Dubai: Gulf News, today, uses some of the most advanced technology when it comes to creating a newspaper - meet Omar Ali, production editor and essential player in this evolution of the newspaper.
He was always keen to be a journalist, even as a young student furiously editing and putting together the stories he assigned friends at school. And he did just that.
Following a masters degree in economics, Ali set off on his career as a journalist in the 1980s just as the technology boom was beginning to give print media its first face-lift. What Ali didn’t know was just how much the new technology would shape the rest of his career.
During his first job as a reporter for a major Indian newspaper, Ali worked on the publication’s computerisation project, in 1986. As they swapped the old lead letterpress for a shiny new server and computers, Ali edged toward a new interest - technology. Fast forward to 1989, Ali was jet setting to the UAE after responding to a job advertisement for Gulf News.
Although he began his time at Gulf News in the supplements section as a writer and sub-editor, Ali also focused on his newfound interest.
He said: “When I came to Gulf News in 1989, I found that they already had computers but no one was using them. People were writing stories on linotype machines, where you type the story, print it out and lay those strips out into columns to look like a newspaper.”
Having previously worked on the computerisation of a newsroom, Ali wanted to move things forward for Gulf News, too.
“I thought to myself if there are machines here, why can’t I just design pages on the machine?” He raised it with the management and they were receptive to the idea.
“So I started working on this and soon in about eight months, we shifted to a computer workflow. That was when I became interested in this work.”
Twenty four years later, Ali continues to play a major role in the technological growth of the newspaper. From implementing the newspaper’s first editorial system in 1999 and officially managing the systems in 2000 to the more recent Berliner makeover in 2012, he has been there every step of the way. For Ali, however, he’s most proud of his management of the 2003 upgrade and redesign. Not only did it involve an entirely new system, but more importantly, the new technology “changed a mindset.”
He said: “It was a radical change in the way we function. Here, we went from a totally old-fashioned print product and integrated design into it.”
To describe Gulf News’ biggest accomplishment, the production editor used one word - innovation.
He said: “Fifteen years ago we were number one. We not only retained that position, but we’ve grown and the distance between us and our competition has grown. We’ve never stopped innovating. We’ve always been the leaders here and other papers followed. We intend to maintain that. Even technologically, we’re right up there with the best in the world.”
