Umm Al-Qura Newspaper… A Century in Saudi Media development

Umm Al-Qura Newspaper… A Century in Saudi Media development

Jeddah (UNA-OIC) – Umm Al-Qura Newspaper that passed a century of its age is considered among the most important and prestigious Saudi newspapers for its being the official memory of the historical decisions and events, where its first issue came to life on Jumada Al-Ula 15, 1343 Hijri as the first newspaper to be issued during the reign of the late Founding King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud, where Makkah Declaration topped its first issue followed by some official statements and news.

The headquarters of the weekly newspaper is built over an area of 16,000 square meters in Al-Umrah neighborhood in Makkah Al-Mukarramah and includes two buildings: one for the administration and the other for editing, technical affairs and printing press, where its human capacity stands at 168 employees representing administrative and technical staff and workers, and all of them are Saudis. The paper also has four branches in Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, and Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah.

Sheikh Yousef Yassin is the first editor-in-chief of Um Al-Qura Newspaper, then Rushdi Malhas who both were in the diplomacy field during the reign of King Abdulaziz, then Mohammed-Sa’id Abdulmaqsoud Khoujah, Fuad SHakir and Abdulquddous Al-Ansari to document, historically, the biographies of kings of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and accurate details in the historical ages and political events, in addition to holding the entire archive of the state and became a historical reference for lovers of history, economy and politics.

The newspaper was a mix of news, sports and social events for around four decades since its establishment, where some of its pages included advertisements, where, at the time, it reflected the Saudi identity and the local, economic and knowledge aspects, and was considered the only media platform that acquainted the world with the news of the country and its cultural, educational and economic aspects, and supporting important issues, such as the Palestinian issue, which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia defended since the reign of the founding king with all its capacity and influence against occupation.

The historical importance of Umm Al-Qura newspaper stems from its being the only official newspaper that kept pace with two complete decades of the life of the founder, so it accounted for publishing most documents, decisions, regulations, and the political and administrative news of the Saudi government and its point of view on several regional or international issues, in addition to its being the only newspaper that lived political and military events that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia went through, such as: the annexation of Jeddah in 1344 Hijri, the establishment of the Shura Council in 1345 Hjri, Al-Sablah War in 1347 Hijri, annexation of Jazan in 1349 Hijri, the declaration of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1351 Hijri, and the exploration of oil in 1357 Hijri, among other events and facts.

Umm Al-Qura newspaper was known for a certain character for years, which is publishing stories, news and interviews representing the core of the oral history, where such news and stories had never been published before, where it also embarked on publishing summaries for all press interviews with King Abdulaziz, which makes the public say that the newspaper offers a source for the history of King Abdulaziz and his biography or the modern history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which rarely can be found in Saudi or Arab print.

The newspaper also opted for publishing news of some figures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and some of their biographies, which is like an accurate documentation of the biographies of some figures that we do not come to their mention in Saudi and non-Saudi publications. The paper was also concerned with the social, educational, religious and economic reform in the country and increasing its status, preserving the social, economic and religious history.

Umm Al-Qura, considered the first Saudi paper, managed to publish the full biographies of King Abdulaziz and his two sons King Saud and King Faisal through publishing a colored issue on Shawwal 4, 1369 Hijri, corresponding to July 10, 1950 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of King Abdulaziz’s entrance in Riyadh, where these biographies were characterized by their publication while their subject matters are still alive, which grants additional credibility to the historical information in them, where it never happened that the paper received a request for a correction, notification or addition to the three biographies.

The newspaper was also keen to establish and design specialized corners in offering subjects related to social customs and traditions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in addition to its being one of the media institutions that contributed to keeping pace with the media technological developments and modern technologies in the press and media field, which played a role in developing the level of contents and media items it offers.

The newspaper sought to secure a new and modern printing press, and managed to change its character in a way that matches the modern and technological changes with focusing on preserving the affected issues that were damaged by mites in most of its issues, where it immediately worked in cooperation with the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah) to restore all issues that were damaged, where the restoration process was made by specialists who supervises keeping these issues from being lost, before archiving all issues electronically and continuing lost parts in cooperation with partners.

The newspaper also sought to create its own website to act as a digital media platform for the documentation and providing comprehensive information on the paper, where it made a full observation for the Saudi history with all photos and information, where it witnessed in the current time a comprehensive renaissance and became working within a full digital environment, whether at the administrative system or editorial work through activating the digital system in the official transactions with the use of the administrative communications within the digital scope of the Ministry of Media, in addition to the financial transaction according to the Sadad program that was accredited by the Ministry of Finance.

The newspaper also owns a huge paper archive and another electronic one that has all photos and coverage of events and occasions, where the newspaper recently uncovered restoring 54 volumes of old issues of the newspaper representing the time era between 1343 Hijri and 1397 Hijri in cooperation with Darah, under which the Darah sterilizes and restores these volumes and storing them on CDs to be used as a reference when required.


 

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