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29 March 2024

#UAEReads: Dubai media institutions launch innovative reading initiatives

Photo credit: Al bayan

Published
By Staff

Dubai media organisations launched a series of initiatives and programmes with the aim of making reading a daily habit of adults as well as children. This is as per the directives of the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to make 2016 the ‘Year of Reading’, and the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to launch national initiatives to establish reading habit in the community.

The initiative aims at establishing a new generation of scientists, thinkers, researchers and innovators.

The initiatives of the Dubai Press Club and Dubai Media Incorporated including those of ‘Al Bayan’, ‘Emarat Al Youm’, ‘Dubai TV’, ‘Al Awla Radio’, support the objectives of the Year of Reading initiative.

Sheikh Mohammed has asserted that reading is the first skill needed by our children for their all-round development.

Mona Al Marri, Director-General of the Government of Dubai Media Office and Chairperson of Dubai Press Club, said the all Dubai media institutions support the Year of Reading initiative, so as to make reading a daily habit by concerted efforts of the media sector in Dubai through the hashtag #UAEReads.

Al Marri emphasised the importance of having year-round programmes and stressed upon the importance of having appropriate content and messages for each targeted group.

Dubai Press Club will launch two initiatives, she said and added that the first initiative is called ‘We Read to Influence’ (Nakraa Le Noather), wherein a series of videos will be posted on social networking sites. Through this initiative, users can post videos about books that inspired them.

The second initiative She added while the second initiative will be titled (Dubai laboratory for reading) (Mokhtabar Dubai Le AL Qara’ah) which will be launched during the fifteenth session of the Arab Media Forum at the reading corner.

She asserted that this initiative involves media colleges in the UAE, wherein senior writers, authors and trainers will conduct workshops for students and share their writing experiences.

Ahmad Al Hamadi, Executive Director, Publishing Sector in Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI)

Ahmad Al Hamadi, Executive Director, Publishing Sector in Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) confirmed that publishing sector will target raising community awareness about the importance of reading.

He stressed the importance of changing people's behaviour towards reading and called upon children to allocate dedicated time daily for reading. He expressed the hope that the initiatives launched by the publishing sector will encourage all segments of society to read have a family library. The initiatives will also attract the new generation that is used to technology towards taking up reading.

Mona Bu Samra, Editor-in Chief of ‘Al Bayan’

Mona Bu Samra, Editor-in Chief of ‘Al Bayan’ said that ‘Al Bayan’ will support this initiative by launching a series of initiatives that promote reading and learning from books and dictionaries.

Under the first initiative, titled ‘A’aila Taqra’a’ (Family reading), ‘Al Bayan’ will highlight families that has taken up reading as a habit. The newspaper staff will visit the homes of such families and see their libraries and share their experiences of reading every Tuesday, by giving them full-page coverage, said Mona Bu Samra.

The second initiative ‘Refagat Kotob’ (Accompanied by books) involves the newspaper website and social media platforms. More than 200 personalities from the Arab World can choose up to five books that inspired them and they can interact with readers through ‘Al Bayan’ website and social networking platforms.  

The third initiative ‘Safaht shabab@Qesah’ (Page Youth @ story) will promote values of quality and innovation in the art of short story-telling.

Ahmed Al Mansouri, Director-General of the channels in the DMI

Ahmed Al Mansouri, Director-General of TV and Radio Channels at DMI, said he is his pleased to launch the new site, which aims mainly to support Arabic language and highlight its stature among world's languages.

He said the site, which targets different age groups, will be simple, wherein one can access information clearly and easily.

Al Mansouri said ‘Dubai TV network’ including all television and radio channels will host various programmes as part of the reading initiative. To coincide with the World Arabic Language Day an initiative #be Al Araby was launched wherein heads of different departments visited Dubai TV.

Sami Al Riyami, Editor-in-Chief of ‘Emarat Al Youm’

Sami Al Riyami, Editor-in-Chief of ‘Emarat Al Youm’ said based on the principle of ‘knowledge is right for all’ by the newspaper, ‘Emarat al Youm’ has adopted  three initiatives that will reach out to all segments of society through social media and other channels. They will mainly target children, youth and the visually impaired, he added. The first initiative targeting children is called ‘Ibnak Ya Qra’a’ (Your child is reading), through words and images, making it fun to read. Four well-known Emirati women writers will contribute stories, which will be illustrated by Emarati artist to attract children and encourage them to read.

The second initiative targets youth and all readers of the newspaper (Emarat Al Youm) and is called ‘Ketab fe Thawani’ (Book in seconds), wherein a 200-word story can be published on SnapChat. ‘Emarat Al Youm’ is also collaborating with a number of prominent personalities to conduct workshops.

The third initiative called ‘Othon Taqra’a’ (Hear Reading) targeting the visually challenged. There will be audio recordings of book reviews on the Emarat Al Youm website.

Khadija Al Marzouqi, Editor-in-Chief, 'Emirates 24|7'

Khadija Al Marzouqi, Editor-in-Chief, Emirates 24|7 stressed the importance of providing English content as part of the initiative to involve various segments of the community comprising different nationalities.

The initiative by Emirates 24|7 called ‘Manzel min kotob’ (House of Books), will encourage readers to collect as many books as they can and build a ‘House of Books’ with them, along the lines of House of Cards.

Of the books used, there must be at least five that readers will promise to either read or re-read, Khadija Al Marzouqi said. Once the ‘House of Books’ has been built, readers can send in a picture of their creation to Emirates 24|7. The most elaborate and magnificent entries will be published and rewarded, she explained.

The second initiative is called ‘Kon Kateban’ (Be a writer), wherein the story or book written by our readers will be published by the website in the form of chapters, thereby encouraging new talent, said Khadija Al Marzouqi.

The third initiative is called ‘Nadi Kotab Emirates247’  (Book Club of Emirates 24|7) where the website will invite readers to participate in the book club. Every month, the website will choose one book and encourage people to read that and discuss the content of the book in an online forum. And in the last week of each month, readers will be invited to reviews of that book. The five best reviews will be published, said Khadija Al Marzouqi.

Mohammed Al Mulla, CEO of Arab Media Group

Mohammed Al Mulla, CEO of Arabic Media Group, asserted that it has been proactive in supporting community initiatives aimed at raising awareness.

Al Mulla emphasized the importance of the ‘Year of Reading’ initiative launched by the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, which aims to making reading a habit.