Just as the Dubai Metro is a quick alternative to the city's traffic-snarled streets, commuters will be soon be offered a speedier way to catch up with the news on the short hop to work. Plans for a free daily paper for the new rail system are under way, with distribution also being considered on the bus and boat services run by Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). As with other free "metro" newspapers around the world, the new title is likely to offer short news stories that are easy to digest.
It is expected to be launched by Kassab Media, the outdoor advertising company that has the contract to sell ad space on Dubai's new rail system."Once the network is fully operational we're definitely launching a daily newspaper," said Gerard Rustom, the regional sales director at Kassab Media. Mr Rustom said the launch date for the paper would be "based on the RTA schedule and we are working accordingly with them ? it could be at the end of the year, it could be March".
The newspaper is likely to be in tabloid format and something that "you'd read for 10 to 15 minutes", he said. "[It will be] a daily newspaper similar to what you find on the London Underground. The newspaper could be across all the network - the metro, buses and marine. This is what we're working on." The RTA confirmed its intention to launch a newspaper for the emirate's transport network, although it said it would not be soon.
"One of the things that we'd love to happen in the future is a newspaper on public transport," said Peyman Younes Parham, the director of the RTA's corporate marketing department. "We will do it at some point. There have been discussions between myself, senior management and the chairman. It's on the cards but it's not near." The RTA would not confirm Kassab had been appointed to publish the title.
"Kassab is a strategic partner of ours," Mr Parham said. "They do have advertising contracts on certain mediums. [But] I am not at liberty to disclose details of the contract ? we don't discuss things that have not been launched or have not been agreed upon." But Mr Rustom claimed Kassab had the right to publish the title, and was "working on" obtaining a separate licence from the UAE National Media Council.
"Kassab will publish it with the RTA ? It's in our contract," he said. "We have started appointing [editorial and sales staff] but it's still step by step," Mr Rustom said. Free newspapers are typically supported by advertising. Many of the titles, which are sometimes called "freesheets", have closed in the recession, including News International's thelondonpaperand London Lite, published by Associated Newspapers.
Some publishers are embracing the free business plan, with London's Evening Standardscrapping its cover price last year. Dubai's 7DAYS newspaper also operates to the free model. But other media companies are shunning the model. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has built paywalls around some of its websites to try to attract more revenue, and has recently increased the cover price of The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK.
In 2008 there were 266 free papers published in 60 countries, according to figures compiled by the researcher Piet Bakker, who tracks the freesheet market. By July this year, the number of free papers worldwide fell to fewer than 200, across 55 countries. But the rate at which freesheets are closing is slowing, Mr Bakker's research shows. Last year, 42 free newspaper titles closed globally, while only three were shut in the first eight months of this year.
bflanagan@thenational.ae