Yemen Times and Commercial Advertisements: Goals and Reasons [Archives:2000/14/Business & Economy]

Yasser M. Ahmed
Yemen Times

Adoption of democratic system in this country and declaration of the freedom of press in 1990 did usher a turning- point in history of press in Yemen. Large number of newspapers and publications were issued following that political change. Some of these newspapers continued while others could not. The main cause of discontinuation of some publications is the lack of financial resources. We have seen many remarkable newspapers that used to adopt a policy of reflecting sufferings of the people and defend their causes and interests but soon they came to an end. Many of those newspapers would attribute their closure to political situations whereas political harassments represented merely 5% of causes. Party organs and independent newspapers continue and stand firmly, keeping pace with various events. Parties allot budgets to their own papers to help them continue. As for national and independent newspapers , they lack support in general for aside form the 4-5 thousand Rials they receive every month they get no other form of support.
After this preface we would like to review the march of an important leading newspaper, i.e. The Yemen Times. It has been a pioneering publication in many aspects: independence of opinion, distinguished production and interaction with reality. These are not easy tasks because they require a lot of efforts, money and modern equipment. Therefore, when the late Dr. Abdul-Aziz Al-Saqqaf first thought of establishing the Yemen Times he dreamed of a big corporation that provides divers advertisement services. He realized that because of the various communication media the world has become like a small village. Then, the late Dr. Abdul-Aziz made it his responsibility to support the newspaper financially. Despite all the hindrances the Yemen Times encountered and the attempts by political parties to buy its loyalty, it had remained independent because of the tenacity of its leader. This had made the Yemen Time the best ambassador of Yemen to the entire world.
At this stage, we started thinking of a way to support the Yemen Times without having to affiliate of any party and the idea of commercial advertisements seemed most convenient. The reason was not to make profit as other closed newspaper described it. Yes, the Yemen Times started to publish advertisements to continue and because of it 1000 tourists visited Yemen. It has also worked in building and supporting tourism and investment in Yemen to become the only tourist guide in Yemen.
To make things clearer, let’s ask who makes a real benefit of advertisements the Yemen Times or the Advertisers? Many companies stood out in the market swiftly and became very strong in the very competitive market making much profit. The cause of this rapid success is their excellent advertisement and marketing department. They realized that advertising for their products was not less important than manufacturing them. Therefore, they started looking for modern widespread means, less costly and more positive. They found out that the most outstanding of all these media are newspapers.
——
[archive-e:14-v:2000-y:2000-d:2000-04-03-p:./2000/iss14/b&e.htm]