Abu Dhabi: The National Media Council has launched a media strategy for reading, with the aim of involving the media sector and enhancing its role in promoting and encouraging reading as a community habit and an integral part of the UAE national identity.
The move underlines the NMC’s support to the National Reading Strategy, which extends through 2026, and is also part of the month of reading.
Mansour Ebrahem Al Mansouri, NMC Director-General, said, “The National Strategy for Reading complements the role of the council as it includes media and content programmes supervised by the council. We have worked to develop policies and plans that support reading and the publishing industry with the launch of the age classification system.
“It classifies the content of books as per their suitability to various age groups to help the community in choosing the right content. We also strengthen the publishing industry through the development of a package of services. Additionally, the national figures for reading initiative sheds light on the books and reading practices of a number of ministers and officials in the UAE.
“The council is working to harness media tools to support the national reading strategy and the Month of Reading activities. Our goal is to motivate the Emirati society to read and make reading a way of life as well as to inculcate the habit in our new generations to promote knowledge and culture,” he added.
“The Month of Reading is even more significant this year as it coincides with 2018 being marked as the Year of Zayed. Our Founding Father, Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, placed the highest emphasis on strengthening scientific knowledge and in promoting reading among the community, given its pivotal role in the development and progress of the UAE and in enhancing its position regionally and internationally. Led by this vision, the UAE has become a centre of culture, poetry, arts, tolerance and coexistence in the region and the world,” Al Mansouri observed.
The NMC has lined up a number of activities through the month of March, such as Pen Print, which aims to stimulate a culture of reading in the country by motivating members of the community to visit libraries located in commercial centres.
The Council will also honour the winners of the Reading Radar Competition, which was launched in 2017 in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. It will also participate in several international exhibitions such as the Paris Book Fair with the Association of UAE Publishers for gaining insights on international best practices in the publishing sector. The Council will also work towards setting up corner libraries to activate the national publishing movement.
The Emirates News Agency, WAM, will launch a series of media initiatives to mark the Month of Reading. One of its initiatives is ‘Quote from a book,’ whereby quotes from famous books will be published every Thursday and Friday to promote reading.
WAM will also launch the ‘Cultural Clips’ initiative that will inform the community of the challenges particular sections of readers in the UAE face. This will be published every Wednesday throughout the month of reading. In addition, WAM will provide a platform to host leading cultural figures to discuss culture and reading once a week.
WAM will provide full support to all federal and local authorities in UAE by covering and publishing activities related to the Month of Reading to strengthen awareness among the community.
