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State news agency of the United Arab Emirates

Emirates News Agency
وكالة أنباء الإمارات
وام
Agency overview
FormedNovember 1976 (established)
18 June 1977 (began operations)
JurisdictionGovernment of the United Arab Emirates
HeadquartersAbu Dhabi
WebsiteWAM

Emirates News Agency (Arabic: وكالة أنباء الإمارات, romanized: Wakalat Anba'a al Emarat), also known as WAM (Arabic: وام), is the official news agency of the United Arab Emirates.[1][2]

History and profile

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The WAM was established in November 1976.[3][4] It started an Arabic service on 18 June 1977, and an English service was established by Peter Hellyer in December 1978.[3]

It is headquartered in Abu Dhabi and and, since 2025, has operated under the National Media Authority (NMA), a federal body established by Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2025 that consolidated the UAE Media Council, the National Media Office and the Emirates News Agency.[5][6][7]

The agency operates through a network of foreign correspondents around the world.[8] It is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council news agencies, the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA),[9] the International Islamic News Agency, the Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool[7] and of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA).[10]

The agency has cooperation and news exchange agreements with various news agencies, including the Sudan News Agency, Bernama (Malaysia), Xinhua (China), the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Petra (Jordan), the Indonesian News Agency, and the Saba News Agency (Yemen).[11] Since 2012, the agency has also been in cooperation with Anadolu Agency (Turkey).[12] WAM launched a Hebrew language service in April 2021.[13]

WAM provides multimedia news services—including text reports, photographs, video, infographics and documentaries—and distributes its content in multiple languages, covering the country's political, economic and developmental activities.[14]


Services and products

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WAM provides multimedia news services spanning text, photographs, video, infographics and documentaries, alongside comprehensive coverage of the UAE's political, economic and development activities, and distributes its output in several languages to audiences across different continents.[15]

References

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  1. ↑ "United Arab Emirates profile". BBC. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  2. ↑ "UAE Media Sustainability Index" (PDF). IREX. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  3. 1 2 "About Us". WAM. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  4. ↑ Khalid Al Jaber; Barrie Gunter (2013). "Evolving News Systems in the Gulf Countries". In Barrie Gunter; Roger Dickinson (eds.). News Media in the Arab World: A Study of 10 Arab and Muslim Countries. New York; London: Bloomsberry. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-4411-0239-3.
  5. ↑ "UAE establishes National Media Authority under new Federal Decree-Law". Arabian Business. 18 December 2025. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  6. ↑ "UAE establishes National Media Authority to oversee media strategy, regulation". Xinhua News Agency. 18 December 2025. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  7. 1 2 Ibrahim Al Abed; Peter Hellyer; Paula Vine (2004). The United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2005. London: Trident Press Ltd. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-900724-89-0.
  8. ↑ "UAE Government Issues a Federal Decree-Law Establishing and Organising the National Media Authority". UAE Legislation – Official Portal of the UAE Government. Retrieved 2 July 2026.
  9. ↑ Federation of Arab News Agencies KUNA. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  10. ↑ K. M. Shrivastava (2007). News Agencies from Pigeon to Internet. Elgin, IL: New Dawn Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-1-932705-67-6.
  11. ↑ Emirates News Agency (WAM) (Wakalat Anbaa al-Emarat) in Dubai Directory Archived 9 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine Data Dubai. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  12. ↑ International Cooperation Archived 25 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  13. ↑ "UAE launches official Hebrew-language news service". The Times of Israel. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  14. ↑ "Emirates News Agency (WAM)". Federation of News Agencies of the OIC (UNA). Retrieved 29 June 2026.
  15. ↑ "Emirates News Agency (WAM)". Union of OIC News Agencies (UNA). Retrieved 2 July 2026.
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