Al-Qabas

Al-Qabas
القبس
Type Daily newspaper
Publisher Dar Al-Qabas Press Printing Publishing and Distribution Company
Editor-in-chief Walid Al Nisef
Founded 22 February 1972 (1972-02-22)
Political alignment Liberal
Language Arabic
Headquarters Kuwait City
Website Official website

Al-Qabas (Arabic: القبس) (English: the Firebrand or the Starbrand)[1] is an Arabic daily Kuwaiti newspaper published by Dar Al Qabas Press Printing Publishing and Distribution Company in Kuwait City.[2]

History and profile

Al-Qabas was launched on 22 February 1972.[3] It is owned by Kuwaiti merchant families.[4] The paper is headquartered in Kuwait City.[5]

Until the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq the paper had both national and international editions.[6] During the invasion it moved to London and was first published there on 2 August 1990.[6]

Al Qabas has a weekly supplement on environmental issues, which can be translated into English as Our Environment is Our Life.[7]

The daily had a circulation of 120,000 copies before the invasion of Kuwait in 1991.[8] Its 2001 circulation was 79,000 copies and the paper was the third best selling newspaper in Kuwait.[8][9] The paper has also online version which had 30,000 weekly hits in 2001.[8]

Political stance and staff

Al Qabas has a critical approach to government of Kuwait[10] and is a liberal publication.[8] In April 2012, it published an editorial calling for ending the struggle within the ruling family of Kuwait, Al Sabah.[4]

The paper's editor, Mohammed Al-Sager, is a winner of the International Press Freedom Award of the Committee to Protect Journalists "for courageous reporting on political and human rights issues in the face of government threats of censorship and prosecution".[11]

The other significant editors of the daily include Abdel Latif Al Duaaij and Ahmad Bishara.[10] The Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali worked for the paper in the 1980s and he was killed in 1987 while working for the London edition of the daily.[12][13]

Respected Arab figures also contributed to the daily, including Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz and Egyptian philosopher Fauad Zakara.[6]

References

  1. Barrie Gunter; Roger Dickinson (6 June 2013). News Media in the Arab World: A Study of 10 Arab and Muslim Countries. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-4411-0239-3. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  2. Al-Qabas Newspaper
  3. Kjetil Selvik (2011). "Elite Rivalry in a Semi-Democracy: The Kuwaiti Press Scene". Middle Eastern Studies. 47 (3): 477–496. doi:10.1080/00263206.2011.565143. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Kuwait daily urges end to royal infighting". Ahram Online. AFP. 15 April 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  5. "Sources". Al Monitor. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 Sheila Rule (23 August 1990). "A Kuwaiti Newspaper Reopens in London". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  7. Najib Saab. "The Environment in Arab Media" (Report). Arab Forum for Environment and Development. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Kuwait". Press Reference. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  9. "World Press Trends" (PDF). World Association of Newspapers. Paris. 2004. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Kuwait". The Arab Press network. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  11. "CPJ Deplores Sentencing of Two Journalists by Kuwait". Committee to Protect Journalists. 25 July 1998. Archived from the original on 3 June 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  12. On this day 1987: Cartoonist shot in London street Retrieved November 2010 BBC.
  13. Abdelwahab Affendi (Summer 1993). "Eclipse of Reason: The Media in the Muslim World". Journal of International Affairs. 47 (1). Retrieved 29 September 2013.  via Questia (subscription required)


Coordinates: 29°19′51″N 47°57′9″E / 29.33083°N 47.95250°E / 29.33083; 47.95250

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