Times of Oman

Times of Oman is a daily newspaper published in the Sultanate of Oman, where it is one of the leading publications. Established in 1975, it is the oldest English-language paper of Oman. Apart from daily news on local, regional, international, business and sport interests, Times of Oman provides information on topics such as entertainment, fashion and lifestyle, education, information and technology, health and books.^[2]

History

Times of Oman was first published on February 23, 1975 and was launched as a weekly tabloid newspaper. by the known Pakistani journalist Rana N. Parveze. It is published by the Muscat Media Group, which is also behind publications such as Al Shabiba, Hi Weekly and Sabbat Ayam. The main reasons for starting Times of Oman were to publicize Oman abroad and to address non-Omanis in the country.^[2] This explains why the newspaper dedicates more pages to news about the Indian Subcontinent since the majority of expatriates in Oman are from that region.^[3] In 1991, the Omani paper became a broadsheet daily. A reader survey in 2013 stated that amongst the English dailies in Oman, Times of Oman was favored by 5.4% of the respondents followed by Oman Tribune (2.7%). The least read newspapers were the newly launched Muscat Daily and Oman Daily Observer.^[2]

Ownership

The Muscat Media Group is a publishing house in the Sultanate of Oman, established in 1975 by Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali. The publishing house is behind a number of different publications from broadsheet dailies to tabloid weeklies and monthlies as well as weekly magazines both in Arabic and English. Apart from Times of Oman, the Muscat Press and Publishing House is the publisher of the Arabic-language newspaper Al Shabiba launched in 1993.^[2] In 2004 Muscat Media Group house became the first in the GCC countries to develop an online edition for its daily newspapers Times of Oman and Al Shabiba.^[2] In 2008 WAP editions of the newspapers were made available on cell phones.

Platforms

Newspaper

The paper is published six days a week from Saturday to Thursday. The website is also updated every day in every hour. The newspaper is organized in three sections. The first section, section A, contains pages of local news, regional news, news on India and Pakistan and world news. It also has a commentary section with perspectives from respected political analysts and opinion writers. It also features a reader’s forum. Section B is a Market, Business and Finance section bringing news on local, regional and international financial matters. It also contains a Life and Style part in addition to entertainment pages with crosswords, daily horoscope, airlines and bus schedules. The back pages are dedicated to Bollywood news and feature articles. The C section focuses on national and international sports. The D section, called Connect, is the daily guide for the inhabitants of Oman with local ads and classifieds. The newspaper, printed daily with pages varying from 44 to 52 pages, is a blend of black and white and color pages.

Electronic devices

In 1998, Times of Oman launched their website, which additionally made MPPH the first publication house in the region to develop a website for news information. In December 2012, the Times of Oman website was redesigned to include more sections for news coverage in the local department and across the globe. The website gets 2,29,377 visitors in September month and has shown growth of 75% in a 9-month period. The average visit duration is 5.44 min in September 2013 The Times of Oman e-paper was launched on October 4, 2004. In 2007, Times of Oman launched its first mobile application for iPad and smart phones. Times of Oman's Facebook page became active in the beginning of 2013. By August 2013 it had almost 10,000 'likes'.^[4] Times of Oman's Twitter page had more than 3,000 followers in August 2013.^[5]

Supplements

Thursday magazine was launched on November 18, 1999, and discontinued in June 2015. It was a family magazine, which came out with the main edition of Times of Oman every Thursday. The magazine’s main focus was on topical and cover stories and special features, but also on subjects such as healthcare and beauty tips, crime, romance, travel, parenting, fashion and cooking. The magazine targeted readers among expatriate and Omani working women as well as housewives. On June 23, 2015, the last issue was published, with the magazine folding into the pages of Times of Oman.

Times of Oman also publishes the annual magazine on Home Decor titled Heavenly Homes and a cook-book named Art of Cooking.

Sister publications

• Hi Weekly, launched on March 30, 2007, is a freely circulated weekend newspaper in tabloid format. It consists mainly of light-reading content and is distributed every Friday instead of the daily paper. Hi offers in-depth analyses of international events as well as an informative and investigative approach to local events and issues ranging from civic amenities to social responsibilities, culture, heritage, arts, literature, beauty, fashion, environment, business and sports.
• Faces is a monthly magazine of Times of Oman, which targets business expatriates, working professionals and the local Omanis that fall in the 18-35 age group. It features stories on local personalities, reviews on movies, books, and restaurants, in depth editorial content on international news, health, fashion, relationship, food, travel gizmos and more. Faces is freely distributed with Times of Oman with 20,000 copies reaching the newspaper’s subscribers, hotels, cafes, health clubs, corporate offices, government bodies, ministries, travel agencies and more. Supported by its online presence, Faces now reaches out to a pan-Gulf audience.
• Al Shabiba (Arabic)
• Sabbat Ayam (Arabic)
• Al Khazina (Arabic)
• Al Sayraat (Arabic)
• Sahah wal Jamal (Arabic)
• Mustaqbal (Arabic)
• Black & White (English)

Awards and Recognitions

• The late founder and editor-in-chief of Times of Oman, Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali was posthumously awarded the "Pen of Press Prize" by the Council of Gulf International Relations (COGIR) on April 17, 2013.^[6]
• timesofoman.com won Gold Award at the 2006 Oman Web Awards ^[7] and Bronze Award at the 2007 Pan Arab Web Awards.^[8]
• Muscat Media Group is the first media company in Oman and the second in the Gulf region to have been awarded the ISO 9001:2008 certifications, which is an internationally recognized standard for quality management systems.^[9]
• Times of Oman has won the top two awards at the Oman Football Association's Annual Award Ceremony (2014).
• Times of Oman and its sister publications have won 478 international creative awards, making Muscat Media Group as the most awarded media organization in the Middle East and African region. Times of Oman made history as the first Middle Eastern newspaper to win Gold Award ^[10] from the prestigious Society of News Design (SND) annual competition and also from Malofiej Infographic Awards, considered as the Pulitzer Prize of information graphics. In the 35th edition of SND competition, Times of Oman ranked no. 1 in the most number of awards,^[11] the first non-American newspaper to achieve such feat.

Society for News Design (SND) Creative Competition

WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards

Malofiej Infographic Awards

World Press Cartoon

Communication Arts Magazine Competition Annual

Society of Illustrators Annual Competition

Society of Publication Designers (SPD) Annual Competition

HOW Magazine International Design Award

Type Director's Club Annual Competition

Creative Quarterly Journal Design Competition

See also

• List of Arab newspapers

References