The slow death of print media in the Gulf

The two print media giants of Dubai, ‘Khaleej Times’ and ‘Gulf News’, are gasping for breath, with advertising revenue drying up like raindrops on desert sand. Despite their efforts to stave off the inevitable, the relentless rise of digital media has been eating away at both advertisements and readership, hollowing out these once-formidable institutions like termites consuming a solid tree.

Both papers discontinued their print editions on Saturdays and Sundays on June 3, 2023. The decision to stop weekend printing was driven by declining advertising revenue, increased costs for paper and logistics and a shift in consumer habits toward digital platforms. Digital content continues to be available over the weekend.

For years, the decline was gradual, almost deniable. Management strategies, cost-cutting measures and digital pivots offered temporary relief. But the last straw, many believe, was the ill-fated US-Israel-Iran conflict, whose ripple effects were felt sharply across Gulf economies. The region, despite having little direct stake in the confrontation, bore the economic brunt and with it came a further contraction in advertising, the lifeblood of print journalism.

Few voices capture this moment of reckoning more poignantly than Abdul Hamid Ahmad, former CEO and Editor-in-Chief of ‘Gulf News’. Having witnessed waves of layoffs across both newspapers, Ahmad has, in many ways, penned what reads like an obituary for an entire industry.

In a deeply reflective ‘LinkedIn’ post, he wrote of grief, not just for colleagues who lost their jobs, but for a profession that once defined lives and identities. With nearly 45 years in journalism across magazines, newspapers and digital platforms, Ahmad draws a stark distinction: this isn’t another cyclical downturn. “What we are seeing today is not a crisis,” he observed. “It is an ending.”

According to reports, the first casualties are the newsboys (as in India, where a news hawker sells multiple papers). Both papers had separate teams of newsboys to distribute the paper. Next, the marketing and events teams have been reduced to a skeleton.

There was a time when newspapers were not merely businesses but institutions - thick with pages, rich in reporting and sustained by robust advertising. Publications like ‘Gulf News’ and ‘Khaleej Times’ routinely ran to 60, 70 and even 80 pages, shaping the daily rhythm of life in the UAE. Today, those same papers struggle to fill 16 thin pages, often padded with light content and starved of advertisements. The silence of those missing pages speaks louder than any headline.

The reasons for this collapse are neither mysterious nor unique to the Gulf. They are the result of sweeping global shifts:

• Advertising has migrated to digital platforms, offering precision targeting and measurable returns.

• Readers have moved to mobile screens, guided by algorithm-driven feeds rather than editorial judgment.

• The economics of print - from production to distribution - have become untenable.

• Media ownership has shifted from growth-oriented investment to mere survival mode.

Yet, as Ahmad underscores, the tragedy isn’t institutional alone - it is deeply human. Behind every layoff lies a lifetime of craft: reporters who chased stories across decades, editors who mentored generations and photographers who chronicled a nation’s evolution frame by frame. What is being dismantled is not just an industry, but a community and a culture.

What remains of these once-mighty publications is, increasingly, a shell. A Dubai-based journalist, who wishes to remain anonymous, said, “They are ghosts of their former selves... Most of the old staff are gone...” These are terrible times, he added.

Ahmad said survival has become dearer day after day and waiting for a mercy bullet feels like a waste of time. Newspapers that once shaped public opinion now struggle to justify their own existence.

Ahmad, who has spent 45 years in journalism, said, “Yet even in this bleak landscape, one truth remains: journalism itself isn’t dying. The business model is. The craft is evolving, mutating, finding new forms - niche platforms, independent voices, multimedia storytelling. But the era of the grand newspaper, the thick morning edition, the bustling newsroom - that era is fading.”

“For those of us who lived it, loved it and gave our lives to it, the loss is personal. It is the end of a world we helped build. And it deserves to be mourned,” Ahmad concluded, grievingly.