our nation’s continuous growth. To the surprise of its critics and perhaps its friends, the paper has established itself as a worthy reading material. Eventually, with the advent of the Internet age, the paper is not being printed on paper alone. It is serving its much bigger audience and patrons in major forms of social media. The newspaper has transformed and will continue to do so to serve the greater interests of its readers.
It has always been changing. Each new technology succeeds the preceeding one. Each generation replaces the previous. But there is always news. There are always people who want to report the news. There will always be truth tellers as Arab News will.
I would like to salute the remarkable leadership of Arab News, indeed the management genius behind the paper, a team that is determined to deliver excellent reporting. Finally, I would like to say, “Arab News you are better every year, will always be!“ — Abdul Aziz Turki, Chairman, Rawabi Holding Group
39 years and getting better
