It was the vision and the efforts of the founder brothers of Arab News, the late Hisham and Muhammad Ali Hafiz, that the first English daily of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came into existence in 1975.
The foundation laid by the Hafiz brothers was built on aggressively by the late Prince Ahmad bin Salman, the first chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG) which is the parent company of Saudi Research and Publishing Company (SRPC) that brings out a large number of publications.
The present chairman of SRMG Prince Faisal bin Salman, with constant support and encouragement to Arab News, has been instrumental in keeping the newspaper in step with the times, by bringing in advanced technology and expanding the Web edition.
No doubt Arab News has reached this prime position through the sheer dint of hard work and inspiration of several former and current staff, whose contributions cannot be overlooked or forgotten. But the biggest role in the success of the newspaper has been that of its affable Editor in Chief Khaled Almaeena, with whom I served for several long years. As his close confidante, I was privy to several of his efforts to push the newspaper to greater heights.
Almaeena began his long innings with Arab News as its editor in chief on June 19, 1982, punctuated by a three-year break from 1996 before returning in 1998.
His first tenure was marked by economic boom on the back of surging oil prices that had crossed the $25 bpd mark at one point before they crashed to $10 bpd in 1986 sending the Saudi economy into a free fall. He steered Arab News through a choppy sea that saw, besides the sagging oil prices, companies going into liquidation, and tens of thousands of workers being laid off. The fact that the Arab News ship stayed afloat while others capsized highlighted not only his leadership qualities but also the strong work ethic, professional commitment and dedication of the editorial team.
"The mandate given to me, when I took over the top post, was to widen its circulation and improve the content of the newspaper. Any decent paper should have letters to the editor. We are their clearing and forwarding agent. My job was to provide news and views and fill in the various blanks that I had noticed," Almaeena said, adding that he was assisted in this task by a dedicated team of journalists drawn from different countries.
Almaeena overcame problems through diplomacy, tact and communications skills. Besides, his extrovert nature, an abiding interest in sports and membership of various clubs worked to his advantage in raising the profile of Arab News. Another plus point was his fluency in three languages — Arabic (his mother tongue), English and Urdu, which he had picked up in Pakistan when he was a student. He used it as a tool to reach out to the Urdu-speaking people of India and Pakistan to boost Arab News readership.
"I was thinking what could be done to further improve its content. Our editorials were written from London with not much local input. The sports coverage left much to be desired. This was the period when the Israelis had invaded Lebanon, leading to the massacre in Sabra and Shatila. It was a page one item in Arab News. While we knew the facts on the ground about this naked Israeli aggression on Lebanese territory, the US, as a staunch ally of Israel, was defending it. I wrote an editorial calling the then US President Ronald Reagan 'a blatant liar.' It shook our readers as it was bold and forthright," Almaeena said.
Besides giving attention to the Middle East issues, Almaeena also brought Africa within the ambit of the Arab News coverage. It was a shrewd move, since there were hundreds of thousands of Sudanese, Kenyans and other expatriates from east and north Africa working in the Kingdom.
To boost local news coverage, Almaeena brought on board Sir Sidahmed, a veteran Sudanese journalist who used his contacts to generate hard local and economic stories. His other strategy was to translate stories from the Arabic press and provide the type of reading material that was missing from the local pages.
Arab News also benefited from other sister publications of the Saudi Research & Publishing Co. (SRPC). This synergy between the sister publications is one of Arab News' major sources of strength. Almaeena believes that if the newspaper could establish a better system of coordination with its sister publications, it could give the newspaper a further boost.
The "Letters to the Editor" column's popularity was brought home to the editors during the 1982 Falklands war pitting the British forces against the Argentines. The report that provoked comment from British Ambassador Sir James Craig was one concerning Falklands. "Sir James Craig felt that it was not balanced as we tended to sympathize with the Argentines. On the other hand, we had British, but no Argentine, readers," Almaeena said, adding that the element of variety in Arab News injected life into the newspaper.
Today Arab News receives, on an average, 50 letters on a daily basis from all over the Kingdom and further afield from the West, mostly US, but also from Britain, India and other Asian countries. The launch of the Internet edition has further increased its level of penetration into the US market.
Almaeena, an ardent cricketer who once clean-bowled the Australian ambassador with the first ball in one of the cricket tournaments in Riyadh, took keen interest in other sports like squash, tennis, soccer and table tennis, and Arab News paid special attention to sports not only by covering sports news but also by sponsoring some major sporting events that included, among others, matches between Pakistan's squash pro Jahangir Khan and Australia's Chris Dittmar, followed by another fixture featuring Jansher Khan, one-time world squash champion from Pakistan. Arab News also sponsored the visit of World Cup cricketer Imran Khan, when he was raising funds for the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Memorial Hospital and Research Center in memory of his mother.
The paper scored another mini-first when it went six pages for the Olympics. With the scope for leisure reading high on Fridays, the paper introduced a vast new expanse of feature reading in sports with the eight-page magazine weekly section, Sports Special." This was in addition to Olympic and World Cup quiz competitions that it organized on those special occasions with bumper prizes, including cars, offered to the winners. Such incentives had a telling effect on the readership of Arab News.
Almaeena also brought on board the celebrated Arab cartoonist the late Mahmoud Kahil to provide a dash of his inimitable wit and humor on the op-ed page. Mahmoud, who was working out of Asharq Al-Awsat's London office, carved a niche for himself with his brilliant illustrations that conveyed, without captions, his deep political insight.
On the economic front, Almaeena's strategy was to ensure that Arab News readers stayed tuned to the latest developments in the field of business and commerce. Speaking of the business news coverage he said, "In the beginning there was not much focus on the business side. There was only one page as there was no Saudi stock market during that period. Stories on the business page were mostly those coming from the wire services. Between 1975 and 1980 there was very little business coverage. However, from 1980 onward, when expatriates started coming to the Kingdom, the need for business news to cater to their interest was felt. Today, we have expanded local coverage and the economy pages are another readership drivers."
The Saudi leadership under Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd spearheaded a new drive that sought to introduce Saudi Arabia to the West, with its focus on service to Islam, educational and economic progress. One of these road shows, known as "Saudi Arabia Yesterday and Today," and held in Atlanta from Nov. 14-28 1989, was co-sponsored by Arab News. A major highlight of that event was the launch of a special Arab News edition from Atlanta to provide comprehensive coverage. It was a landmark in the history of Arab News, since it synchronized the operations of two editorial teams in two different time zones across the ocean.
In a signed article in Arab News on Nov. 28, '89, Almaeena wrote, "From day one when former President Jimmy Carter and Mayor Young appeared at the opening, along with Riyadh Mayor Abdullah Al-Naeem, public interest was set alight. As the exhibition continued and moved into its second week, public interest was set ablaze. This happened despite the fact that there was a nameless tornado and a dramatic fall in the temperature.
"Nothing turned them away and we of the Arab News team, as faithful as mailmen, braved the bad mood of nature and carried on with 'business as usual.' Our dedication, I confess, was helped by the numerous catwalks and tunnels which connect the buildings in downtown Atlanta.
"Washington had schooled us well. This time, we had our own photographer so that we could dispatch photos at ultra-speed. We even bought a photo-lab. Lord Snowdon, as we called our photographer Adel Mubaraz, was flown in specially from our Cairo bureau. Poor Snowdon, he deserves a knighthood for his services to the wire. He now wears T-shirt with "I love portable fax machines" emblazoned on it. Another lesson we learned in Atlanta.
"And judging from the response of the Atlantans and their neighbors (people streamed in from North and South Carolina and Tennessee) it was yet another success story. The exhibition went a long way to dispel doubts and remove misconceptions, and according to Patricia Nazer's story today they were legion. This is why I believe the exhibition is one of Saudi Arabia's greatest ambassadors. Our motto from now on should be 'Have culture, will travel."
Arab News has weathered twists and turns of time by repeatedly rising to challenges. And under Almaeena's stewardship will continue to do so, for the staff has lived the African adage, "Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors."
