Al-Ahram

This article is about the newspaper, for other uses see Al-Ahram (disambiguation).

الأهرام Al-Ahram

Type	Daily newspaper
Publisher	Al-Ahram publishing house
Founded	1875
Headquarters	Boulaq, Cairo
Circulation	1,000,000 daily 1,200,000 Fridays
Website	http://www.ahram.org.eg/

Al-Ahram (Arabic: الأهرام, literally "The Pyramids"), founded in 1875, is one of the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspapers, and the second oldest after Al-Waqae'a Al-Masreya ("The Egyptian Events", founded 1828). Al-Ahram was founded by two Lebanese brothers, Beshara Taqla and Saleem Taqla, who were living at that time in Alexandria. It began as a weekly newspaper published every Saturday, but two months after the newspaper was founded, the Taqla brothers decided to turn it into a daily newspaper.

The newspaper was distributed in Egypt and the Levant. In November 1899, Al-Ahram's headquarters was moved to Cairo. The religious scholars Muhammad Abduh and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani were early writers in the newspaper. The Middle East Institute describes Al-Ahram in 1950 as being to the Arabic-reading public within its area of distribution, "What the London Times is to Englishmen and the New York Times to Americans."

Al-Ahram daily is the flagship of what is now the Al-Ahram publishing house, the largest in Egypt. Al-Ahram's headquarters is in Boulaq, Cairo. Its content is controlled by the Egyptian Ministry of Information, but despite this its opinion section is well regarded.

Given the large dialectical variety of the Arabic language, Al-Ahram is widely considered an influential source of writing style in Arabic.

Editions

In addition to the main edition published in Egypt, the paper publishes two other Arabic-language editions, one geared to the Arab World and the other aimed at an international audience.

The pan-Arab Arabic-language edition of the paper, called Al Ahram Al Arabiya, is destined for readers in the Arab World and the Egyptian expatriates in Arab countries. It is published daily in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and distributed in Egypt and the Gulf.

An international Arabic-language edition called Al Ahram al Duwali has been published daily in London since 1984. It is printed in both London and Paris and is distributed throughout Europe, USA, Canada and Egypt.

Two foreign-language versions are also produced: the English Al-Ahram Weekly (founded in 1991) and the French Al-Ahram Hebdo.

Government ownership

The controlling stock of Al-Ahram is owned by the Egyptian government The editors of Al-Ahram are appointed by the president Mubarak, and as appointees, they enjoy little censorship by the government. Since it is a state-owned newspaper, “it is understood that their loyalties remain with the state“. and as reported by BBC , “have largely ignored or trivialized” the opposition to the current Mubarak regime. Al Aharam is given a “certain leeway, given it avoids certain taboos—meaning government criticism is avoided since it selects and compensates them.”

Notable writers

• Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006), awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Salama Moussa سلامة موسى
• Taha Hussein طه حسين
• Zaki Naguib Mahmoud زكي نجيب محمود
• Yusuf Idris يوسف إدريس
• Ihsan Abdel Quddous إحسان عبد القدوس
• Mohammad Hassanein Heykal محمد حسنين هيكل, served as editor-in-chief of the daily (1957-1974)
• Edward Said إدوارد وديع سعيد
• Hamid Dabashi حمید دباشی
• Ahdaf Soueif
• Sabah Hamamouصباح حمامو
• Anees Mansour أنيس منصور
• Azmi Bishara
• Joseph Massad
• Khalid Amayreh
• Shahid Alam
• Fekry Abaza

Bibliography

• Islam, Roumeen (2002). The right to tell: the role of mass media in economic development (Illustrated ed.). World Bank Publications. ISBN 0821352032, 9780821352038. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• The Middle East journal, Volume 4. Washington, D.C.: Middle East Institute. 1950.
• Drost, Harry (1991). The World's news media: a comprehensive reference guide. Longman.

External links

• Al-Ahram
• Al-Ahram Weekly
• Al-Ahram Hebdo