[10][11] With its pledge to follow widely accepted journalism standards and to "help society evolve", The National claims to be an anomaly in the Middle East, where most media outlets are tightly controlled by the government.

[12] During the initial launch The National built its staff levels up to 200, recruiting from newspapers around the world, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph of Britain.

[15] The paper is a single selection organised into five daily sections (News, Business, Opinion, Arts & Lifestyle and Sport) and a Weekend edition which comes out every Friday.

[1] In a 2012 article in the American Journalism Review, former foreign desk editor Tom O'Hara contended that coverage was skewed to favor the agenda of the government of the United Arab Emirates.

He said that the newspaper engaged in self-censorship, suppressing coverage of subjects deemed to cast an unfavorable light on the UAE royal family and government.