‘Pioneering Journalist And Trusted Adviser To Generations Of Emirati Officials’: International Media Pays Respect To Late Ibrahim Al Abed

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 21st Oct, 2020) International and regional media outlets have mourned the death of prominent Emirati journalist, Ibrahim Al Abed, who died on Tuesday, at the age of 78.

The Associated Press, AP, described Al Abed as a "pioneering media figure" and a "de facto government spokesman," adding, "his phone number was the first rang by foreign journalists for decades as Abu Dhabi and Dubai grew into the skyscraper-studded cities they are today."

"He also served as a trusted media adviser to generations of Emirati government officials," the news agency added.

The Washington Post also run the AP article, which was titled "Founder of UAE state-run WAM news agency dies at 78."

The award-winning media figure Al Abed founded WAM in 1977 and helped Peter Hellyer, a UAE cultural historian, set up the agency’s English wire in 1978. He also worked as the Director-General of the National Media Council and later as Adviser to the Chairperson of NMC.

The Spanish news agency EFE has highlighted the fact that Al Abed had worked "five decades in the communication industry of the United Arab Emirates."

Under a headline that said "Founder of Emirati news agency WAM dies at 78," the news agency added in the article it published yesterday that "Al Abed graduated from the American University of Beirut with a degree in Political Science and Public Administration and moved to the Emirates in 1975 to work with the Ministry of Information and Culture, where he was commissioned to establish the WAM news agency."

Catalonia’s leading newspaper La Vanguardia republished the article from EFE.

The Daily Tribune, an English-language daily newspaper in Bahrain, carried a condolence message by the country's Information Affairs Minister, Ali bin Mohammed Al Romaihi, who praised the contributions of Al Abed to the regional media.

"The GCC, Arab press and media communities have lost an iconic pioneer of responsible media," the Bahraini official was quoted as saying.

Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, published the statement of its board Chairman and Director-General, Sheikh Mubarak Duaij Al Ibrahim Al Sabah, who expressed condolences over the passing of Ibrahim Al Abed.

Sheikh Mubarak, who is also the President of the Federation of Arab News Agencies, FANA, said that Al Abed "was one of the most prominent media leaders who helped building the media institutions in the UAE."

"Al Abed was a noble character, work lover and an example of sincerity," he added, pointing to the Emirati journalist’s continuous efforts in supporting FANA during his tenure as Director-General of WAM and NMC.

"He was able to achieve a qualitative leap in the foreign media in the UAE through many cultural publications that conveyed a civilised image to various world countries," Sheikh Mubarak continued.

Asharq Al-Awsat, a London-based pan-Arab daily newspaper, published excerpts from Ibrahim Al Abed’s interview with Al Arabiya tv channel in 2018.

In the interview Al Abed said that the establishment of the Dubai Media City in 2000 was a "very important development for the media sector."

He added in the interview, "when it started, we were wondering what were we going to have. It turned out that we have now over 2,000 organisations and companies working there. The UAE has become a hub for the international media."