Al Akhbar (Lebanon)

Infobox Newspaper
name =


caption = The June 25, 2007 front page of
"Al Akhbar"
type = Daily newspaper
format = Berliner
foundation = 2006
ceased publication =
Owners = Hassan Khalil, Fady Agha, Hala Bejjani, Vahan Boghossian, Ibrahim el Amine, Nader Sabbagh, al-akhbar employees syndicate
publisher = Hassan Khalil
headquarters = Rue Verdun
Beirut, Lebanon
LBN
website = [http://al-akhbar.com/ al-akhbar.com]
price = LBP £1000 Monday-Saturday

Al Akhbar (الأخبار, Ar. "The News") is a daily Arabic newspaper published in Beirut, and funded by a group of Lebanese nationals based in London, the United States and Lebanon.Fact|date=October 2008 It is not affiliated with any political party nor country.

History

It was launched by the late Joseph Samaha, along with Ibrahim al Amine, both renowned and widely acclaimed journalists. Joseph died shortly after the launching of the paper, on February 25 2007. The newspaper license was leased from the Lebanese Communist Party.

The newspaper started printing its "zero" issues under difficult circumstances during the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon (July 12 - August 14), and printed its first issue the day the UN-brokered cease-fire went into effect. It has become in less than 10 months a reference in the Lebanese newspaper industry, ranking between the first three national titles.

Profile and political orientation

The political orientation of Al-Akhbar is considered to be leftist, democratic, and opposed to what it perceives to be the American political project in the Arab region. Another aspect of the newspaper is its strong focus on the UN investigation in the assassination of late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Al-Akhbar is considered as the leading leftist newspaper in Lebanon, as well as the main 'opposition' newspaper of the country, being close to the March 8 movement in the post-2005 political crisis in Lebanon (comprising Hizbullah, the Aounist movement, and several smaller groups, many of which are close to Syria).

Writers and staff

Al-Akhbar has gathered a large number of opinion writers who have worked in leading Lebanese and pan-Arab newspapers before joining its team. Ibrahim al Amine, who previously worked for As-Safir, is the co-founder of the newspaper. Ounsi el Hajj, who was the former editor-in-chief of An-Nahar for over 22 years, acts as a consultant to the board of editors. Others include Nicolas Nassif, a former editor in An-Nahar, and Jean Aziz, formerly a lead editor in Al-Balad, who both write widely read columns. They were joined by Pierre Abi Saab, who heads the culture and people section after having done so in Al Hayat, and Omar Nashabe, head of the Justice and Crime section, with a Ph.D. in criminology. In October 2006, Ziad Rahbani, one of the most famous Arab musicians and theatre directors and son of legendary Fairuz, joined the newspaper to write a column.

Website

The newspaper's website is the only newspaper site in Lebanon, and perhaps the Arab region, that fully adopts open-source technologies. It has succeeded in occupying the lead position amongst all Lebanese newspapers' websites as per Alexa.com services, superseding long established titles such as An-Nahar and As-Safir.Fact|date=October 2008

External links

* [http://www.al-akhbar.com/ "Al-Akhbar"] - official website