Dubai: Emirates Business 24/7, a local daily English-language newspaper, will be converted into an online newspaper from the middle of July, according to an order issued by Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai.
According to a statement issued by the Dubai Media Office, the plan is to convert the newspaper into an online-only version that will provide comprehensive coverage of local and global events.
"We knew for a while that something was going to happen, but we didn't know what it was," an anonymous source from Emirates Business 24/7 told Gulf News yesterday. "We found out just like everyone else online."
According to the source, even after a staff meeting conducted yesterday details on staff cuts remain unknown.
"We don't know how many people will have to go," the source said. The statement said that Shaikh Maktoum decided to create a committee headed by Daen Al Shaheen, Editor in Chief and Executive Director of Al Bayan, to put an executive plan in place that would handle online content.
Committee members include Sami Al Reyami, Editor in Chief of Emarat Al Youm; Riad Mikdadi, Editor in Chief of Emirates Business 24/7, Ahmad Al Hamadi, executive assistant of organisational support affairs, and Sami Hamza, news centre consultant at Dubai Media Inc (DMI).
Diversify sources
The electronic paper will also diversify its news sources as it will be fed by the television and radio stations that belong to the DMI, according to the statement. Although the statement said that the online version will be run by a team of professionals, the anonymous source told Gulf News that no one really knows who's going to do the training and when.
