Arab News launches Research and Studies Unit

New department will commission papers and host expert debates and policy briefings by high-level officials

Arab News has launched its Research and Studies Unit to provide decision makers and business executives with quality data and information on regional affairs. Based at the newspaper’s headquarters in Riyadh, the unit will deliver studies written by resident and nonresident experts, and arrange invitation-only discussions and policy briefings by high-ranking officials. The unit will manage Deep Dive, the newspaper’s research-based, long-form journalism department. It will also be responsible for Arab News’s exclusive regional media partnership with online polling company YouGov.

Since they began in 2016, Arab News/ YouGov polls have shed light on regional sentiment toward international events, and produced research on international opinion on Arab affairs. Recent polls include “Mosque and State: How Arabs See the Future,” “How US Views the Qatar Crisis,” “How Brits View the Arab World” and “How Arabs

View Japan.”

Arab News Editor in Chief Faisal J. Abbas said: “Quoted by a large number of media outlets, academic institutions and foreign diplomats, our exclusive YouGov polls have become a staple of the quality, credible content Arab News produces to help get the Middle East better explained. “Our new Research and Studies Unit will manage our YouGov partnership and ensure we produce more of these valuable polls more frequently. The unit will also be commissioning independent research papers on various issues, and host experts for talks on the topics of the hour, be it over video conferencing or in person at our Riyadh headquarters whenever COVID-19 travel restrictions are removed. “Despite living in a region of the world rich in natural resources, we suffer from scarcity when it comes to reliable data and research that help decision makers and business executives form informed views. This is the gap we hope to fill with this unit.”

Our new Research and Studies Unit will manage our YouGov partnership and ensure we produce more of these valuable polls more frequently. Faisal J. Abbas

Arab News Editor in Chief