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Al Riyadh (newspaper)

Al Riyadh (Arabic: الرياض) is a Riyadh-based, pro-government Saudi daily newspaper. Its sister paper was Riyadh Daily that was in circulation between 2003 and 1 January 2004.[3] Al Riyadh is one of the dominant papers in Nejd.[4]

Al Riyadh
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Al Yamamah Press Establishment
PublisherAl Yamamah Press Establishment
Editor-in-chiefTurki Al Sudari
Associate editorYousuf Al Kuwailit (2012)[1]
Managing editorNawal Al Rashed (for women section)[2]
Founded11 May 1965; 59 years ago (1965-05-11)
Political alignmentPro-government
LanguageArabic
HeadquartersRiyadh
CountrySaudi Arabia
OCLC number12593490
Website

History and ownership

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Al Riyadh is the first daily newspaper that was published in Arabic in Riyadh.[5] Its first issue was published on 11 May 1965 with a limited number of pages.[6] Later, it became a daily publication with 52 pages, 32 pages of which were colored pages.[6] Its current issues are with 80-100 pages.[5][6] The paper is published in broadsheet format.[7]

Al Riyadh is also pioneer in other aspects. It is the first Saudi paper that included caricatures which were drawn by Ali Kharjy, a then-leading caricaturist. It is argued that Al Riyadh gained popularity among the public due to these caricatures at the end of the 1960s.[8]

Al Riyadh is owned and published by Al Yamamah Press Establishment.[7] The company is also the publisher of weekly magazine Al Yamamah.[8][6] In 2006 it employed five women to improve the editorial design of the publications, including Al Riyadh.[9]

Political approach

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Al Riyadh is officially independent in that it is being published by a private company.[10][11] However, the World Association of Newspapers considered the paper to be under the direct influence of King Salman during his post as the Riyadh governor.[10] In a study dated 2023 it is reported that it is under the control of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.[12] The World Association of Newspapers also regards Al Riyadh as a semi-official newspaper.[10] It is further argued that the paper presents relatively conservative attitude and praises House of Saud as many of the other Saudi daily papers.[13] Although Al Riyadh is usually regarded as a pro-government newspaper, it expresses relatively liberal views. Additionally, it publishes very influential editorials, if one wants to have good insight into what the Saudi official view on different matters.[14]

Content

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Al Riyadh employs the following news feeds: AFP Arabic, AFP Sports, AP, DPA Arabic, GPA Arabic, Kuwait News Agency Arabic, MENA Arabic, QNA Arabic, Saudi Press Agency Arabic, Reuters Arabic, Reuters Photos, Reuters Graphics, RSS news, and full-body feeds from PR Newswire, GNN Network and CCN Matthews.[15] The paper heavily covers the news regarding political, social, religious, economic and cultural events. It also provides its readers with sports news.[8] It is one of the few newspapers in Saudi Arabia which publish unsigned editorials.[16]

Turki Al Sudairi, the chief editor of the paper, argued in December 2011 that Iran was much more dangerous threat for Saudi Arabia than Israel, since the latter's enmity is limited to Palestinians.[1] On 23 March 2012 Yousuf Al Kuwailit, the associate editor of Al Riyadh, questioned the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov's stance concerning Syrian uprising and stated that Lavrov did not seem to be aware of the fact that Sunnis are the majority in Syria. Al Kuwailit further claimed that Lavrov had sided with the devil in this regard.[17]

In March 2013, the then Lebanese foreign minister Adnan Mansour publicly argued that the Arab League should reinstate Syria's membership.[18] After this declaration, Al Riyadh described Mansour as "the foreign minister of the terrorist Amal Movement," due to Mansour's close relations with the Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is also the leader of the Amal Movement.[18] The daily further claimed that Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, is "a terrorist".[18]

Influence and audience

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Al Riyadh is regarded as one of the major daily newspapers published in Saudi Arabia. The others are Al Watan, Al Madina and Al Jazirah.[13] Al Riyadh is described as one of the most respected dailies for local and regional news.[16][19]

Since the paper is edited and published in Riyadh, its target population is government officials, military officials, professionals, academics and businesspeople.[8]

Prominent columnists

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The chief editor of the paper is Turki Al Sudairi who has held the post for a long time.[6] He is regarded as a pro-government editor.[20] Al Sudairi has been the chairman of the Saudi Journalists Association (SJA) for a long time, and he was elected again for the post on 17 May 2012.[2] Nawal Al Rashed, one of the women journalists with Al Riyadh, was elected to the nine-member of the SJA board in 2004.[9]

Sultan Al Bazie who is the executive vice president of International Public Relations Association-Gulf Chapter (IPRA GC) and co-founder CEO of Attariq Communications was formerly a reporter and managing editor for Al Riyadh.[21] Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Uqaili who was the deputy chief of Royal Protocol formerly served at the paper's political desk.[22]

Circulation and offices

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The paper sold 25,000 copies in 1975.[23] In 2001 the paper had a circulation of 121,000 copies, being the third best selling Saudi newspaper.[24] As for 2002, its estimated circulation was 91,000 copies.[25] It was 170,000 copies in 2003, making it the largest newspaper in the country.[26] Arab Reform Bulletin reported its 2004 circulation as 170,000.[27] Its 2006 and 2007 circulations were 150,000 copies.[7][10] Global Investment House reported that Al Riyadh's 2009 market share is about 8.3%.[19]

The paper has a very impressive website, where readers can comment on articles.[14] The website won the digital excellence award in the second rank after Al Jazirah by the Saudi ministry of Communications and Information Technology in 2007.[28]

Al Riyadh has also an English-website which was the seventh top online newspaper among the fifty English-language online newspapers in the MENA region in 2010.[29] In 2011, it was again among top ten online newspapers, keeping its rank as the seventh.[30]

The paper's Arabic online version was the fifth most visited website for 2010 in the MENA region.[31] In 2012, it was again ranked to be the fifth in the MENA region by Forbes Middle East with 123.9 million hits.[32][33]

Al Riyadh has offices in many Saudi cities in addition to its editorial offices in Cairo and Beirut.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b Y. Yehoshua (23 December 2011). "Saudi Arabia cautiously Navigating Conflict with Iran amid Arab Spring Storm" (Inquiry and Analysis Series Report No.778). MEMRI. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  2. ^ a b Khalid Tawalheb (18 May 2012). "SJA board holds first meeting after elections". Arab News. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  3. ^ Vijaya Cherian (1 January 2004). "Riyadh Daily ceases publication". Arabian Business. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  4. ^ Naomi Sakr (2003). "Dynamics of GCC press–government relations in the 1990s". In Tom Pierre Najem; Martin Hetherington (eds.). Good Governance in the Middle East Oil Monarchies. London: Routledge. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-1383-6213-0.
  5. ^ a b "Profile - Al Riyadh". Forbes Middle East. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Al Riyadh Newspaper". Al Riyadh (English). Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  7. ^ a b c Anthony Shoult (2006). Doing Business with Saudi Arabia (3rd ed.). London: GMB Publishing Ltd. p. 277. ISBN 978-1-905050-67-3.
  8. ^ a b c d Abdulrahman Saleh Shobaili (1971). An Historical and Analytical Study of Broadcasting and Press in Saudi Arabia (PhD thesis). Ohio State University. p. 100. ISBN 9798658527567. ProQuest 302622210.
  9. ^ a b Naomi Sakr (2008). "Women and Media in Saudi Arabia: Rhetoric, Reductionism and Realities". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 35 (3): 390, 399. doi:10.1080/13530190802525197. JSTOR 20455617.
  10. ^ a b c d "Saudi Arabia. Media market description" (PDF). World Association of Newspapers. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  11. ^ Andrew Hammond (Fall 2007). "Saudi Arabia's media empire: Keeping the masses at home". Arab Media and Society. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  12. ^ Magdalena Karolak (2023). "Saudi Women in the Mohammed bin Salman Era: Examining the Paradigm Shift". In Loubna H. Skalli; Nahed Eltantawy (eds.). The Palgrave Handbook of Gender, Media and Communication in the Middle East and North Africa. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 72. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-11980-4_5. ISBN 978-3-031-11980-4.
  13. ^ a b "Arab media review. Anti-semitism and other trends" (PDF). Anti-Defamation League. July–December 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  14. ^ a b "Saudi Arabia". Arab Press Network. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  15. ^ a b "Al Yamama Press Establishment, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia". Knowledge View. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  16. ^ a b Andrew Leber (2020). "Seek Fact From Texts: Saudi Media on China Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic". Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. 14 (4): 538–553. doi:10.1080/25765949.2020.1841993. S2CID 228820450.
  17. ^ H. Varulkar (4 April 2012). "Rising Tensions between Saudi Arabia, Russia on Backdrop of Syrian Crisis" (Inquiry and Analysis Series Report No.820). MEMRI. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  18. ^ a b c "Riyadh renews commitment to Lebanon". The Daily Star. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  19. ^ a b "Saudi Research and Marketing Group" (PDF). Global Investment House. November 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
  20. ^ Joel Campagna (2006). "Saudi Arabia report: Princes, clerics, and censors". Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  21. ^ "Speakers". International Public Relations Association - Gulf Chapter (IPRA-GC). 2012. Archived from the original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  22. ^ "Al Uqaili made deputy chief of Royal Protocol". Saudi Gazette. 20 February 2010. Archived from the original on 3 October 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  23. ^ Bilal Ahmad Kutty (1997). Saudi Arabia under King Faisal (PDF) (PhD thesis). Aligarh Muslim University. p. 140. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  24. ^ "World Press Trends" (PDF). World Association of Newspapers. Paris. 2004. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  25. ^ "Saudi Arabia". Press Reference. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  26. ^ William A. Rugh (2004). Arab Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Arab Politics. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-275-98212-6.
  27. ^ "Statistics on Arab Media" (PDF). Arab Reform Bulletin. 2 (11). December 2004.
  28. ^ "Al Jazirah Newspaper website is the best". Topix. 11 November 2007. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  29. ^ Samia Badih (28 October 2010). "Gulf News No. 1 English online paper in Mena". Gulf News. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  30. ^ "Forbes Middle East unveils ranking of Top 63 online newspapers of the Arab world". Albawaba. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  31. ^ "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.
  32. ^ "Okaz jumps to sixth spot in Forbes ME rankings". Saudi Gazette. Dubai. 28 December 2012. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  33. ^ ""Forbes" Crown "Al Riyadh" as Strongest Saudi online Newspaper". Al Riyadh. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
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