SAUDI ARAMCO WORLD
Note: if you would like to be on an email list alerting
people when “Out and About” has a new essay, list, reminiscence, review, group
of pictures, or advice from a native Vermont guide, please send an email to
that effect to me, Ed Barna, at [email protected]
Just
as promised it came free of charge. And it has come free of charge every month,
as promised. Not only that, the DVD with every back issue came as well, again
free of charge.
Well,
maybe not entirely free. I buy gasoline for my car, and the magazine is
financed by Saudi Aramco, “the oil company born as an international enterprise
75 years ago,” as they say on their masthead (that’s the part that tells you
about the publication itself).
In
other words, this is part of their public relations effort. Advertising focuses
on specific products in the short term, marketing aims to bring in customers
who will stay despite changes in and of products, and the public relations
department attempts to change perceptions of the company over the long run.
Public relations is, to put it another way, slow-pitch-softball spin.
So the reader of Saudi Aramco World must remember, as the
reader of Vermont Life must remember, that some topics will have to be
researched elsewhere. That said, both magazines are enjoyable publications that
broaden understand and appreciation of their worlds in ways that are, if
partial, also pretty much harmless.
The
masthead says S.A.W. is distributed “to increase cross-cultural understand.”
More specifically, “The magazine’s goal is to broaden knowledge of the
cultures, history and geography of the Arab and Muslim worlds and their
connections with the West. Saudi Aramco World is distributed without charge,
upon request, to a limited number of interested readers.”
I first encountered S.A.W. at the Rutland Herald office in
Rutland. Bi-monthly copies, their editorial usefulness past, were put on the
free rack for anyone to take. (You’d be amazed how much stuff comes to a daily
newspaper each day; keeping all of it, or even the most meritorious, would be
physically impossible.) Out of
curiosity, I took one, then others as they appeared every two months.
Fast-forward
two decades: living in another town, but with broadband internet, it occurred
to me to see if the magazine still existed. It did, at www.saudiaramcoworld.com, which had
the latest monthly issue, a photo archive, a classroom guide, a suggestions
link, and a “subscription” section that said “The print edition is free.”
Clicking on this, I found addresses, fax numbers and the information that the
free subscription last for two years. An email request for a subscription isn’t
possible because, they said, U.S. postal regulations require a date and
signature. Chances are the free issues can come for more than two years: “There
is no charge for renewals, and there is no limit to the number of sequential
renewals you may request,” they say. The form to request the DVD came in one of
the printed copies.
So,
why choose to spend time with this slick magazine that has had oil money pumped
into it?
On
a first impression, the photographs are likely to impress. The only reason they
don’t rival those in National Geographic is that S.A.W. includes a lot more
smaller pictures than N.G. to illustrate what is said.
The
articles likewise aim to inform, at a level that presumes an interest in art
and history. That doesn’t mean they never try to shed light on controversial
topics. In the January-February issue, for example, one article titled “The
Virtual Immigrant” describes how deregulation of international calling rates
brought down prices to the point where major American-based international
corporations like GE were able to set up calling centers, then associated
bookkeeping units, then outsourced offices in engineering, sales and marketing,
publishing, scientific research, mathematics and legal services in India (which
has a major Muslim population). The Bangalore torpedo, so to speak.
Other
articles: “A Virtual Walking Tour of Al-Sharif” (better known to Westerners as
Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock mosque); “A Global Guide to Islamic Art;”
“Uncovering Yenikapi” (in Istanbul, excavations for a mass-transit hub revealed
a lost Byzantine seaport, together with 30 shipwrecks and their cargoes); “I,
The Sea Tramp,” a fictitious autobiographical account of a Fourth Century
sailing ship’s voyages to ports on three continents); and the usual description
of upcoming “Events and Exhibitions” that spans four continents (United States
included); and the usual Classroom Guide written by Julie Weiss of Eliot, Maine
with help from The Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown
University (for instance, “How do written words and visual images combine to
tell a story?”).
Not
a word, as far as I’ve been able to see, about Israel’s incursion into Gaza,
the Americans turning over most of the Green Zone to the Iraqi Army, or the
Taliban—which I find refreshing. News about the three subjects in question has
become like the sound of hail on the roof: perhaps intriguing at the start, but
wearisome in the long run, and apt to be damaging in itself.
If
you need one, I have a couple of the free subscription cards. Just email to [email protected].
Salaam!
