Al Raya
TypeDaily newspaper
Owner(s)Gulf printing and publishing
PublisherGulf company for printing and publishing
Editor-in-chiefAbdulla Ghanim Al Binali Almuhannadi
EditorMajid Al jubara
Founded10 May 1979 (1979-05-10)
Political alignmentPro-government
LanguageArabic
HeadquartersDoha
CountryQatar
Circulation30,000 (as of 2019)
Sister newspapersGulf Times
WebsiteAl Raya

Al Raya (Arabic: الراية, romanized: The Banner) is an Arabic daily newspaper published in Doha, Qatar. It is semi-official newspaper of the country and is one of the five leading Qatari dailies.[1] As for Arabic dailies published in the country Al Raya is among the three major newspapers along with Al Sharq and Al Watan.[2]

History and profile

Al Raya was launched by Gulf company for printing and publishing as a weekly newspaper on 10 May 1979.[3][4] The company which was founded by Ali bin Jaber Al Thani also owns Gulf Times, an English-language daily.[3][5] Based in Doha,[6] Al Raya is the second Arabic newspaper published in Qatar.[7] On 27 January 1980 Al Raya was relaunched as a daily newspaper.[4]

In 1996 a corpus was created which included 187 articles published in Al Raya.[8] On 27 April 2012 the paper launched the mapping mangroves project.[9]

Political stance and content

Although Al Raya is privately owned, it is the semi-official newspaper of Qatar.[10][11] Therefore, it has a pro-government stance.[12] The major rival of the daily is another Arabic Qatari newspaper Al Sharq which has opposite political stance.[13]

Al Raya mostly provides news about the receptions and activities of the ruling family, Al Thani, as well as about official events.[10] In addition, the daily has large supplements on sports and business as well as a special supplement called He and She.[10] The paper offered a weekly page on the environmental issues from 1999 to 2005.[14]

Following the 2013 coup in Egypt, Al Raya concentrated on the ongoing demonstrations of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted President Mohamed Morsi.[13] In August 2013, an editorial of the paper argued that possible US-led intervention against Syria would not be celebrated, but the Assad regime was "useless" and caused no other option than such intervention.[15]

Staff

Nasser Mohamed Al-Othman is the first editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper.[3] In the initial period many leading Arab journalists wrote for the daily.[16][17][18] Abdulla Ghanim Al Binali Al Muhannadi is the editor-in-chief of the daily.[19]

Circulation

In the early 1990s Al Raya had a circulation of 10,000 copies and was distributed in Saudi Arabia and Egypt in addition to its native Qatar.[16] Until 1995 when the other Arabic daily, Al Watan, was launched the paper enjoyed higher levels of circulation, but then lost its one-third of circulation.[7] In 2000 Al Raya was the second best selling newspaper in Qatar with a circulation of 18,000 copies.[20] The estimated circulation of the paper in 2003 was 8,000 copies.[7] Al Raya's circulation increased to 18,000 copies in 2008.[1] The online version of the paper was the 47th most visited website for 2010 in the MENA region.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 "Media sustainability index 2008" (PDF). IREX. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  2. ↑ Khalid Al Jaber; Barrie Gunter (2013). "Evolving News Systems in the Gulf Countries". In Barrie Gunter; Roger Dickinson (eds.). News Media in the Arab World: A Study of 10 Arab and Muslim Countries. London: Bloomsbury. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-4411-0239-3.
  3. 1 2 3 "About us". Gulf Times. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Information and Media". Embassy of Qatar. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Al Raya newspaper". Press Fair. 17 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  6. ↑ "Al Raya and Gulf Times Newspaper". Wow City. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 William A. Rugh (2004). Arab Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Arab Politics. Westport, CT; London: Praeger. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-275-98212-6.
  8. ↑ Blaise Cronin, ed. (2006). Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 2007. Vol. 41. Medford, NJ: Information Today Inc. p. 511. ISBN 978-1-57387-276-8.
  9. ↑ "Al Raya: Project Mapping Mangroves". Qatar Foundation International. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  10. 1 2 3 "Qatar". The Arab Press Network. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  11. ↑ "Qatar profile". BBC. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  12. ↑ "Qatar newspapers". World Press. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  13. 1 2 "Of Egypt and Arabs". Al Ahram Weekly. Vol. 3383. 16 June 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  14. ↑ Najib Saab. "The Environment in Arab Media" (PDF). Arab Forum for Environment and Development. Archived from the original (Report) on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  15. ↑ "Middle East press apprehensive over Syria". BBC. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  16. 1 2 Mohamed M. Arafa (1994). "Qatar". In Yahya R. Kamalipour; Hamid Mowlana (eds.). Mass Media in the Middle East: A Comprehensive Handbook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0313285356.
  17. ↑ "Qatar mourns victims of shopping mall blaze". Al Jazeera. 3 June 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  18. ↑ "Qatar denies Iran, Syria retaliation in mall fire that killed Western nationals". World Tribune. Abu Dhabi. 6 June 2012. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  19. ↑ Bassam Ramada (23 April 2014). "Qatar under pressure over support for Brotherhood". Al Masry Al Youm. Retrieved 4 October 2014 – via Al Monitor.
  20. ↑ "World Press Trends" (PDF). World Association of Newspapers. Paris. 2004. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  21. ↑ "Forbes Releases Top 50 MENA Online Newspapers; Lebanon Fails to Make Top 10". Jad Aoun. 28 October 2010. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
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