KT@41: Making news to breaking news, and fixing it
Forty-one years is a long journey and we’ve all come far — together. Anniversaries are definitely times to reflect on our achievements and past glories — and we have much to feel proud about. The UAE was only six years old when KT was born, and being the first English newspaper in a young country is a huge responsibility — a role that Team KT has played extremely well since the day one.
But milestones do not simply mark the passage of time. Each passing year is like a medallion for surviving from one crisis to another, for enduring adversity and, in the case of Khaleej Times, reporting the truth as it is, in all fairness and without fear or favour. We’ve been making news, ever since the UAE’s first English newspaper was launched on this very day in 1978. We’ve been covering news, every bit of that which matters to you, our audience in the UAE or across the region and beyond. We’ve been breaking news, in real-time, in its multimedia glory, and on a device of your choice. Now, it’s time we fix news — for, news is
indeed broken.
Media is, in fact, supposed to be society’s synteresis, empowering the collective conscience of communities with knowledge to judge the right from the wrong by offering perspective, objectivity and a frame of reference in a monomaniac world marred by turmoil, prejudice and tunnel vision. But if you look at it through a dispassionate prism, there is a lot that needs to be fixed in news media across the world. From fake news to propaganda, from yellow journalism to post-truth comment and content, misinformation to hyper-partisan news, unregulated claims to unsubstantiated conspiracy theories… there are existential issues that need to be addressed. To stay true to our founding principles,
Khaleej Times will, over the next 12 months, roll out several initiatives that go beyond breaking news to further engage, educate and inform our audience while refreshing the design and storytelling formats on both print and digital platforms. We realise that it is not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it is not something that cannot be done — together.