The New National

As the Abu Dhabi daily relaunches, Austyn Allison speaks to editor in chief Mina al-Oraibi about its move from ADM to IMI and her vision for the brand

- Austyn Allison

The National’s new offices are not a place for hay fever sufferers on the week the Abu Dhabi daily relaunches.

Wellwishers have ben sending their best wishes, the newsroom is full of flowers, and newly announced editor in chief Mina AlOraibi’s desk looks like a garden centre checkout.

The offices abut the Park Rotana in the UAE capital’s Twofour54 media free zone. The paper’s new masthead is emblazoned on the side of the building, where the newsroom takes up space that used to be a gym for other tenants.

But the new editor has grand plans for The National.

Al-Oraibi officially took on her role on July 1, although her role has been common knowledge in the market for a while. She has been in Abu Dhabi working on the relaunch since the beginning of March.

For 10 years, from 2005-10, AlOraibi was at UK-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Alawsat, where she was deputy editor in chief from the end of 2011 until she moved to the US to become a fellow at Yale and then to join the Institute for State Effectiveness in Washington, a nongovernmental think tank.

The National was first launched in 2008. It was published by government body Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) until in November its ownership was transferred to International Media Investments (IMI).

IMI is a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC), the private investment firm that partnered with Sky News to launch Sky News Arabia. ADMIC is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, half-brother of Abu Dhabi’s ruler and UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

The acquisition came amid job cuts and rumoured management struggles within the newspaper.

“On the job losses thing, you can’t shy away from saying ‘I’m going to put together the best team I think is possible under my leadership to take