Mr. Salem Thabet Al-Awlaqi, head of the National Southern Media Authority (NSMA) of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), paid an inspection visit on Wednesday to the 14th October Foundation for Journalism, Printing, and Publishing in the capital, Aden, and was received by Mr. Mohammad Hisham Basharahil, Acting Chairman of the Board of Directors of the foundation.
In his meeting with the directors of the foundation for Journalism, Printing, and Publishing, Mr. Al-Awlaqi indicated that the founding of the newspaper (October 14) on January 19, 1968, 55 years ago, came as an expression of the national authority in the South after national independence on November 30, 1967, and embodied the aspirations of the people of the South to build a modern state, referring to the administrative and technical stable status of the foundation and the normal continuation of issuing the newspaper, enhancing the credibility of the move towards restoring the southern media institutions in the capital, Aden, without any obstacles.
Al-Awlaki stressed the importance of continuing concerted efforts towards creating a national media partnership to set basic orientations at all levels and formulate a media and editorial message to address the challenges facing the South, calling in this regard to complete the technical equipment to convert the press archive into electronic format and restore the website of the newspaper, among other technical updates.
Mr. Al-Awlaqi was briefed by Mr. Basharahil on the efforts exerted by the directors to lift the foundation from the previous situation and work on modernizing the technical structure, administrative reform, and journalistic and editorial work.
Al-Awlaqi, together with Basharahil and other officials of the foundation, toured around the press and commercial printing, the management of binding and supplementation, and the press archive and was briefed on the activity of these departments, praising the efforts of its employees and technicians.
The meeting was attended by Mr. Najib Siddiq, Acting Editor-in-Chief, and Mr. Al-Hamid Awad Al-Hamid, Acting Vice-Chairman and Deputy Editor-in-Chief.
