45 years of change, but news is still news
Today we celebrate 45 years since Arab News, then and now the benchmark for English-language newspapers in the Middle East, first rolled off the presses. As you would expect of a newspaper, we have chosen to mark the event with … news; in this case, the significant events that have had the most impact on the Arab world in the past 45 years, and how those events were covered by Arab News. Our coverage begins today, and continues for 45 days, both in print and online. It is both a blessing and a curse that our anniversary should coincide with one of the gravest threats to humanity for a century, and allows us to put it into perspective. It is tempting to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented in its impact on this region and the wider world, but there have been times in the past 45 years that we felt the same — and we survived.
Nevertheless, there are unique ways in which the pandemic affects us as a newspaper, and presents us with tough decisions. A war correspondent covering a conflict knows who the enemy is, and where the threat comes from. In reporting on the coronavirus — and make no mistake, this is a war just like any other — our staff on the street face a threat that is insidious, invisible, and potentially deadly.
Then there are the commercial challenges — less dramatic, perhaps, but no less significant. Newspapers all over the world have been reducing or closing down their print operations for many years now in the inexorable march of progress toward an online future, and the COVID-19 pandemic has hastened that process; readers cannot get out to buy their newspapers, advertisers have no functioning businesses to advertise. Arab News is committed to our print edition for as long as our subscribers and our advertisers continue to support it. Nevertheless, while we take justifiable pride in the speed of our digital transformation over the past few years, the pandemic has rammed home the lesson that the transformation will have to be even quicker. Meanwhile, whatever the platform on which you consume our journalism, know this: We are, and always will be, committed to being the Voice of a Changing Region. As Editor-in-Chief, I cannot but be proud of, and thankful for, the admirable work my colleagues are carrying out in these challenging times. Here’s to the next 45 years … and everyone, stay safe.