KUNA celebrates 40th anniversary

Kuwait yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of founding the national media network, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), which has occupied a space on the media map - broadcasting a host of local, regional and international news, reports and analyses. Moreover, it has stayed abreast of latest innovation in the field, providing latest diverse modern services, namely SMS’ and the website publicizing breaking news, features and photos.

KUNA saw the light upon issuing the Decree-into-Law 70/1976, stipulating in part that KUNA is entitled to broadcast factual and objective news and reports in face of “misleading propaganda,” and for sake of “filling the vacuum in the news field in the region and transmit authentic news to the world.” According to the Decree, Kuwait News Agency broadcasts commentaries, articles, researches, studies, statements on political, economic, social, cultural, financial and commercial affairs, to newspapers, magazines, radio, television stations, other media outlets, public and private authorities as well as individuals, in line with guidelines set by its board.

According to second Article of the decree, KUNA is headquartered in Kuwait City, the country’s capital, and is entitled to establish branches and offices, with correspondents and reporters in and outside the State of Kuwait. In line with the decree and the set goals, KUNA in the early years employed a small number of staff, who were serving in other State sectors, with monthly payments, to help in the launching process-when there were no relevant regulations for the news organization.

In May 1977, KUNA coordinated with the Ministry of Communication and Information, setting up tele printers to receive news from Arab and foreign countries, as well as for transmission news and training editors. Officially, transmission began in March 1978, with a six-hour broadcast per day. In June the same year, it doubled the transmission hours. In October, the hours reached 15 and then shortly later 16. External transmission in Arabic kicked off in November 1978, at a three-hour per day rate, and gradually the transmission duration increased to 12 hours per day. In November 1979, KUNA started transmitting a special broadcast for Kuwaiti embassies abroad. The missions were equipped with necessary devices to receive the service, in coordination with Foreign Ministry. Up to 38 embassies and consulates were given the service. In January 1980, it started broadcasting news in English, at four hours per day rate. In February 1981, KUNA doubled the local transmission hours to eight and increased the external English service time by three hours.

KUNA had continued expanding its services till the August 1990 Iraqi aggression, when the occupiers ransacked its equipment and archive, transferring them to Baghdad. However, KUNA’s managers and staff succeeded in resuming the service from abroad within a short period of time. In October 1990, KUNA started broadcasting from London, where it succeeded in putting out up to 16,110 items till November 1991, when it returned to its headquarters in Kuwait post the liberation. Rebuilding the main offices and the facilities had proceeded till onset of 1992.

KUNA boasts announcing liberation of the State of Kuwait, simultaneously with international news networks. That is in addition to creating rich archive by its photographers that chronicle the massive destruction inflicted by the occupiers. KUNA, since its relaunch in 1992, re-activated its offices abroad, manning them with qualified nationals, where number of these bureaus increased to 32 in 2016. It set up a special training department to sharpen skills of its personnel and staff from other departments in Kuwait, as well as from other countries. In 1992, it decided to regularly proclaim personality of the year; a figure renowned for service of peace and humanity.

In 1994, it launched the telephone 120 service round the clock. In March 31, 1994, the late Minister of Information Sheikh Saud Nasser Al-Sabah inaugurated the new headquarters in Shuwaikh-representing the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. Since its birth, KUNA has keenly sought to bond with other media networks, locally, regionally and internationally. At the Arab level, it had taken part and hosted meetings of the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA). At the global level, KUNA joined the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA). It had also taken part in the news agencies’ summit, hosted by Moscow in 2004. — KUNA