Dear Readers,
We are stopping printing the newspaper on Saturdays and Sundays, beginning tomorrow.
It is sad news, for you and for us. You’ve been with us as loyal readers, on this journey for four decades.
It is no secret that the print media has been facing challenges on many fronts, be it the increasing cost of paper, ink, logistics and delivery charges. Advertisement revenue has been shrinking month on month for years now.
Added to that we are constantly battling the sharks hunting in our territory: Google and Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to name a few are fishing for ad revenue in our waters.
They have dried up revenue for national media such as us. And their appetite is insatiable.
This decision to stop the weekend editions does not mean the news stops. The journalism continues with the full bouquet of our content on Saturdays and Sundays, which you will find on gulfnews.com. You will not miss out on any news. We will work doubly hard to ensure this.
We have been dealing with these challenges and hoped to continue fighting a bit longer by keeping the weekend editions alive. However, we must face the bitter reality, prevent the bleed and stop the newspaper for two days.
I warned of this dire situation the UAE media is facing in 2018. Please refer to my article: Stop the local media from bleeding
We have always been supported by you – our readers. We wish to print seven days a week, but that will not happen with dwindling ad revenues.
We pivoted into a digital-first newsroom a few years ago because the readership was moving.
We went where our readers wanted to be – on smartphones, laptops, and tablets.
Our selection of digital content expanded, it was an opportunity to bring multi-media long form storytelling to our readers – news was now experiential. The world exploded, sound, lights, action were all part of journalism and no longer limited to the world of cinematic moving images. The magic was in our hands and we used it to excellent effect. AI or artificial intelligence was added into the mix and what unfolded is there for everyone to witness.
Print was a different universe, but we brought our digital learning to it, to make it as multi-dimensional as possible. But there are limitations to how much we can push that experience.
This decision to stop the weekend editions does not mean the news stops. The journalism continues with the full bouquet of our content on Saturdays and Sundays, which you will find on gulfnews.com. You will not miss out on any news. We will work doubly hard to ensure this.
As print subscribers you have Digital Subscription too, and you can access exclusive products, features, the investigative journalism, breaking news and everything that counts. We urge all of you to use this opportunity and discover more of the great journalism that’s there on gulfnews.com and find the content you love every weekend, on the platform of your choice, be it a smartphone, laptop or tablet.
However, we hope that this will not be the last nail in the coffin. Like I said in my 2018 article, we live in uncertain times, but the local media has to survive. Why? They serve the interest of the readers and the interest of the nation. Imagine a country without a trusted newspaper.
We hope we never see that sorry day.
Thank you,
Yours Sincerely,
Abdul Hamid Ahmad
CEO and Editor-in-Chief
Gulf News
