A New News Concept at Abu Dhabi Paper: Independence
The International Herald Tribune reports:
One of the Middle East’s wealthiest ruling families has a new asset: The National, a newspaper that promises independence from its royal owners.
The paper, an English-language daily based in Abu Dhabi, published its first issue on April 17, under close scrutiny in the Middle East and abroad. With its pledge to emulate Western newspaper standards and to “help society evolve,” The National is an anomaly in the Middle East, where most media are tightly controlled by the government. . .
So far The National is drawing some guarded praise. “I looked very carefully to see if I could find any evidence that they were censoring themselves, and I didn’t see it,” said Josh Friedman, director of international programs at Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism. For example, the paper, which is available online at www.thenational.ae, referred to Hamas fighters as “militants,” Friedman said, a type of description that is rare in the Middle East.
Click here for The National‘s Web site.
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