DUBAI // The National celebrated its seventh anniversary on Friday with a special beach picnic for the public.
As a summer breeze provided respite from the heat, people of all ages took the chance to meet some of the newspaper's editors and writers at The Walk in JBR.
From regular readers to those new to The National, the event allowed them to learn about the work that goes into publishing the newspaper.
"This is really nice," said Nada Masri who stopped by after becoming curious about the event.
"We saw the signs so thought it would be good to see what it was about," said the Lebanese. "I like the paper and read it when I can so it's good to meet some of the people who work there."
The event provided visitors with a chance to relax in the shade on beanbags and to tuck into food as a D?J played music.
"I'm glad I came along," said Briton Nicola Dean. "I've only been in Dubai since October so I wasn't really aware of the paper before today.
"Now that I know there is a website I will definitely be checking it out."
For Dubai newcomer Jonathan Pillay, it was his first contact with the paper.
"We were just walking past and decided to take a look at what was going on," said the Indian.
"Now that I'm aware of the newspaper I will definitely be checking it out."
A group of about 50 people met with Mohammed Al Otaiba, The National's Editor-In-Chief, to ask questions.
"We wanted to do something to engage with our readers and find out their thoughts about the paper," said Mr Al Otaiba. "Our readers are very much our stakeholders and although they may contact us through letters or email, events like this give both us as a newspaper and our readers a chance to meet face to face."
The picnic followed a similar event in Abu Dhabi a week ago.
nhanif@thenational.ae
We mark our 7th anniversary with reader beach party.
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