Dubai: The print edition of XPRESS, the sister publication of Gulf News, will no longer be published from September 1.
As the weekly tabloid embarks on a digital-only future, it will continue to bring out stories that matter. Known for its cutting-edge journalism and investigative reports, the people’s paper exposed several scams and published hyper local stories that directly impacted lives.
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Readers were at the heart of everything XPRESS did. Whether it was a patient saddled with unpaid hospital bills, a student struggling to pay school fees or a tenant facing an issue with his building services, it was the go-to newspaper for just about anybody with a problem.
The final cover of XPRESS, which was launched as a weekly in Dubai in 2007, forayed into Abu Dhabi in 2013.
Abdul Ahmad Hamid, Editor-in-chief of Gulf News said: “Losing a newspaper such as XPRESS is very painful. But then, reality takes priority over the wishes and hopes of editors. With declining advertisements and loss of revenue, market conditions do not help real journalism. Though we took the tough road to keep XPRESS going, there had to be an end to all roads.”
He added: “We have taken the decision to close XPRESS, but we promise our readers that we will keep our content alive online.”
XPRESS editor Mazhar Farooqui said: “As a multicultural community newspaper that readers could call their own, XPRESS monitored the pulse of the UAE. It not only laid the groundwork of investigative reporting in this part of the world, it also pushed the boundaries of journalism.”
XPRESS, which was launched as a weekly in Dubai in 2007, forayed into the capital in 2013.