Arab News
Arab News is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businessmen, executives and diplomats.[3][4]
For the Arab news satellite channel in London, see Arab News Network.Type
At least as of May 2019, Arab News was owned by Prince Turki bin Salman Al Saud, the brother of the ruling Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Salman. The newspaper promotes the Saudi government.[5]
Chief editors and staff[edit]
Jihad Khazen, who later went on to establish Asharq Al Awsat, was the first editor-in-chief of the paper; however, because Saudi laws at the time prevented a non-Saudi from being in this position, he was given the title General Manager and editorial role was assigned to Ahmad Mahmoud who served in that role from 20 April 1975 to October 1, 1977.[8][11] Mohammad Ali Hafiz, who was the co-founder of the newspaper, took on the role of Editor-in-Chief between 1 October 1977 until 1 October 1979. He was followed by Mohammad Shibani between 1 October 1979 – 30 April 1982.[15]
Khaled al-Maeena became Editor in Chief on 1 May 1982 and remained at the helm until 20 February 1993. Farouq Luqman followed between 25 February 1993 and 1 June 1993. Then, it was Abdulqader Tash's time to lead the newspaper, which he did until 28 February 1998. Khaled al-Maeena returned to Arab News for another term, serving as Editor in Chief between 1 March 1998 and 8 October 2011. Abdulwahab al-Faiz came next for a brief period (9 October 2011 – 4 January 2013), and then came Mohammad Fahad al-Harthi, who was at the time also the editor of Sayidatti (the group's women weekly), and he served in that role until 26 September 2017[15]
On 27 September 2016, Faisal J. Abbas was appointed as Editor-in-Chief following an announcement by SRMG's new chairman, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan al-Saud. Having previously re-launched and served as Editor-in-Chief at Al Arabiya English, Abbas's declared mandate was to make Arab News "more global, more digital".[16]
Notable staff[edit]
Among the newspaper's notable staff are/were Somaya Jabarti who went on to become the first female Editor-in-Chief in the kingdom's history when she took the top job at the paper's rival, Saudi Gazette, in 2014; Hana Hajjar, the only female political cartoonist in Saudi Arabia;[17] Siraj Wahab, the paper's longtime deputy managing editor; and Rasheed Abousamah, who now serves as the paper's Latin America correspondent. In 2017, the paper announced the establishment of a London bureau and an Asian bureau headed by veteran journalist Baker Atyani. It also has a regional bureau in Dubai.
Under Faisal J. Abbas, Arab News relaunched with a new design announced at the 2018 Arab Media Forum.[18] This saw the masthead and slogan change for the first time in 43 years. It also witnessed an expanded the op-ed and analysis section with high-profile contributors such as former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, former Turkish FM Yassar Yakis, UAE businessman Khalaf Ahmad al-Habtoor,[19] US–Arab affairs expert Dr. Amal Mudallali, Chatham House's Yossi Mekelberg, Chris Doyle from CAABU and senior business journalist Frank Kane who left the UAE's The National to join Arab News in February 2017.[20]
Criticism[edit]
The newspaper has been described as "a mouthpiece for the Saudi regime" by Qatari-owned The New Arab,[24] and regarded as "reflecting official Saudi Arabian government position" by the Associated Press and Haaretz.[5]
Controversy[edit]
Although the paper is owned by SRMG, which is close to the Saudi government, there are some incidents in which the government dismisses journalists of the paper. In March 1992, the editor-in-chief of the Arab News, Khalid Almeena, was briefly dismissed for reprinting an interview with the Egyptian Muslim leader Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman published in a US daily.[25]
In April 2007, another controversial incident occurred in which Saudi journalist Fawaz Turki was dismissed for publishing a column on the atrocities of Indonesia during its 1975–1999 occupation of East Timor.[26] It was also reported that Turki had been previously warned by related Saudi authorities to stop his criticisms about Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.[27]
Distribution and international editions[edit]
In addition to its domestic distribution in Saudi Arabia, Arab News is planning wide range of international distribution, including United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Oman, Near East, North Africa, Europe and the United States.[28][3]
In February 2018, Arab News launched a digital Pakistani edition, called Arab News Pakistan, headquartered in Islamabad.[29]
In October 2019, Arab News launched a digital Japanese edition, called Arab News Japan, publishing in English and Japanese languages as the first middle east media outlet in Japan.[30]
This was followed by a French language digital edition, Arab News en Francais, on 14 July 2020, which was launched virtually via Zoom due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Ismail Omar Guelleh, president of the French-speaking Republic of Djibouti, was the guest of honor and gave a keynote speech. At the same time, the inauguration was done by François Gouyette, who was then the French ambassador to Saudi Arabia.