Muscat Daily
Encyclopedia
Muscat Daily is an Omani newspaper
that was founded in 2009. The print
edition of Muscat Daily is the largest selling English
daily in Oman with over 25,000 copies sold every day on Omani weekdays (Saturday to Wednesday). The paper does not have a weekend edition currently. Muscat Daily is owned by Apex Press and Publishing, a leading Omani publishing company which publishes several other titles including the hugely popular Theweek
, Business Today, Oman Today, Usrat Al Youm, Al Isbou'a, Business Directory and Tribute. Apex also does occasional projects like the Map of Oman, Apex Map of Muscat
, The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
coffee table book etc. Apex Press and Publishing was founded in 1980 by Omani businessman Saleh Zakwani, who is also the current chairman of the company.
The newspaper celebrated its first anniversary on October 13. Muscat Daily is accessible online at muscatdaily.com.
, dpa
, TMS Features, IANS
, Asian News Network. The paper runs crosswords provided by The Guardian
.
Section 2 has Business, Crosswords, Sudoku
puzzles, quiz questions and a Features section.
On Wednesdays, TheWeek
newspaper is delivered home to Muscat Daily subscribers as weekend reading.
orange and black
theme was designed by its creative director, Benoite Lopes, in a seven column format. The design has received favorable reviews at design workshops run by WAN-IFRA the biggest association of publishers in the world. Muscat Daily is still not a full colour paper as it is printed at the Omani government
owned Oman Observer press.
In February 2010, parent company Apex Press and Publishing announced that they had signed an agreement to purchase a Goss Community SSC Press
with a rated speed of 35,000 copies per hour from the American printing press manufacturer.
Apex had previously printed its titles with other printers since it had never invested in its own press
. Mohana Prabhakar, chief executive and managing editor
of Apex Press and Publishing, was quoted as saying that using contract printers had become an increasing problem as the company expanded its portfolio
of titles. This was the main reason why Apex finally decided to invest in its own printing press
despite the extra printing capacity available in the country with other printers.
Despite the relative young age of the newspaper
, the circulation
quickly picked up and the paper went on to become the largest selling English daily in the Sultanate of Oman by mid-2010. The main reason quoted by industry
analysts for this was the low annual subscription fees of the newspaper in a market
which traditionally had fewer than 1,000 residential subscribers for English
dailies before the entry of Muscat Daily. An annual subscription to Muscat Daily cost OMR 13.500 (about $35) compared to the OMR 72 ($186) of competitors likes Times of Oman, Oman Tribune and Oman Daily Observer.
arena in Oman at a time when newspaper subscriptions are falling in the West
. In a scathing critique, Eliott Beer posted on AdNation Middle East's website, "Apparently no-one's told the guys in Oman about the demise of traditional print media (it's dead, you know) - some publisher's only gone and started up another newspaper
."
However, parent company Apex Press and Publishing says that newspaper circulations are increasing in emerging markets
and since the penetration of broadband
in Oman is still only about 12% of the total population
, it does not see any threat to its print business. Muscat Daily was launched as a direct competitor to other English language dailies in Oman including the Times of Oman, Oman Tribune and the government run Oman Daily Observer.
"The fact that Oman's first civil unrest in 40 years left at least one person dead in a northern port city here was big news. But it was even bigger news that the English-language Muscat Daily declared "Black Sunday in Sohar" on its front page and carried a half-page photograph showing smoke filling the sky above a roundabout seized by protesters."
The article was subsequently carried in other prominent newspapers and publications across the world including Gulf News
, Yahoo News, MinnPost
According to an article in the Economist
in early March 2011, “Newspapers such as the Muscat Daily have begun to cover the protests in a way that would have been unthinkable even a week ago.”
Among other international media, Spanish
newspaper El Pais has quoted Muscat Daily in its coverage of the 2011 Omani protests and the related action by the government and other actors in the 2011 protests. Talking about the reforms instituted by Sultan Qaboos, in the wake of the protests it said:
“Según datos recabados por el Muscat Daily, la medida beneficia a 130.000 ciudadanos, el 73% de todos los que trabajan ese sector.” (Translation: According to data compiled by Muscat Daily, the new measures will benefit about 130,000 people or about 73% of those working in the private sector.)
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
that was founded in 2009. The print
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
edition of Muscat Daily is the largest selling English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
daily in Oman with over 25,000 copies sold every day on Omani weekdays (Saturday to Wednesday). The paper does not have a weekend edition currently. Muscat Daily is owned by Apex Press and Publishing, a leading Omani publishing company which publishes several other titles including the hugely popular Theweek
Theweek
TheWeek is a free, 48-page, all-colour, independent weekly newspaper published from Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman. Oman’s first free newspaper was launched in March 2003 and has now gone on to gather what is believed to be the largest readership for any publication in Oman. Ms Mohana Prabhakar is...
, Business Today, Oman Today, Usrat Al Youm, Al Isbou'a, Business Directory and Tribute. Apex also does occasional projects like the Map of Oman, Apex Map of Muscat
Muscat, Oman
Muscat is the capital of Oman. It is also the seat of government and largest city in the Governorate of Muscat. As of 2008, the population of the Muscat metropolitan area was 1,090,797. The metropolitan area spans approximately and includes six provinces called wilayats...
, The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
-Construction:In 1992 Sultan Qaboos directed that his country of Oman should have a Grand Mosque. A competition for its design took place in 1993 and after a site was chosen at Bausher construction commenced in 1995. Building work, which was undertaken by Carillion Alawi LLC took six years and four...
coffee table book etc. Apex Press and Publishing was founded in 1980 by Omani businessman Saleh Zakwani, who is also the current chairman of the company.
The newspaper celebrated its first anniversary on October 13. Muscat Daily is accessible online at muscatdaily.com.
Content
Editorial content is generated by an inhouse team of reporters and writers in the case of Oman news. International news is sourced from a variety of newswires including The New York Times Syndicate and News Service, BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, dpa
DPA
-Companies and associations:*Danish Pro Audio, the predecessor company of DPA Microphones, a manufacturer of microphones*Dominique Perrault Architecture French architecture agency http://www.perraultarchitecte.com/...
, TMS Features, IANS
Indo-Asian News Service
Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is India's largest private news agency. The IANS is run by a group of professional journalists.The IANS was founded by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the India Abroad News Service. It was later renamed the Indo-Asian News Service...
, Asian News Network. The paper runs crosswords provided by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.
Sections
The newspaper is organized in two sections. Section 1 is the main section with 20 pages containing Oman (National) news, Regional and World news, Op-Ed and Sports.Section 2 has Business, Crosswords, Sudoku
Sudoku
is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9...
puzzles, quiz questions and a Features section.
On Wednesdays, TheWeek
Theweek
TheWeek is a free, 48-page, all-colour, independent weekly newspaper published from Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman. Oman’s first free newspaper was launched in March 2003 and has now gone on to gather what is believed to be the largest readership for any publication in Oman. Ms Mohana Prabhakar is...
newspaper is delivered home to Muscat Daily subscribers as weekend reading.
Design and style
The newspaper which features a shocking TulipTulip
The tulip is a perennial, bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa, which comprises 109 species and belongs to the family Liliaceae. The genus's native range extends from as far west as Southern Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran to the Northwest of China. The tulip's centre of...
orange and black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
theme was designed by its creative director, Benoite Lopes, in a seven column format. The design has received favorable reviews at design workshops run by WAN-IFRA the biggest association of publishers in the world. Muscat Daily is still not a full colour paper as it is printed at the Omani government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
owned Oman Observer press.
In February 2010, parent company Apex Press and Publishing announced that they had signed an agreement to purchase a Goss Community SSC Press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
with a rated speed of 35,000 copies per hour from the American printing press manufacturer.
Apex had previously printed its titles with other printers since it had never invested in its own press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
. Mohana Prabhakar, chief executive and managing editor
Managing editor
A managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
of Apex Press and Publishing, was quoted as saying that using contract printers had become an increasing problem as the company expanded its portfolio
Portfolio
Portfolio literally means "a case for carrying loose papers," ....
of titles. This was the main reason why Apex finally decided to invest in its own printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
despite the extra printing capacity available in the country with other printers.
Despite the relative young age of the newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, the circulation
Newspaper circulation
A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. Circulation is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the...
quickly picked up and the paper went on to become the largest selling English daily in the Sultanate of Oman by mid-2010. The main reason quoted by industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
analysts for this was the low annual subscription fees of the newspaper in a market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
which traditionally had fewer than 1,000 residential subscribers for English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
dailies before the entry of Muscat Daily. An annual subscription to Muscat Daily cost OMR 13.500 (about $35) compared to the OMR 72 ($186) of competitors likes Times of Oman, Oman Tribune and Oman Daily Observer.
Political persuasion overall
Muscat Daily has been described by analysts as having a centrist liberal bias on most issues. Overall, the stated mission of the paper and its management is to report and not sensationalise or editorialise matters.Other controversies
Muscat Daily has been criticized as being a late entry into the newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
arena in Oman at a time when newspaper subscriptions are falling in the West
West
West is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the left side of a map is west....
. In a scathing critique, Eliott Beer posted on AdNation Middle East's website, "Apparently no-one's told the guys in Oman about the demise of traditional print media (it's dead, you know) - some publisher's only gone and started up another newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
."
However, parent company Apex Press and Publishing says that newspaper circulations are increasing in emerging markets
Emerging markets
Emerging markets are nations with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. Based on data from 2006, there are around 28 emerging markets in the world . The economies of China and India are considered to be the largest...
and since the penetration of broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
in Oman is still only about 12% of the total population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
, it does not see any threat to its print business. Muscat Daily was launched as a direct competitor to other English language dailies in Oman including the Times of Oman, Oman Tribune and the government run Oman Daily Observer.
Muscat Daily in international media
The role that Muscat Daily has played in pushing the boundaries of media freedom and censorship in 'the sleepy sultanate' has been recognized by world media, particularly those that work in markets where media freedom is guaranteed. An article in Christian Science Monitor on the protests and media freedom in Oman said:"The fact that Oman's first civil unrest in 40 years left at least one person dead in a northern port city here was big news. But it was even bigger news that the English-language Muscat Daily declared "Black Sunday in Sohar" on its front page and carried a half-page photograph showing smoke filling the sky above a roundabout seized by protesters."
The article was subsequently carried in other prominent newspapers and publications across the world including Gulf News
Gulf News
Gulf News is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates with a December 2009 BPA audited circulation of over 117,036 qualified copies...
, Yahoo News, MinnPost
According to an article in the Economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
in early March 2011, “Newspapers such as the Muscat Daily have begun to cover the protests in a way that would have been unthinkable even a week ago.”
Among other international media, Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
newspaper El Pais has quoted Muscat Daily in its coverage of the 2011 Omani protests and the related action by the government and other actors in the 2011 protests. Talking about the reforms instituted by Sultan Qaboos, in the wake of the protests it said:
“Según datos recabados por el Muscat Daily, la medida beneficia a 130.000 ciudadanos, el 73% de todos los que trabajan ese sector.” (Translation: According to data compiled by Muscat Daily, the new measures will benefit about 130,000 people or about 73% of those working in the private sector.)