Oman News Agency - ONA

History

Oman News Agency (ONA) was established by Royal Decree No.39/86 issued on 29-5-1986. Afterwards Royal Decree No. 43/97 issued on 25-6-1997 established the Oman Establishment for Press, News, Publication and Advertising (OEPNPA) to include ONA as part of the OEPNPA departments. 

Headquarters 

ONA headquarters is located in the Governorate of Muscat as per both Royal Decrees which established ONA and OEPNPA. ONA has the right to establish offices inside the Sultanate and abroad.



Prerogatives and Objectives 

ONA is the official channel for news about the Sultanate and it is the centre which receives daily news and reports from the various parts of the world and reproduces what it sees appropriate through its network to other media inside the Sultanate and abroad. ONA has successfully carried out its duties domestically and abroad and it continuously improves its performance to achieve the following objectives.

- Contributing to developing the Omani citizen through acquainting him with the local, regional and international developments.
- Receiving local, Gulf, Arab and international accurate, clear and honest news and reflecting the development efforts in various fields.
- Demonstrating trends of the Public Opinion and the views of officials accurately and honestly and without jeopardizing the safety or security of the state or compromising individuals dignity or their rights. This is in addition to collecting, classifying and analyzing information on issues and topics of concern to the homeland and citizens in accordance with the requirements of the public interest.


- Photographing domestic and international events and preparing same for distribution locally and abroad.
- Preparing interviews and reports to cover various domestic, regional and international developments to shed light on Oman stands and keep abreast with national accomplishments in various fields.
- Exchanging, marketing and transmitting its services with domestic, regional and international media through the signing of agreements with other media institutions. ONA is linked with several news agencies and Gulf, Arab and international informational institutions through cooperation agreements.

- issuing several specialist bulletins in a way that avails as much as possible of information to its recepients domestically and abroad.

Organisational Structure

ONA organisational structure includes the following departments:-

- Arabic Editing Department 
- English Editing Department
- Photography Department
- Reporters and Correspondents Department
- Reporting and Studies Department
- Archive Department
- Bulletin Preparation Department
- Internet Department
- ONA branch in the Governorate of Dhofar.

It's noteworthy that the OEPNPA includes besides ONA, Oman Arabic Daily, Oman Daily Observer (English), Nizwa Magazine, Al Omaniyah for Advertising and Public Relations, Al Omaniyah for Distribution and Marketing and Oman for Printing and Publishing.

The OEPNPA board is responsible for drafting the policies of the establishment to achieve the desired goals and it may take what it sees appropriate to accomplish these goals in coordination with the concerned authorities. The board chairman represents the OEPNPA in its relations with others and before courts. He also manages its affairs and implements the board decisions.

ONA has an editor-in-Chief, who supervises ONA work and the implementation  of  its goals and tasks. ONA ediror-in-chief is an  OEPNPA board member. 



Transmission

ONA daily transmission starts from 8.30 am to 1 am throughout the whole week.
On national occasions or significant events, transmission may go beyond this timing or begin earlier. ONA transmits its news through local and international telegraphic circuits linking ONA headquarters with the Omani Telecommunications Company (Omantel). It transmits in both Arabic and English languages by using computers (News Manager) programme. Editing and transmission is carried out in accordance with the well-known modern technologies in this field.

Distribution and Bilateral Cooperation

ONA distributes its daily bulletin to local subscribers through direct lines. ONA is also linked through close cooperation with the News Agencies of Gulf Cooperation Coucil States and other Arab and foreign News Agencie.

 ONA is also linked through bilateral cooperation agreements with a number of Arab and foreign news agencies to exchange news and photographs with these agencies.


ONA is a member of the Organisation of Arab News Agencies (FANA) and the Organisation of Asia Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and a founding member of Asia Pulse. It also takes part in the annual meetings of the News Agencies of the Gulf  cooperation Council states 


Other Activities

Besides transmitting and distributing news, reports and photographs to its subscribers, ONA also prepares a daily bulletin which includes the most important developments in the world. ONA provides its personnel all of whom  are Omanis with specialist training courses inside  the Sultanate and abroad ,particularly that  it maintains good cooperation relations with several Gulf, Arab and international news agencies.

Correspondents inside the Sultanate and abroad:

ONA has a number of correspondents in the Sultanate's various regions and wilayats, as well as other correspondents in several Gulf, Arab and foreign capitals who enable it to cover local and international developments and events.