KT 39th Anniversary: Our paper is your paper

Thirty-nine years ago, when Khaleej Times was born, there was no Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, or Twitter. Life, and journalism, was simpler. Reporting revolved around a single value: information.
The paper's first editor summed up journalism in a one-liner, telling readers: "Our newspaper is your newspaper." It acknowledged the role the customer, or the reader, would play in the years to come. It was the beginning of a friendship.
Since then, journalism has rebooted many times. Yahoo triggered the first wave of content aggregation; Google, which began humbly as a search algorithm, has uprooted newspaper business models; Facebook has upended reading habits. Now, mobiles are customizing journalism to their screens.
KT has versioned its persona too. But it has always reflected what it knows best: its relationship with the reader.
In its very first issue, KT's editor wrote presciently: "A newspaper is a living thing with its own individual character and every day brings new stories and new problems."
He told readers: "Praise we would like but do not expect. Criticism we expect and constructive suggestions and assistance we welcome."
That message has somehow passed on from editor to editor and reporter to reporter all these decades. Which is why we decided to devote the 39^th anniversary issue to the Reader.
Our readers have changed since journalism sought refuge in apps. They are nostalgic about Brand KT but they are also demanding. They seek a deeper relationship with today's and tomorrow's KT.
Reminisces one reader: "As a little boy, I would wait at home for my father to return so that I could sit by his side and go over KT's Young Times."
Suggests another: "The negative news in the paper makes me feel terrible. I know you have to talk about the bad things, but could you print only facts and no opinions? I want to form my own opinion on politics, wars, and leaders."
Special coverage: KT turns 39
A newspaper too is the sum of its opinions about the future. That defines its purpose and preparedness. But how does it read the future? As we have seen all these years, journalism's best oracle is the reader. Just look at how she is influencing the content ecosystem.
Video has become the best form of storytelling.
A picture is worth more than 10,000 words.
Every article has a share value.
Data is the new black.
Artificial Intelligence will soon bag a Pulitzer.
For a newspaper, these are challenging times. It cannot rely on technology alone to engage with the future. It's an uncanny understanding of the customer, and what she wants, that delivers the future.
We would like to call it a dialogue. It's a constant conversation with our readers to find out how well we serve them. It's the simplest way to excel; the humblest way to lead; the best way to disrupt.
As we promised: "Our paper is your paper." We redeem that pledge to our readers on our 39th birthday.
vinay@khaleejtimes.com