Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising (OEPPA)

Oman Establishment for Press Publication and Advertising (OEPPA) is the main newspaper publisher in Oman. It runs Oman Daily Observer, an English-language daily published from Muscat, the capital city of Oman, and Oman Daily, the largest Arabic daily newspaper in the Sultanate. OEPPA also runs businesses operating advertising and PR activities or offering printing services.


Media assets

Publishing: Oman Daily Observer, Oman Daily, Nizwa

State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)


Ownership and governance

OEPPA is a body subordinated and accountable to the Ministry of Information. The Information Minister serves as the publisher’s chairman.

Source of funding and budget

The newspapers published by OEPPA generate funding from ad sales, but more than 50% of their budgets come from the government of Oman, according to journalists and experts who followed Oman in recent years.

Editorial independence

The OEPPA publications operate under a strict set of editorial rules that do not permit any criticism of the authorities. These restrictions extend to all other media in the country, the government clamping down harshly on any media outlet that reports critically on the government. Former employees of Oman Daily Observer spoke about the censorship they faced at the newspaper.

No domestic statute and no independent assessment/oversight mechanism that would validate the independence of OEPPA’s publications have been identified.

August 2023