News maker

They represent the UAE's official image inside the country and abroad. Providing a mirror to the political, economic and social changes in society. Emirates News Agency, WAM, the official news agency of the country, has been disseminating information, local and international, for free to their subscribers for 26 years.

Like the country it portrays, it has met modern challenges, such as the easy-to-access Internet news, by embracing new technologies to enhance its news coverage.

As the world wakes up to Arab media, WAM too wants to shake off its image of being just the government's mouthpiece and offer a platform for young UAE nationals to join them in professionally spreading news around the world.

Veteran journalist Ali Amer, WAM's deputy general manager, started off as a reporter in the news agency and has worked his way to the top. In an interview with Gulf News, this UAE national provides a glimpse of the recent developments at the Emirates News Agency...

Kavitha S. Daniel: In which year did the UAE's official news agency start operation?
Ali Amer: We started functioning way back in 1976 with just 13 employees. Most of them, if not all, were expatriates. The staff comprised Arabs, Indians, Senegalese etc.

Like most official news agencies in the developing nations, we were also launched to give an idea about the society and provide a unified source of information on the country.

Like other news agencies we also face challenges such as the popularity of the Internet with people wishing to source news around the world. But, we've moved with the times and introduced state-of-the-art technology to keep up with the changes.

Today, WAM – managed by the Ministry of Information under the guidance and support of Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Information and Culture – boasts 190 journalists on its staff, excluding foreign correspondents; 70 per cent of them being UAE nationals.

How many stories does WAM generate in a day?
We generate about 120-150 stories a day, of which 60 to 70 per cent are local stories.

Naturally, we give priority to issues pertaining to the Arab world and international events like the war in Afghanistan and natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.

We tackle all topical international news which would be of interest to people at large.
However, the emphasis of our coverage remains on core local issues – be it political, social or business.

Additionally, we take care of important events abroad, handled by our own correspondents. We have 23 of them stationed in cities like Cairo, Beirut, Washington D.C., Islamabad, Sanaa and Brussels, to mention a few.

How many subscribers does WAM have?
We have thousands of subscribers, including all the media organisations in the country and people who want to access official information from the UAE. We also have a tie-up with 30 news agencies, Arab and international, with whom we exchange a variety of stories.

What kind of relationship does WAM enjoy with its subscribers?
We have a good relationship with all the newspapers. However, sometimes we regret that UAE-based newspapers fail to credit news carried by them to WAM.

There's another problem we face with the newspapers – they prefer to use a WAM report only after an international news agency has picked up the story. The problem with the media here is that they look at WAM as a purely local news agency ignoring its international stories. This adversely affects the morale of our staff.

We would like them to rely on us and trust us. Needless to say, it's better to stick with us for strictly local news. For example, we know and are highly sensitive to the kind of photographs we take of the Rulers of the country. We know about the correct thing to do.

There's a growing interest in the Arab media of late. What's your opinion on this?
Yes, we have made great strides in the field of technology. We have modernised our operation vastly and tied up with high-tech news agencies to acquire more coverage and at a faster speed.
Earlier, it used to take nearly 30 minutes to write and obtain the story but today we complete a story in just five to 10 minutes.

The challenge now is to train our staff to keep up with the new technology. We are also the first Arab news agency to video-tape press conferences and offer them for distribution to news agencies.

We also have a website (www.wam.org.ae) in English and Arabic from where people can access our news and pictures easily any time.

Do UAE national girls show an interest in joining WAM?
Six years ago, WAM did not have a single UAE national girl on board. Today, we have more than 20 of them as reporters and editors and they seem to love their work. They cover, and seem very active in, all the beats be they political, social or economic.

These girls join us after graduation from institutes such as UAE University and the Higher Colleges of Technology. In fact, they first do their summer internship with us, a period during which they are paid, and then they continue with us.

Is there a drive to recruit more UAE nationals?
Despite the fact that 70 per cent of our journalists are UAE nationals and our management is nearly 95 per cent Emiratised, we do want more UAE nationals to join us. After all, they would be the best bet to cover the local news.

Though the financial incentives we offer may not be as high as those offered by the oil companies, there are chances to travel abroad and the nature of the work is exciting and never dull.

Once they are recruited, the journalists are sent to organisations like BBC, Reuters and the Federation of Arab News Agencies to be trained. It's a wonderful opportunity for them, I believe. Generally, I do find UAE nationals being attracted to journalism, they just need to be brave and come forward.

What's your message to these young UAE nationals?
If you are qualified and looking for challenging work, journalism is for you. Don't be put off by the difficult nature of the work because you are bound to enjoy the opportunities to cover assignments abroad. Money is not everything.

What are WAM's plans for the future?
We are trying to develop our news coverage in terms of quality and quantity in all areas, especially business reporting, by recruiting qualified journalists. Modern, advanced technology is available to speed up the gathering and dispersing of news but we need trained and specialised journalists now.

Sometimes, as part of an exchange programme we enjoy with other news agencies, we get journalists from other Arab countries to work with us for a while. Last month, we brought 10 qualified journalists from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Sudan and some other Arab countries to work at WAM.