Strategic Alignment, Emergent Practice: Institutional Decoupling and the Governance of Artificial Intelligence in United Arab Emirates Newsrooms

Abstract

Newsrooms across the Gulf have actively aligned with national artificial intelligence (AI) agendas, yet little is known about whether that commitment reaches the desk where copy is written. This study surveys 336 practitioners drawn from the strategic core of the United Arab Emirates media system, including Dubai Media Incorporated, Sky News Arabia, Abu Dhabi Media Network, the Sharjah Broadcasting Authority, Emirates News Agency (WAM), Al Bayan, Al Khaleej, Sharjah Media City (Shams), the Dubai Government Media Office, and the Ministry of Defense media directorate. Combining partial least squares structural equation modeling with a thematic reading of qualitative responses from 291 practitioners, and organized through the Index of Media Innovation, the analysis identifies a structural paradox interpreted through the lens of institutional decoupling: organizations visibly align with the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, while internal governance mechanisms and operational workflows continue to evolve to support that alignment. Professional skills exert the strongest influence on adoption depth (β = 0.41, p < .001), marginally exceeding organizational culture (β = 0.38, p < .01); together, they explain 42 percent of the variance in adoption. Usage robustly predicts media performance (β = 0.47, p < .001, R² = 0.39). Discriminant validity was satisfactory (all HTMT < 0.85) and approximate fit acceptable (SRMR = 0.064). The decisive finding is that the model performs well despite uneven levels of institutional support across organizations. While 76.7 percent of respondents use generative tools daily, only 28.6 percent use AI for verification, and 12.5 percent for deepfake detection, and 38.5 percent report that formal organizational training has not yet been provided. As one respondent observed, "most initiatives are personal efforts, not institutional ones," highlighting the important role of individual initiative during this stage of organizational AI development. We characterize this pattern as productive decoupling: individual competence complements evolving organizational governance, delivering measurable performance gains while indicating opportunities to further strengthen institutional verification practices. Implications for media managers, regulators, and journalism educators are set out.