Al Raya

Al Raya (in Arabic الراية also known as Arrayah; The Banner in English)[1] 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.[2] As for Arabic dailies published in the country Al Raya is among the three major newspapers along with Al Sharq and Al Watan.[3]

This article is about a newspaper. For the luxury yacht, see Al Raya (yacht).

Al Raya
TypeDaily newspaper
Owner(s)Gulf printing and publishing
PublisherGulf company for printing and publishing
Editor-in-chiefAbdulla Ghanim Al Binali Almuhannadi
EditorAbdulla Talib Al Meri
Founded10 May 1979 (1979-05-10)
Political alignmentpro-government
LanguageArabic
HeadquartersDoha
Circulation30,000 (2019)
Sister newspapersGulf Times
WebsiteAl Raya

History and profile

Al Raya was launched by Gulf company for printing and publishing as a weekly newspaper on 10 May 1979.[4][5] The company which was founded by Ali bin Jaber Al Thani also owns Gulf Times, an English language daily.[4][6] Based in Doha,[7] Al Raya is the second Arabic newspaper published in Qatar.[8] On 27 January 1980 Al Raya was relaunched as a daily newspaper.[5]

In 1996 a corpus was created which included 187 articles published in Al Raya.[9] On 27 April 2012 the paper launched the mapping mangroves project.[10]

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.[1] 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.[8] In 2000 Al Raya was the second best selling newspaper in Qatar with a circulation of 18,000 copies.[11] The estimated circulation of the paper in 2003 was 8,000 copies.[8] Al Raya's circulation increased to 18,000 copies in 2008.[2] The online version of the paper was the 47th most visited website for 2010 in the MENA region.[12]

Political stance and content

Although Al Raya is privately owned it is the semi-official newspaper of Qatar.[13][14] Therefore, it has a pro-government stance.[15] The major rival of the daily is another Arabic Qatari newspaper Al Sharq which has opposite political stance.[16]

Al Raya mostly provides news about the receptions and activities of the ruling family, Al Thani, as well as about official events.[13] In addition, the daily has large supplements on sports and business as well as a special supplement called He and She.[13] The paper offered a weekly page on the environmental issues from 1999 to 2005.[17]

Following the 2013 coup in Egypt, Al Raya concentrated on the ongoing demonstrations of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted President Mohamed Morsi.[16] 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.[18]

Staff

Nasser Mohamed Al-Othman is the first editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper.[4] In the initial period many leading Arab journalists wrote for the daily.[1] As of 2019 Abdulla Ghanim Al Binali Almuhannadi was the editor-in-chief and Abdulla Talib Al Meri was the Editor-Manager of the daily.[19][20] Abdulla Ghanim Al Binali Almuhannadi is the current editor-in-chief of the daily.[21]

See also

References
  1. 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. – via Questia (subscription required)
  2. "Media sustainability index 2008" (PDF). IREX. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  3. Barrie Gunter; Roger Dickinson (2013). News Media in the Arab World: A Study of 10 Arab and Muslim Countries. A&C Black. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-4411-0239-3.
  4. "About us". Gulf Times. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  5. "Information and Media". Embassy of Qatar. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  6. "Al Raya newspaper". Press Fair. 17 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  7. "Al Raya and Gulf Times Newspaper". Wow City. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  8. William A. Rugh (2004). Arab Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Arab Politics. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-275-98212-6.
  9. Blaise Cronin (2006). Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 2007. Information Today, Inc. p. 511. ISBN 978-1-57387-276-8.
  10. "Al Raya: Project Mapping Mangroves". Qatar Foundation International. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  11. "World Press Trends" (PDF). World Association of Newspapers. Paris. 2004. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  12. "Forbes Releases Top 50 MENA Online Newspapers; Lebanon Fails to Make Top 10". Jad Aoun. 28 October 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  13. "Qatar". The Arab Press Network. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  14. "Qatar profile". BBC. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  15. "Qatar newspapers". World Press. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  16. "Of Egypt and Arabs". Al Ahram Weekly. 3383. 16 June 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  17. 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.
  18. "Middle East press apprehensive over Syria". BBC. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  19. "Qatar mourns victims of shopping mall blaze". Al Jazeera. 3 June 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  20. "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.
  21. Bassam Ramada (23 April 2014). "Qatar under pressure over support for Brotherhood". Al Masry Al Youm via Al Monitor. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
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