UAE Media Office to be set up

Our Correspondent

The UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, issued on October 25 a Federal Law by Decree no. (7) of 2020 establishing the Media Office of the UAE Government.

The decree will take effect immediately, and was published in the latest issue of the Federal Official Gazette.

The media office shall have the legal capacity to conduct the business and actions necessary to implement its functions, and the headquarters of the office shall be in the UAE, and other branches or offices inside and outside the country, may be opened by decision of the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, in accordance with articles two and three of the decree.

The office undertakes a set of tasks, including: proposing and preparing public media policies, legislation, directions and strategies for the state, including the digital communication strategy, supervising its implementation after approval by the Council of Ministers, proposing and reviewing federal legislation related to the media sector in the state, and proposing necessary amendments in cooperation with the authorities concerned with organizing this sector and unifying and organizing the media discourse and media messages of the UAE government, locally and internationally.

The office is also tasked with dealing with local media agencies and local and national media to unify the media vision and the media discourse of the state locally and internationally, developing government communication with the federal authorities in the country, building capabilities and skills in the fields of media communication, developing the country’s soft power strategy, and following up its implementation with the concerned authorities, in addition to managing the state’s visual media identity and popular diplomacy projects with other countries, and managing media campaigns for strategic national projects and official events locally and internationally in coordination with the authorities.

The office also undertakes representing the state in the media at all external and regional levels, building close ties with international media organizations and institutions, managing the state’s media crises in coordination with the concerned authorities, dealing with foreign and international media, monitoring and following up the trends of public opinion and perceptions about the state, managing the social media channels of the UAE government and the communication channels that represent the country in general, conducting specialised studies and research in areas related to the office’s specialisations, analyzing regional and international phenomena, risks and trends, and establishing and organising a comprehensive database of information and data related to the office’s competencies in coordination with the concerned authorities, and achieving integration among them in the exchange of information, or any other functions assigned by the Cabinet or the minister.

The office shall be in the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, and its structure shall be approved by a decision of the minister, and the legislation, regulations, policies and regulations in force in the ministry shall apply to it.