The National to hit newsstands Thr

NEWSPAPER LAUNCH: The National will go on sale across the UAE on Thursday.

Abu Dhabi's first English language daily will go on sale across the UAE on Thursday, its owner the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) said late on Saturday.

The broadsheet newspaper will be called The National and contain 80 pages of news, business, arts and culture, and sport, state-owned ADMC said.

It said an online version of the newspaper would also be available at www.thenational.ae.

"The role of The National is to reflect society, help that society evolve and, perhaps most importantly, promote the bedrock traditions and virtues that must be preserved even in times of change and that is why we have called our paper The National," Editor-in-Chief Martin Newland said in a statement.

ADMC has still to reveal the cover price, although Newland said last month it would not be a "market differentiator". Gulf News charges 3 dirhams (82 cents), while Emirates Business 24/7 and Khaleej Times both charge 2 dirhams.

There will be intense interest in how the newspaper will compare to the Dubai-based English language dailies.

In an interview with ArabianBusiness.com last month Newland said he was not looking to start a newspaper war with the launch of The National.

Newland, former editor of the UK's Daily Telegraph, said there was plenty of room in the market for another paper and he did not think The National would spark a battle for readers and ad revenue.

There will also be a lot of interest in how the newspaper will cover stories sensitive to the government, such as labour strikes.

Newland told ArabianBusiness.com he would not know until the paper launched, but that stories in the public domain needed to be reported.

Newland said he thought there was less and less worry on the part of government about what the UAE media could report, and lots of "grey areas" had developed.

The publication has been on the drawing board for over six months and Newland has been on a massive recruitment drive, hiring some 200 journalists from Britain, South Africa, Australia, the US and Canada.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Editor
Posted by Kupistic, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 16 April 2008 at 12:45 UAE time

Ya right! Editor heads a paper which will only be read by western expats. And most of the so called journalists from UK, USA, Australia and South Africa were either interns in their native countries or at the lowest level. So a higher salary and position in the UAE is definitely an ego boost for them.

Readers
Posted by Austin Cains, AUH on Sunday 13 April 2008 at 19:18 UAE time


It will be read by British, South Africans, Australians, the Americans and Canadians.
I guess out of 80 70 will be tabloid ..

Delusions of adequacy
Posted by The Consultant, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Sunday 13 April 2008 at 18:12 UAE time


"It's appalling" - a phrase that could equally be applied to the quality of the English in many articles produced by "seasoned" Asian journalists for other daily papers in the UAE.

Correction - this is Not the "first" English paper in Abu Dhabi
Posted by Nauae, Abu Dhabi, UAE on Sunday 13 April 2008 at 17:45 UAE time


Abu Dhabi had it's first English newspaper close on 30 years ago in the shape of Emirates News - that was published up until just a few years ago. It was the "official" English language paper for most Federal announcements although its readership declined as the Dubai papers became more popular.

View all comments (8) >>

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM