The Yemen News Agency (Saba) is the official news agency of the Republic of Yemen. It was known by this name after the establishment of the Republic of Yemen on May 22, 1990 AD. It is a product of the merger of the “Saba News Agency”, which was established in July 1970, and the “Aden News Agency”, which was founded in February 1970 AD.

Saba is the main news source in the Republic of Yemen. It aims to provide various media services to the state and society, through:

1- Monitoring, following up and covering activities, events and developments in the Republic of Yemen in word and image and in various forms of journalistic work, and broadcasting them through its means inside and outside, and providing the official and civil media, local, Arab and international, with daily news, reports, press comments and photo investigations, in the political, economic and other fields, and continuous follow-up Continuous developments of events.

2- Follow-up on what is published in the various foreign, Arab and international media, of news and information, positions and events, about the Republic of Yemen, dealing with them, coordinating in their regard, extrapolating and deducing indicators and potential positions, monitoring, following up and covering regional, Arab and international activities and events, and following up on their developments.

3- Preparing research and studies, and issuing specialized newsletters, yearbooks, and periodic and annual documentary books.

4- Diversify its services and expand its beneficiaries in various sectors of society, especially the economic and commercial sectors.

5- Expanding the communication and its channels with the external media, Arab and international, with the aim of expanding the scope of the Agency’s media services at the global level and achieving the scoop as much as possible.

Media services provided by the agency:

1- The local news bulletin in Arabic: a daily bulletin of 20 hours, which includes news, reports and analyzes related to the follow-up and coverage of all events, events and developments taking place on the Yemeni arena in various fields. It is broadcast through the internal transmission network to subscribers from media agencies, institutions, official, civil and private bodies.

2- Newsletter in foreign languages: a daily local news bulletin in English and French, which the Agency sends to subscribers via e-mail, and also broadcasts on its website.

3- Arab and international news bulletin: a general daily bulletin that guarantees real-time coverage of world events on a continuous basis around the clock. This bulletin is broadcast through the internal transmission network to subscribers from media institutions, official, civil and partisan newspapers, research centers and universities.

4- External transmission bulletin: a daily bulletin containing the most prominent local as well as Arab and international news, sent by the agency via duplex lines and via Internet protocols (FTP file transfer) as well as via e-mail, to Arab and foreign agencies participating with it in news exchange agreements, in addition to the Federation of News Agencies Al Arabiya (Fana) and the Association of Asian and Pacific News Agencies (OANA).

5- Private Dispatch Bulletin: a daily bulletin broadcast through the internal transmission network around the clock, containing all news, reports, studies, studies broadcast and published by Arab and international media, and any information about Yemen, and translated news and press reports dealing with the Yemeni issue in English, French, German and Russian.

This bulletin also includes important Arab and international news that comes within the interests of politics and decision makers in Yemen.

6- Photographic services: the service of sending images synchronized with the news covered and broadcast by the Agency. The base of subscribers to the video services has expanded to include, in addition to the agency’s publications, publications, and website, daily newspapers and other various media outlets, and to provide Arab and international news agencies with pictures of many events taking place in Yemen.

7- The Agency’s website: It is a real-time news window for the Agency, through which its local and international news services are broadcast in Arabic, English and French, in addition to the daily investigations and photos accompanying the local news.

8- Short Message Service: The agency started in 2005 by sending its news service via short message system (SMS) to subscribers via mobile phone, in both Arabic and English, as the first Yemeni media and press organization to provide this service to the Yemeni public. This service allows subscribers to choose the type or category of news sent to them, which are categories: local political news, Arab international political news, economic news, sports news, technical news, various news, and provincial news. In July 2009, an external transmission service was introduced via mobile, and the beginning was by sending news to subscribers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

9- Panorama: a special daily news report that monitors and summarizes the most important news from all available sources. It is sent daily by fax to a number of state leaders and officials.

10- A tour of the press: a report that includes a summary of the most important statements of the Arab and international newspapers. It is sent daily by fax to the personalities and concerned authorities.

11- Correspondents’ services: This service provides correspondents of agencies, newspapers, radio stations and foreign satellite channels who are in Yemen with local news and reports daily via fax and e-mail.

12- Publications and Publications:

A) Al-Seyassah newspaper: its first issue was published on January 23, 1968 as a semi-daily news bulletin, printed on a stencil, and distributed to senior officials in the state and government.
Starting with the issue (20033) issued on Saturday, May 12, 2007, the Agency started the daily issuance of “Al Seyassah” newspaper as a daily newspaper published every morning in (24) pages to cover political, economic, social, sports, literary and intellectual fields. It is distinguished by publishing various press materials and the most important analyzes in major newspapers. Foreign languages ​​issued in English, French, German and Russian, as well as what is monitored in “Saba” by electronic, radio and television monitoring.

On January 31, 2008, Al-Seyassah newspaper began publishing the Arabic version of the French newspaper “Le Monde Diplomatique”, according to the agreement signed on January 19, 2008 between the agency and the “Le Monde” Foundation, according to which the agency will print and distribute the monthly “Le Monde”, the Arabic version, as a monthly supplement. The newspaper “political”.

b) “Political Readings”: a 16-page supplement that is issued monthly with “Al-Siyasiyyah” newspaper. Prepared by the Agency’s Research and Information Center. It is interested in highlighting, through analysis, articles, reports and documents, the most prominent political and intellectual developments and issues locally, Arably and globally.

C) The Special Bulletin: A daily bulletin distributed to senior state officials, important figures from the political elite, and the military and security leaders in the country, and it includes the most important broadcasts through the Special Dispatch Bulletin.

D) Books: The agency started, especially in 2001, and after activating its Research and Information Center, which was established in May 2000 as a development of the Research and Documentation Department, which was established in November 1990, it began preparing and issuing books that included studies and serious research, as well as historical and documentary books, especially in the matter of the local. It is prepared by specialized researchers in the center, which has been supplemented by an appropriate number of specialized and eminent researchers.

The number of books issued by the Agency during the period 2001-2010 amounted to about thirty books on the most important developments and issues related to the Yemeni issue, Yemen’s foreign relations and Arab and international issues.

e) Special files: they are files that monitor the echoes and developments of notable events, especially local ones. This service has witnessed a great development, especially from the year 2000 until 2010, when the number of files issued by the Agency annually is about 20 files prepared by the press office of the office of the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Editor-in-Chief.

f) The Yearly Harvest Book (Yemen and the World): An annual book that monitors and documents in word and image the most prominent events of the year locally, Arably and internationally. Prepared by the Agency’s Research and Information Center.

g) Sheba’s Monthly Diary: A monthly book prepared by the Agency’s Research and Information Center. It monitors and documents most local events, especially with regard to the activities of institutions and ministries, in addition to the most prominent Arab and international events. It is distributed to subscribers from institutions, ministries, newspapers, embassies and many interested parties as well as individuals. Its first issue was published in June 1998.

Agency management:

In response to the developments of the times and the grave tasks entrusted to news agencies, the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) has updated its organizational structure to include ten public administrations, and the Minister of Information Decree No. 79 of 2002 was issued to that effect.

The management of the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) consists of:

First: The Board of Directors:

Republican Decree No. (251) of 1997 regarding the reorganization of the Yemeni News Agency stipulated that the agency should have a board of directors that is considered the supreme administrative authority and has full powers of supervision, direction, policy formulation, and approval of plans and programs. The board of directors is constituted as follows:

1) The Chairman of the Board of Directors – the editor-in-chief, who is a full-time employee, and a presidential decree is issued for his appointment after the approval of the Council of Ministers based on the proposal of the Minister of Information.

2) The Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors – the Deputy Editor-in-Chief, who is a full-time editor, and a presidential decree is issued for his appointment after the approval of the Council of Ministers based on the presentation of the Minister of Information as Vice-Chairman.

3) Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Financial and Commercial Affairs, who shall be a full-time member, and a presidential decree shall be issued for his appointment after the approval of the Council of Ministers based on the presentation of the Minister of Information as a member.

4) Director General of the General Organization for Radio and Television, as a member.

5) Director General of the Public Telecommunications Corporation as a member.

6) Director General of News in the Agency as a member.

7) The managing editor of the agency is a member

8) A representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a member.

9) A representative of the Ministry of Information as a member.

10) An experienced and competent person from the Agency staff is a member.
A decision of the Prime Minister shall be issued naming the members based on the proposal of the Minister of Information. This council is the supreme administrative authority and has full powers to supervise, direct, formulate policies and approve plans and programs aimed at achieving the agency’s objectives within the limits of the laws in force.

Second: Chairman of the Board of Directors – Editor-in-Chief:

The chief executive officer of the agency, responsible for managing it, directing its work, and managing all its press, technical, financial and commercial affairs, is the agency’s legal representative at home and abroad when representation is at its level.

Third: Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors – Deputy Editor-in-Chief:

He is entrusted with assisting the chairman of the board of directors – the editor-in-chief in performing his duties and responsibilities.

Fourth: Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Financial and Commercial Affairs:

He is entrusted with assisting the Chairman of the Board of Directors in supervising public administrations whose work is related to commercial and financial activity, and represents the agency at home and abroad when representation is at its level.

Fifth: The Editorial Board and Consultants: It is a press advisory body formed as follows:

– Chairman of the Board of Directors – Editor-in-chief as Chairman.

– Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors – Deputy Editor-in-Chief as Vice-President.

The editor-in-chief’s advisors are members.

Directors of public departments specialized in journalistic work and media editing are members.

Whoever is added to the membership of the Commission from among the directors of press departments are members.

– Any other competent person who the editor-in-chief deems necessary to attend the meetings of the Commission as a member.

Among its tasks:

– Suggesting the agency’s current and future media policies and plans and evaluating the level of press production for the agency, its offices and correspondents at home and abroad.

The duties of the advisors are:

– Expressing opinion and specialized advice on what the chairman of the board of directors – the editor-in-chief or his deputy requires, and on issues and topics presented to them by the various departments of the agency, and participating in media studies and research related to the work and activity of the agency.

Specialized Public Administrations:

The Agency’s general organizational structure currently consists of its head office and offices in the governorates of the Republic and abroad, while the Agency’s organizational structure consists of the following specialized public administrations:

1- The General Department of News: Its main task is to monitor and cover news and video coverage of activities and developments in all fields and all current events on the official and popular Yemeni arena, through obtaining and collecting news from various local sources, reviewing, editing and broadcasting it to local and foreign media.

It includes the following departments: the Delegates Department, the Economic and Development News Department, the Sports and Youth News Department, the Office and Branch News Department, the Sana’a Airport Office Department, the Photographic Services Department, the Foreign Local News Department, the Cultural and Scientific News Department, and the Women and Children’s News Department.

2- The General Administration of Editing: Its main task is to monitor, follow up and cover regional, Arab and international events, through the exploitation of news and press materials received by the agency from news agencies, radio stations, satellite channels, agency offices and correspondents abroad, and reformulated and broadcast within the Arab and international news bulletin that the agency sends to subscribers.

It includes the following departments: Arab and International Editing Department, Translation Department, Radio and Television Monitoring Department, Correspondents Department and External Offices.

3- The General Administration of “Al-Siyassa” newspaper: The General Administration of “Al-Siyasah” newspaper was established in 2007, and before that it was a department within the General Administration of Editing. This department organizes and manages its staff that specializes in collecting and preparing Al-Seyassah articles and pages, which is the newspaper that the agency started publishing on May 12, 2007 as a daily car newspaper. Al-Seyassah newspaper staff is organized into the executive editor and his deputy, the managing editor and his two deputies, the editorial secretaries, the specialized editors, the technical director and the directors.

4- The General Department of Electronic Press: Its tasks include managing the agency’s websites in Arabic, English and French and providing it with press, documentary and informational materials, broadcasting news to subscribers of the news service (short messages) via mobile phone in both Arabic and foreign languages, and preparing bulletins broadcast and issued by the agency in foreign languages. In addition to managing the website of His Excellency the President of the Republic and providing it with press, documentation and informational materials and photos of the various activities of His Excellency the President of the Republic.

It includes the following departments: the Department of the Arabic website (Saba Net), the Department of Foreign Editing (the Saba Net website in English and French), the Department of Mobile News (sms), the Department of the President of the Republic’s website, and the Department of Press Investigations.

5- The General Administration of the Research and Information Center: Its tasks include preserving, classifying and indexing all news and media materials and all information documents locally, Arab and international in all fields, managing the agency’s library, preparing and issuing special information files and analytical issues, conducting questionnaires and scientific surveys, and preparing and issuing annual yearbooks and monthly diaries. And files, media supplements, periodicals and documentaries, preparing studies and research and issuing books.
It includes the following departments: Research and Publication Department, Documentation and Information Department, and Opinion Measurement Department.

The agency’s organizational structure also includes a number of specialized financial, commercial, technical and engineering public administrations, as follows:

6- General Administration of the Office of the Chairman of the Board of Directors – Editor-in-Chief.

7- General Administration of Control and Inspection.

8- General Department of Legal Affairs.

9- General Administration of Planning and Statistics.

10- General Administration of Financial and Administrative Affairs.

11- General Administration of Commercial Affairs.

12- General Administration of Printing Press.

13- General Administration of Engineering Affairs.

14- Public Relations.

Agency offices at home and abroad:

1- Internal offices: The Agency has offices in the Capital Secretariat (Sana’a) and all governorates of the Republic, which are at the level of a general administration, and its tasks include following up and covering various aspects of daily local life in the governorates, preparing various media materials (news, news reports, press investigations), and sending them to the The Agency’s main center for approval and use in the Agency’s various bulletins and websites.

2- External offices: The agency currently has an office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which was opened in Riyadh in 2004, in addition to twenty correspondents in: Morocco, Gaza, the Emirates, Ramallah, Ethiopia, Egypt, Tunisia, Russia, England, China, Germany, France Canada, Qatar, Jordan, and the United States.

It is concerned with media coverage of political, diplomatic, cultural and sporting events, the activities of official and popular Yemeni delegations abroad, monitoring, follow-up and coverage of regional, Arab and international activities, events and developments, and the preparation of news reports and press investigations.

Public relations

“Saba” has very good protocol relations with all Arab news agencies, with which it has cooperation agreements and executive programs that seek to activate cooperation between agencies and exchange news, visits and experiences.

Saba also has distinguished bilateral relations with international news agencies such as: Spanish, Italian, German, French, Reuters, Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Pakistani, and other international agencies.

Saba is a member of regional and international federations and organizations such as the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), the Organization of Asia and Pacific News Agencies (OANA), the Federation of Islamic News Agencies (INA), the World Council of News Agencies, and the Non-Aligned News Agencies Association.

Technical development:

The agency would not have been able to update, develop and diversify its media services, unless it followed up on recent developments and possessed new technologies in communication and information technology. We can highlight the stages of technical development in the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) during the period 1990-2010 as follows:

1- Atheer network for internal transmission (1992-2000).

2- The Nibras Network for internal transmission (2000-2010), during which the Nibras network for internal transmission and archiving was installed in 1999 AD to archive news in a database on a special server for the archive instead of the paper archive, and the agency’s website is updated with news directly from the Nibras program.

3- The Research and Information Center Network and Hall in 2002: The Agency was keen to expand the Nibras network in order to document news and information so that the Research Center was able to archive newspapers, magazines, photos, documents and paper archives electronically in the database.

4- Linking the branches to the main center network (2003-2007): The aim of this project is to link the agency with its branches in all Yemeni governorates, as well as link correspondents and delegates to the main network operating in the center and enable them to deal with the database and edit news.

5- Modernization of radio and television listening and monitoring (2003-2007): This project enabled the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) to dispense with the traditional methods of manual monitoring, which consisted of unpacking and re-editing news on papers by linking modern monitoring devices to a computer network for transmission internal.

Through this program, radio and television stations are monitored, the observed material is digitally recorded, the material is unloaded using the computer and saved in the form of text files, the observed material is archived and indexed electronically, and the observed material is placed in the multi-media archive database in addition to the already available (texts, images, documents ) in a single database, retrieved.

6- Mobile SMS Project (2005-2007): This system relies on sending news via SMS in Arabic and English via mobile phone. The system provides options for subscribers to choose the type of news sent (political, economic, sports, artistic and cultural, miscellaneous). ).

7- Fingerprint attendance and departure system (2007 AD).

8- Computerization of Financial and Administrative Systems Project (2007): The implementation of this project came in 2007 to link three public departments: financial and administrative affairs, commercial affairs, and inspection control, with a computer network to complete the financial, administrative, commercial and control work by relying on the computer and introducing an accounting system Programmer covers all financial, administrative and commercial transactions.

Manpower:

The number of employees in the agency when it was established in May 1990 was about (300), and it is currently in 2010 (797), including (464) journalists, (72) technicians, and (261) administrative and auxiliary departments.
Infrastructure:

1- Agency Press: The Agency has been keen to develop its printing capabilities in order to improve the level of its publications and publications in order to keep pace with developments in this field and also with the aim of developing the Agency’s financial resources and revenues. From 1990 to 2010, the agency’s presses went through different periods and stages in terms of modernization and development, by providing it with a number of new machines that enabled it to cover the entire work required of it, as well as developing and increasing the volume of its printing business, whether related to agency or commercial business.

The agency’s printing press is currently one of the distinguished and integrated presses capable of carrying out printing works according to the best known technical specifications, in all its forms and according to the required specifications and on the specified dates.

2- Buildings: In order to achieve a better presence in all governorates of the Republic in order to better accomplish the tasks, the Agency sought to complete its infrastructure by establishing independent buildings for its offices in the governorates. During the period 2000-2010, several projects of these buildings were completed, namely:

A- Two Agency branch buildings in Aden: In 2002, the new branch building No. (1) was completed, equipped and opened in Al-Tawahi City, to replace the building that was the former headquarters of the former Aden News Agency. In 2006, the branch building No. 2 was completed, equipped and opened. ) in Tawahi next to the port.

b- Completing, equipping and opening the agency’s office buildings in the governorates of: Taiz, Ibb, and Hodeidah in 2007; Dhamar, and Abyan in 2008.

C- Projects under implementation: The new main building of the Agency in the Capital Secretariat, and is currently being implemented next to the current building, and consists of six floors.

Sheba and the War Years:

The Yemeni News Agency (Saba) was affected by the state of war that struck the Republic of Yemen during the first months of 2015 and continues, like other Yemeni state institutions, as a result of the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia’s control of the capital, Sana’a.

The fall of the Yemeni sovereign military, security, economic, and media institutions constituted a bleak chapter in the path of Yemenis at the level of the government and the people, as it restored the Houthi terrorist militia’s control over the capital, Sana’a, Yemen to before the era of the Yemeni revolution – September 1962 AD – which overthrew the backward and reactionary imams’ priesthood.

This did not exclude the fall of state institutions, the Yemeni News Agency, where armed groups took over the entity of the Yemeni Agency in Sana’a, arrested dozens of journalists and employees of the agency who refused to work with it or comply with their demands, and harnessed all the agency’s capabilities from professional manpower and technical and technical equipment to A path that serves the interests of the terrorist militia and threatens Yemeni and Arab national security alike.

The various Yemeni news agency platforms have also been used to promote and market beliefs and concepts saturated with extremism, hatred, and racist and racial concepts.

This is what prompted the legitimate Yemeni government, since the first day of the fall of state institutions, to establish a new legitimate entity based in the temporary Yemeni capital, Aden, through which it can carry out the tasks entrusted to it, which represents the official and legitimate spokesman for the name of the Republic of Yemen.

The leadership of the new agency and those who worked with it from the agency’s professional, journalistic and technical staff were able, despite the scarcity of possibilities, to re-work in a number of the agency’s departments, in particular the official website / https://www.sabanew.net

Media efforts are still in full swing to continue carrying out media, professional and news tasks in all liberated governorates under the control of the legitimate government.