Monday 24 / June / 2024
Muscat: Times of Oman celebrated its 49th anniversary on 23 February, 2024 (Friday). Since its inception in 1975, the newspaper has been providing its readers with breaking and accurate local, regional and international news.
Oman’s largest circulated newspaper, currently reaches over 65 percent of the country’s population through its various platforms with its website receiving more than 20 million views a month.
With 382,372 readers, our epaper reaches over 300,000 readers every morning and evening with two editions (52,747 subscribers in English and 45,857 in Arabic). >A4The Times TV channel provides diverse video clips to a wide range of news connoisseurs.
Besides, Times FM (TFM), continues to provide a kaleidoscopic option for receiving regular updates both from Oman as well as the world.
The Times of Oman has been dedicated to providing its readers with timely and accurate news on local, regional, and international events. As the Sultanate has grown and developed over five decades, the Times of Oman has been there to document the changes and meet the challenges by grabbing the opportunities that have arisen.
In fact, the newspaper would not have come into existence if that one single telex from Singapore had not reached the founder of Times of Oman, Late Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali’s desk, while he was serving as director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The telex came from a company called Flying Tiger Corporation based in Los Angeles, USA, asking for an overflight permission and as the director of the department, it was part of his duty to give permission to commercial flights, military flights and personal flights flying over Oman.
They sent the telex to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressing the country as, ‘Muscat, Oman, Saudi Arabia’. This infuriated the late Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali so much that he kept it [telex] on hold for three days. That’s when he thought why can’t Oman have an English newspaper that would put this beautiful nation, which remained happy on its own, on the global map?
After having received the necessary approval from the Ministry of Information and intense hard work of ten months, the Times of Oman was born on February 23, 1975.
Since then there has been no looking back. From giving an insight into events and trends, both national and international, and maintaining its credibility and reliability, relevance and high standards, Times of Oman grew by leaps and bounds.
While the newspaper has had its share of trials and tribulations, it has been able to weather the storm and sail in this media ocean, always ahead. The past years can be summed up as a kaleidoscope of memories, friendship and relationships and how our organisation has undergone changes from time to time to be stronger and certainly more efficient than ever before.
Today, as Times 0f Oman celebrated its 49th anniversary, it stays strong in its unwavering efforts to connect the glorious past to a brighter future. Also, technology has played a significant role in the evolution of the news and media industry.
With the landscape of journalism witnessing a sea-change, the newspaper also evolved successfully from being just a print media to the digital platform early with the extensive use of online resources. This has led to the expansion of its reach on social media, and also public engagements.
Presently, checking for news online through search engines, social media platforms and smartphone alerts has become almost a habit. While the Internet and social media platforms have made news more accessible, the news cycle also continues to move incredibly fast. This has also planted seeds for fake news to flourish where any information can go viral without any fact-checking.
Keeping this in mind, Times of Oman, as a conscientious and responsible media group, and its dedicated staff has combated disinformation and fake news judiciously without undermining the benefits of digital media.
The Sultanate of Oman’s largest and oldest English newspaper still continues and ensures to deliver high quality journalism and remains at the helm as the most trusted media house in Oman and the world.
Adding another feather to its media cap, Muscat Media Group won the Best ePaper-Concept Award at the 2023 edition of WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media Awards Middle East. Following rigorous evaluation, nine winners were announced across diverse categories on December 5, 2023, with Muscat Media Group proudly standing as the sole victor from Oman.
A judge from WAN-IFRA’s panel commended the award-winning concept, noting, “Great use of the digital platform, providing an interactive experience surpassing traditional print.”
As Times of Oman celebrated its 49th anniversary, the newspaper assures its readers, well-wishers and friends its continued commitment to upholding the highest standards and ethics of journalism in the country.
