Kitchen

An inner view of the newsroom ‘kitchen’

I even have back to Arab News after nearly two decades. However, throughout that time, I became no longer a long way away. Anyone who works at Arab News will usually have an attachment to our famous inexperienced newspaper. Once Arab News, continually Arab News — that is what people who work, and the feature worked, on the newspaper accept as true with.
But what makes returning returned so thrilling are the modifications that can take location at Arab News. Under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Faisal J. Abbas, the bounce has been huge and the change enormous.
From the start, Arab News has been a pioneer and a leading force for accurate journalism in Saudi Arabia. The seed that changed into planted on April 20, 1975, has grown into a sturdy and strong tree, green and unshakable. With its global attain and “digital-first” attention, Arab News has become the top relied-on source for information within the Middle East. Not only is it “the voice of a changing area,” but it additionally units high requirements for trade.

An inner view of the newsroom ‘kitchen’ 1
When I joined Arab News in 1988, I began on the news table — what Arabs name the news kitchen. That is wherein the entirety is made and put together, so starting there has been very useful. Not many human beings want to be in the kitchen because it is scorching and regularly demanding. Most humans favor going out and being a reporter, getting in touch with human beings, but I enjoyed operating inside the kitchen, editing reproduction.

Five years later, I changed into despatched by using Arab News to the Thomson Foundation within the UK to do a degree in journalism. I met those who had a splendid deal of revel in newspapers from many English-speaking international locations, from Africa to Eastern Europe.

It turned into intimidating, and I lacked confidence at the time. Still, I bear in mind a colleague telling me: “We’re a sturdy newspaper, we’re a nice newspaper so that you don’t should fear approximately something. Just cross ahead and make the maximum of the education.”

At that point, Arab News was greater advanced technologically than others, even inside the UK. We used to have PageFax, which sent pages to the printers. We also had systems that despatched pages thru computers to the printer.

When I turned into London and visited The Independent newspaper, they had been still using PageFax. During a tour, I was informed that during six months, they could begin using computers and prevent the usage of PageFax. The man told me proudly that it might take 90 seconds and two mins to ship a web page to the printer when that happened.

I spoke up and said: “No, it’s going to take 15-20 seconds.” He checked me out, and I became delighted to tell him: “I’m talking from the first-hand experience due to the fact we have already got this laptop-to-print technology.” This gave me self-assurance. I become proud that we were beforehand — and nonetheless, in many factors, particularly related to today’s era.
While I became analyzing, I became chosen as the quality journalist of the 21 being educated through the Thomson Foundation. You can believe how glad I have become because I got here from any such robust newspaper.
During the 12 years I spent at Arab News, we covered several epochal events, consisting of the First Gulf War (Aug. 2, 1990, to Feb. 28, 1991). That was a game-changer for me due to the fact we’d print two times. First, we despatched the pages by nighttime, then we returned and made some necessary changes earlier than sending every other version to the mattress at 4 a.M.
However, it changed into traumatic, worthwhile, and turned into a watch opener in phrases of ways matters might be accomplished. I was getting first-hand enjoy of ways Arab News changed on time and how I could be worried about those changes.
Arab News started as a newspaper to inform expatriates living in Saudi Arabia about using an’s regulations and guidelines, information about the Kingdom, its traditions, and keeping them in contact with their own international locations.
During the First Gulf War, we have become the source of news for all Western media. All the Western newshounds and correspondents who got here to the Kingdom came to our bureau in Dammam, and it ends up the headquarters for CNN, the BBC, CBC, and others. They converged on our work to get modern information from us; that turned into a very heady feeling that made us proud and aware of our obligations.
Today, we are the source of tales coming out of not best Saudi Arabia but also the broader Gulf and the Middle East. We are reporting about the modifications taking location, the outlet of society, and new trends in Saudi Arabia. We are again in the middle of things and are the supply of depended on and reliable information. Because of this, we’ve got to grow to be “the voice of a converting location.”
We need to forget social media now not. It is a powerful device and plays a large function in the dissemination of news. Arab News has a few 5 million fans on Facebook; Twitter is also buzzing 24/7 with today’s tales from the location. We take significant satisfaction in what we placed out, and we test and double test earlier than posting something. That conscientious attention to accuracy has won us the agree with and self-assurance of our readers.
Many people have come to Arab News over the years, and of direction, many have left. There is no doubt that many of their next achievements are because of the coolest schooling they’d at Arab News. The top factor in our circle of relatives is that we keep in touch with those who have left and do not forget the best instances when we have been collectively in the newspaper.
For me, coming again to Arab News has added a rush of memories and feelings of nostalgia. My go back is an exceptional opportunity for me to be part of the sizable adjustments taking area within the region and in all our newsrooms and bureaus, wherever they are.

Margie Willis

When I decided to start blogging about real estate, I knew this would be a long journey. I was right. As you can see, I've grown my blog over the years and now have many followers. The reason why I started blogging is that I wanted to share my passion for designing and decorating my own home. I want to help people with home improvement ideas, trends, and inspiration.

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