Dubai: It's a hardbound black book with a single name as its title — Obama.
The line below reads: The historic front pages.
It's the journey of one man who made history on November 4, 2008 — he became the first African-American President of the US. Barack Hussain Obama's success story is based on hope, vision and determination.
In this 224-page commemorative inaugural edition by New York Times bestselling author/editor David Elliot Cohen and Mark Greenberg from Sterling Publishing, the top front pages of international newspapers have been used to show how the world chronicled this extraordinary realisation of the American dream.
Among print luminaries such as The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and The Boston Globe (USA), The International Herald Tribune (France), South China Morning Post (Hong Kong — China), Die Welt (Germany), The Guardian (UK) and El Pais from Spain is present the only English language newspaper included from the region — Gulf News.
How it was done
The UAE's leading broadsheet journal created a special multi-page package published on November 6, 2008, which started with the front page. It covered the political, social, historical and racial significance of seeing Obama elected to the White House.
With a clean, uncluttered design, the new President's message was conveyed through excerpts from his victory speech delivered two days earlier at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois.
The man and his words that gave hope to a nation crumbling under the pressure of economic recession and international wars were cleverly used to create page one.
To quote from the foreword of the book by legendary historian Howard Dodson: "Who but the man himself, and perhaps his wife, Michelle, could have imagined a year earlier that Barack Hussain Obama, the 47-year-old African-American junior senator from the state of Illinois, could be elected the 44th president of the United States? All of the cards were seemingly stacked against him — his youth, his race, his relative political inexperience, his limited name recognition and his complete lack of national campaign experience. "The photographs in this book capture the spirit of a nation on the brink of change, the power of a campaign, the beauty and support of a family, and the strength and determination of Barack Obama. Obama's key speeches articulate the campaign's vision and substance. And the national and international front pages included herein document the candidate's ascent.
"November 4, 2008, will always be remembered as the day that transformed America's political history. And thanks to newspapers from around the world, November 5 will be remembered as the day that confirmed and memorialised for posterity the truly historic nature of Obama's victory."
Gulf News has built itself on the very same ideology, which says that to dream is to realise. Being included in this prestigious book is further testament to that "audacity of hope".
A milestone
Editor-in-Chief Abdul Hamid Ahmad said: "This recognition makes us proud. History is always the true defining factor of any entity be it an individual, event or a newspaper. With the honour of being included in this book, we have become part of a global recording of a landmark moment in human progress.
"We have always been the journal of record in the region. Our pages have been witness to other historical moments and on each of those occasions the newsroom has risen to deliver work that we are proud of.
"Similarly for the front page and package on Obama, the editors, designers, copy editors and writers worked tirelessly and seamlessly. Each was aware of being part of recording a significant moment in history. And the result is there for all to see."
He is aware that the expectations have now risen further.
"We have set the bar higher and it is a difficult standard to follow. But, that has always been our focus to better ourselves every day, every hour, every minute. To push and to challenge so that in the race for excellence we are our only competition," Abdul Hamid Ahmad added.
The newspaper has won numerous awards over the years from international organisations and newspaper associations for it content, design and product quality. And each time it has only served to push its staff members to get one step ahead. Creative clashes, long hours, furious debate and hard work have all been par for the course on this path to being the very best.
As US President Obama said in his inaugural speech at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2009: "Our challenges may be new. The instrument with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history."
