Al-Hayat newspaper

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Al-Hayat ("Life"-- الحياة) is one of the leading daily pan-Arab newspapers, with a circulation of almost 300,000. It is the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred tribune for left-wing or liberal intellectuals who wish to express themselves to a large public.

Though rather pro-West and pro-Saudi with respect to articles concerning the Arabian peninsula, it is quite open to various opinions concerning other regional questions. Al-Hayat prints in London, New York, Beirut, and Riyadh. The newspaper has offices in Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Khartoum, Istanbul, Algeria, Paris, Vienna, London, New York, and Washington.

The newspaper "is regarded as by far and away the best and most intensely read Arab newspaper", according to a 1997 article in The New York Times.^[1] A 2005 article in the same publication described Al-Hayat as a "decidedly Arab nationalist paper". The newspaper is distributed in most Arab countries, and most of its editors are from Lebanon, where Al-Hayat is very popular. It is more critical of the Saudi government than its main rival, Asharq Al-Awsat.^[2]

[edit] History

The original Al-Hayat was founded by Kamel Mrowa, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim, in Beirut, Lebanon in 1946. (He named his daughter, Hayat Mrowa [now Hayat Mrowa Palumbo], after the newspaper.) In 1966, as Mrowa checked final proofs for the next day's edition, an assassin walked into the Beirut office and shot him to death. Although the assassin's motive was never conclusively determined, investigators linked the shooting to the newspaper's criticism of the Arab nationalist movement. The publication survived 13 bombing attempts before the Lebanese civil war finally forced it to shut down in 1976.^[1]

Al-Hayat was refounded in 1988 by Jamil Mrowa and Adel Bishtawi, and was bought in 1990 by the Saudi prince Khalid bin Sultan.^[1]

In May 1993, the newspaper scooped every other news organization by breaking the news about the secret Oslo talks between Palestinians and Israelis.^[1]

By 1997, Al-Hayat shocked its Arab readership by establishing a bureau in Jerusalem. As of that year, the newspaper had a daily circulation of about 200,000 and was staffed by Muslim, Catholic, Maronite, and Druse editors and reporters who formed "a highly professional team", according to a report in The New York Times. The Times report described the newspaper as a source of "iconoclastic interviews" and "having the most influential cultural pages anywhere in the Arab world, and opening opinion pages to radical reactionary Muslim fundamentalists and virulent anti-religious liberals, pro-Iraqi [under the Saddam Hussein regime) Arab nationalists as well as conservative gulf Arabs.". Edward Said of Columbia University was a frequent contributor. The managing editor, Khirallah Khirallah, "can reach Yasir Arafat on the phone at any time of day or night", according to the Times article.^[1]

In January 1997 at least 14 letter bombs were mailed to the newspaper's headquarters in London and its bureaus in New York, Washington and Riyadh. Two security guards were wounded by one of the bombs as it exploded at the headquarters.^[1]

"Its ownership by Prince Khalid has meant that the paper treads softly when it comes to disquieting news about Saudi Arabia, a notable exception to its independent stand," according to the New York Times article.^[1] A special Saudi edition began in 2005 and sold over 150,000 copies a day.

In August 2007, the Saudi government banned al-Hayat apparently because it criticised some government departments and refused to heed the information ministry's orders.