Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Fill gap between media and people

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Being passionate about something is worth chasing and making it a career is what Fahmy bin Khalid al Harthy, Editor-in-Chief of Oman of Observer Daily between 2009 and 2013, tells the world. And he doesn’t just say that; instead, he lived what he preached after letting go a cushy position in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 70s and chased a career in media against the wish of his family.


“I was supposed to join MoFA when I got the offer of a good position at the Ministry in the 1980s as we, being educated, had a buffet to choose from those days. I opted for media. I wanted to chase my passion for journalism’’, Fahmy, who leads a peaceful retired life, avers.


And most of his friends today are working as diplomats of the Sultanate Oman across the world. Ask Fahmy if he regrets the choice that he made four decades ago.


“Not at all. Had I not been pursuing what was offered to me, I’d not have been so contended for having been a media person for four decades’’, an ever smiling Fahmy said. Fahmy is probably the only Omani journalist who headed both Arabic and English newspapers in his career.


Schooled in Dubai Naif area in 60s when there was no school or hospital in the Sultanate of Oman, Fahmy and family moved to Dhammam in Saudi Arabia to pursue his studies but having found no proper school there, his father sent him to Bagdad, capital of Iraq to continue his education till secondary school. This was followed by his further studies in Qatar and Egyptian capital Cairo before he returned to the Sultanate of Oman. He holds masters in Economic and Political Science and a Degree in Middle East History from Alexandria University.


“Having lived in many countries in the Middle East and elsewhere helped me to face life at an early age and to be self-reliant. I became self-dependent at a very young age’’, says Fahmy.


His first job was of a reporter with Oman Arabic newspaper in 1983 and from there, he took the baby steps in journalism and grew to be the head of editorial dept followed by being the acting Editor-in-Chief and then the Editor-in-chief for Four Seasons magazine, which was published from the erstwhile Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising’ (OEPPA).


A man who always sought changes in life, Fahmy was appointed in 2009 as the acting Editor-in-Chief of Observer for a year and became the Editor-in-Chief in 2010 for next 4 years.


“It was a golden era. We brought out supplements, magazines, special editions from time to time and mark my words, nothing would have been possible if we didn’t have a team that was so dedicated to work.”


He took retirement in 2014 but his services were still sought as the Adviser to the Minister of Information. At that time, he was informed that he had 500 days of leave pending and should finish them off. “That’s not to my credit. My staff and I are one family as I spent more time in the office than I do in my family.


“I believe in professionalism and it’s the staff that makes the difference. Let the people talk to us, argue with us, give their positive and negative feedback. Build up more relations with people, go to the people and talk to them. There’s a gap between the media and people here. That needs to be bridged’’, Fahmy sums up his idea of journalism.


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