LONDON: As the elevator doors opened right into the top floor of a luxurious flat on the famous Strand in London, I was humbly greeted by Othman Al-Omeir — a titan of Arab media and the founder and current editor of Elaph.
There is a mythology that tends to gather around veteran editors like Al-Omeir — the stories, famous phone calls, encounters with kings and presidents, and relationships that span decades and continents.
He has interviewed world leaders, navigated political storms, and witnessed generations of Arab media reinvent themselves.
Morocco's King Hassan II and journalist Othman Al-Omeir. (SRMG Archive)
It was the second time I had met Al-Omeir at his home. That day, 25 years ago, he had just launched the first ever independent Arab news website. Very few outlets had ventured into such technology — let alone an Arabic-language one.
To understand how Al-Omeir thinks, one must reach back to the start of his career. He started out not in political reporting or editorials, but as a young sports correspondent — perhaps an early sign of his instinct for pace and timing.
From there came a rapid climb through Arab media — Al Jazirah, Al Majalla, and later Asharq Al-Awsat, where he became one of the defining editorial figures of pan-Arab journalism, a role he held for 10 years.
Othman Al-Omeir meets with Jacques Chirac, president of France from 1995 to 2007. (SRMG Archive)
Then, in the early 2000s: “I started thinking, what shall I do? What can I do?”
Al-Omeir reminisced to me as he attempted to tidy his iconic long, frazzled gray hair.
It was around 1995, and after a short stint in production, that Al-Omeir returned to his true calling: journalism.
Othman Al-Omeir with the late Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. (AN photo)
“I believe Elaph is a continuation of the tradition of journalism, because this is so important. It doesn’t matter if you’re going to publish papers or just online, you have to follow that tradition and the way journalism is going, otherwise you become like X,” Al-Omeir said, referring to the company formerly known as Twitter.
“Everybody just publishes stories without good language, without …” he said, gesturing to his chest before uttering the Arabic word for “soul.”
Elaph launched on May 21, 2001, as the first Arabic news website operating independently from any legacy or broadcast outlet, despite being derided and scoffed at by many of its peers.
Its launch came at a curious time for the industry, as people began embracing the shift from newspapers to websites and were still getting to know what the World Wide Web had to offer.
The year 2001 feels unrecognizable compared to today’s interconnected world of transversal technology and constant connectivity. Although mobile phones had already begun to permeate society, they were still little more than tools for communication and, at most, music players.
Since the birth of the smartphone, however, the way people consume content — including news — has transformed completely. Smartphones have become the primary news platform for much of the world, particularly younger audiences, with social and video platforms overtaking traditional television and print habits.
The advent of artificial intelligence in news media is perhaps comparable only to the arrival of social media — a double-edged sword that can appear intimidating at first but can ultimately become a tool for journalists.
The late Al Riyadh newspaper Editor-in-Chief Turki Al-Sudairi (L) with journalist Othman Al-Omeir (R) and Arab News Editor-in-Chief Faisal J. Abbas. (Asharq Al-Awsat photo)
“It’s just like sharks — you either adapt and keep swimming, or stop and die,” Al-Omeir said.
Just as newspapers and broadcasters approach AI cautiously today, the arrival of the internet once provoked similar fears. It was at that moment that Al-Omeir took a leap of faith that would shape the trajectory of Elaph — and the publication has not stopped evolving since.
“I believe in AI, and I am going to use it,” he said.
“But when you write something, you should have the spirit of yourself” and not follow the language that ChatGPT and other AI chatbots use to write articles for some reporters, he added.
In 2023, Elaph launched an AI anchor named Hala Al-Wardi, not long before other news sites followed suit.
“Yes, there is the bad side of it, which is fake stories and fake pictures, but in the future people will get used to it and they will find the right way to use it,” Al-Omeir said at the time.
Today’s relay race of technological advancements comes off the back of a more analog era of Arab journalism, spearheaded by Al-Omeir and other veteran editors, including Abdulrahman Al-Rashed and Khaled Al-Maeena.
One of the greats was Mohammed Ali Hafiz, a pioneering Saudi media figure who founded Asharq Al-Awsat and Arab News alongside his brother Hisham in Jeddah in the mid-1970s. Mohammed passed away on May 17 — honored by many across the industry.
Othman Al-Omeir reading Asharq Al-Awsat at the newspaper’s headquarters in London, August 1997. (SRMG Archive)
“Mohammed, honestly, when you talk about journalism, he was one of the greatest journalists in the Arabic language,” Al-Omeir remembered fondly.
“He was a really great guy. I did disagree with him, and he was very pleased when I left the paper,” he added, although he ensured they maintained a healthy professional relationship.
Al-Omeir has always stressed that the role of an editor-in-chief is less editorial and more that of a justifier. As time passes, he sees the position as more crucial than ever in cutting through the barrage of online content and misinformation.
“We have to have freedom with the new media … In my opinion, many countries will need to adapt in order to give small freedoms to the media,” he said.
“You need to have freedom of the press. If you don’t do it, somebody will go to do it online themselves.”
