Al Anwar

Al Anwar
الأنوار
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Founder(s) Said Freiha
Publisher Dar Assayad publishing house
Editor-in-chief Rafiq Khoury
Managing editors Fouad Daaboul
Founded 1959 (1959)
Political alignment Non-affiliated; centrist
Language Arabic
Headquarters Beirut
Circulation 49,043 (2012)
OCLC number 35739476
Website Anwar

Al Anwar (Arabic: الانوار‎) (English translation: The Lights) is an Arabic daily newspaper published in Lebanon.[1] It is one of the leading papers in the country.[2][3]

History and profile

Al Anwar was launched by publishing house Dar Assayad in 1959.[4][5][6] The publishing house also owns nine daily, weekly and monthly publications, including Assayad magazine.[7][8] The founder of the daily was Said Freiha who was an advocate of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.[7][9]

At its initial phase, Al Anwar had just eight pages.[7] The daily launched its website in 1996.[10] It is published in broadsheet format.[11]

Orientation

Al Anwar claims that it reinforces the long-term stability and prosperity of Lebanon.[12] It is described by BBC as an independent and centrist daily.[13] It is further argued that the paper avoids aggressive reporting.[14] However, during and after the Nasser era the paper had a pro-Egyptian stance.[15] In the mid-1990s the paper was considered to have an Arab nationalist trend.[16] In 2009, IREX, an international research board, regarded it as one of the advocates of the March 14 alliance.[3]

Staff and content

The editor-in-chief of Al Anwar is Rafiq Khoury and its managing editor is Fouad Daaboul.[12] Palestinian journalist and writer Ghassan Kanafani served in the editorial board of the paper from 1967 to 1969.[17]

The daily covers both Lebanese and Arabic affairs.[18] The last page of the daily includes sports and social news.[12] Information technologies and news on cars are given in separate sections on Wednesdays and Mondays, respectively.[12]

Following the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the daily published three articles from 16 to 18 February 2005 the first two of which were written by editor-in-chief, Khoury.[19] The last one was a commentary titled "The mentality of the paupers and a regime in coma" and was written by Rauf Shahuri.[19] All articles condemned the assassination.[19] In August 2013 the paper criticized the possible US-led intervention against Syria and stated the intervention would be like "Hollywood's action and horror movies".[20]

Circulation and audience

In addition to its native readers in Lebanon, Al Anwar is read by officials, intellectuals and activists outside Lebanon.[21] It is distributed in other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE.[22]

In the 1980s Al Anwar had wide circulation in East Beirut.[23] Its popularity in East Beirut continued until the 2000s.[24] The circulation of the paper was 20,000 copies in 2003 and it was the fourth best selling Lebanese newspaper.[11]

In a 2006 study carried out by Ipsos, it was found that Al Anwar had lower circulation in capital Beirut than other regions.[25] In the capital the paper was the sixth among seven dailies, having daily circulation at 10.7%.[25] However, it was the second daily with 12.6% in the Biqa region after Sada al-Balad which had 12.7% of the daily circulation.[25] In Mount Lebanon Al Anwar was the fifth daily, having 38.4% of the daily circulation, whereas in southern Lebanon it was the third with 15.2% of the daily circulation.[25]

Based on the data provided by the DAS research group the daily reported its average net daily sales in 2012 as 49.043 copies.[22] The daily had a circulation of 6,003 copies in Europe in 2012.[22] The same year the website of Al Anwar had 1.1 million hits and 63,010 visitors per month.[22]

Awards

Al Anwar has been awarded by different bodies, including the UNESCO Prize for Social Reporting and Columbia University’s James Wechsler Award for best international reporting.[12]

See also

List of newspapers in Lebanon

References

  1. ↑ "Lebanon Press". Press Reference. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  2. ↑ "Al Anwar". Arabo. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Media sustainability index 2008" (PDF). IREX. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  4. ↑ "Al Anwar". The Arab Press Network. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  5. ↑ "Media Landscape". Menassat. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Anis Moussalem. – From 1943 to 1962 "The Great Stages of the Lebanese Press" Check |url= value (help). Opus Libani. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 "Dar Assayad's Publications". B. Freiha. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  8. ↑ "Renowned journalist, poet Al-Eben passes away". The Daily Star (Beirut). 5 November 2012. p. 4. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  9. ↑ Elie Hajj (26 April 2013). "Pierre Sadek Defended the Right to Criticize Until His Dying Breath". Al Monitor. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  10. ↑ Dale F. Eickelman; Jon W. Anderson (1 July 2003). New media in the Muslim world: the emerging public sphere. Indiana University Press. pp. 63–65. ISBN 978-0-253-34252-2. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  11. 1 2 "World Press Trends" (PDF). World Association of Newspapers. Paris. 2004. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "About Al Anwar". Promo Prints. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  13. ↑ "Regional press sees little point in Obama visit". BBC. 21 March 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  14. ↑ "Al Anwar newspaper". Knowledge View. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  15. ↑ "Egyptian coup was slated for Sunday". Star News (Beirut). UPI. 17 May 1971. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  16. ↑ Yahya R. Kamalipour; Hamid Mowlana (1994). Mass Media in the Middle East: A Comprehensive Handbook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Retrieved 9 September 2013.  – via Questia (subscription required)
  17. ↑ Philip Mattar (1 January 2005). Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. Infobase Publishing. p. 275. ISBN 978-0-8160-6986-6. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  18. ↑ "Al Anwar Newspaper, Lebanon". Lebweb. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  19. 1 2 3 "Lebanese press condemns assassination of former PM Al Hariri". BBC Monitoring International Reports. 21 February 2005. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  20. ↑ "Middle East press apprehensive over Syria". BBC. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  21. ↑ Edmund Ghareeb (Summer 2000). "New Media and the Information Revolution in the Arab World: An Assessment" (PDF). The Middle East Journal 54 (3): 395–418. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  22. 1 2 3 4 "2013 Media data advertising rates" (PDF). Al Anwar. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  23. ↑ Harris, William (July–August 1985). "Syria in Lebanon". MERIP. MER134 (15). Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  24. ↑ "Legacy of the siege of Beirut". BBC. 27 March 2002. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  25. 1 2 3 4 "Lebanon: Surveys show Beirut's Sada al-Balad most widely circulated paper". BBC Monitoring. 19 October 2006. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
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