Gulf News: Reporting the Middle East
United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a small country bordering Saudi Arabia and Oman. It lies in the Middle East and happens to be a booming metropolis. The UAE is increasing in tourism, jobs, and the economy, making this a country on the rise. Their most populated and well-known city is Dubai. To keep up with the latest events in the United Arab, the Gulf News keeps its citizens up to date on current information and local events.
Gulf News is a daily newspaper written and published out of Dubai. It is the leading English paper in the country. The newspaper also circulates through many other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. Gulf News was founded in 1978 and started out very small as there were only 1.5 million residents in the UAE at that time. When the newspaper first launched it was a “tabloid” style coming out daily, barely having a circulation of 3000. Today there are 3 million people alone in Dubai and the newspaper has changed into a more “traditional” style pamphlet. This time with a daily circulation of almost 100,000 on average, it also reaches readers through their online page, which has 5.3 million visitors monthly. Dubai and the UAE are growing at an exponential rate. In order to keep up with the residents, events and breaking news, Gulf News is able to create a hub where all this information can be put.
Over 200 different nationalities reside in the UAE but only 20 percent of the population is made up of Emiratis. Emiratis are the citizens of the UAE. The UAE is a diverse community and the newspaper has an important job of catering to many nationalities in such a diverse community.
Due to the UAE being under a strict Islamic State, most of its news usually leads a more conservative and modest approach. The UAE is ranked No. 128 on the World Press Freedom Index. Compared to many Western countries, this ranking is significantly low. The government usually opposes citizen journalism; this is because many citizen journalists have been known to oppose or insult the regime. Doing this is a serious crime in the eyes of the law.
The modest journalism laws in the UAE makes the Gulf News an outlet for the community to learn about what is going on in the region. Gulf News covers everything from breaking news going on all around the world, latest business details, to sports teams winning and losing. This newspaper allows for in-depth coverage of the UAE and the surrounding countries.
Every week, Gulf News has a “weekend review” section. This is a round up of what they found most important that happened in the Middle East and the world. This weekend roundup is a great way to understand what Gulf News finds most important and what they think their readers will think is most important.
From a recent weekend round up, one of their main stories was about a holy city in India called Varanasi. They described the traditions in the city and what life is like living here. While this may not seem relevant to the UAE, over 2 million Indian migrants live all over Dubai and the rest of the country, making it essential to have the Gulf News. Such a large population of Indians lives in the UAE, if Gulf News fails to neglect those readers, they would inevitably loose a portion of their audience.
Another article in the weekend roundup was about a museum in Pakistani City. The article goes into depth about why this specific museum is important to the city, it allows for its residents to learn more about their rich history. To many people, articles like this may not mean much, but in a city like Dubai where people come from all over, and are unable to visit their home country as often as they would like, articles like this help connect them to what is happening where they are from. Without the focus of other surrounding countries, Gulf News could really miss its mark on what its readers want to know about.
The UAE is one of the most booming transient countries in the world. People from all backgrounds and cultures move there every year. The economic status of the country is rising rapidly, and Golf News needs to be able to cater to the booming industry it is delivering to. Each and every year, it gains more and more followers, which means it needs to maintain a level of professionalism like no other.
