Essa Al Zedjali
Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali (died 2013) was an Omani newspaper founder who launched the English-language Times of OmanTimes of OmanTimes of Oman is an English-language newspaper in Oman, founded on February 23, 1975, by Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali and published by Muscat Media Group; it is one of Oman’s longest-running English-language papers.Open the full entry and its publisher, Muscat Media GroupMuscat Media GroupMuscat Media Group (MMG) is a media company in Muscat, Oman, founded in 1975 by Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali; it publishes the English-language Times of Oman and the Arabic Al Shabiba and runs radio stations and digital platforms.Open the full entry, in 1975.
Contents7 sections
Key facts
1974Conceives a Newspaper While at the Foreign Ministry
In 1974 Al Zedjali was working at Oman’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Late that year a request from a company called Flying Tiger mistakenly placed Oman within Saudi Arabia, which moved him to start an English newspaper; he then approached Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, the minister of information at the time.[1]
1975Founds Times of Oman
In 1975 he launched the English-language newspaper Times of Oman, later followed by the Arabic newspaper Al Shabiba, and for years expressed his views in his column “Viewpoint.”[2]
In the paper’s early decades, marked by financial strain, he personally financed subscriptions to international news agencies and subsidised its street sales in London.[3]
April 2005Business Trip to China
In April 2005 he made a business trip to China accompanied by Mohammed Al-Mahjoub, who recalled the journey in February 2023 when MMG marked the tenth anniversary of Al Zedjali’s death; a speaker there described him as a diplomat who led a simple life.[2]
February 2013Death
Funeral prayers and burial for Al Zedjali took place on February 23, 2013.[4]
January 31, 2019Posthumous Pakistani Recognition
On January 31, 2019, during Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s visit to Muscat, Pakistan posthumously conferred a Certificate of Appreciation on Al Zedjali, recognising his accomplishments as an administrator, diplomat, businessman and journalist and his humanitarian relief work during natural calamities; his son Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali, chairman of MMG, received it on the family’s behalf.[5]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Times of Oman: Official website: https://timesofoman.com/ (opens in a new window)[6]
Sources
- Incredible 45-year bond with the Times (opens in a new window)
- Late Essa regarded as one of the pioneers of journalism (opens in a new window)
- 51 years strong: Times of Oman continues to shape the nation’s narrative (opens in a new window)
- The forty-seven-year journey of Times of Oman (opens in a new window)
- Pakistan's Foreign Minister Confers Award to Essa Zedjali (opens in a new window)
- Times of Oman (opens in a new window)