As-Safir

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As-Safir
السفير
As-Safir-logo.png
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Publisher Dar Al Safir
Editor Talal Salman
Founded 26 March 1974; 50 years ago (1974-03-26)
Political alignment Pan-Arab Pro-Assad[1][2]
Language Arabic
Headquarters Beirut, Lebanon
Circulation 50,000 (2012)
Website Official website
As-Safir, Beirut, 2010

As-Safir (Arabic: السفير‎‎), meaning The Ambassador, is a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon. The headquarters of the daily is in Beirut.[3]

History and profile

As-Safir was first published by Talal Salman on 26 March 1974 as an Arabic political daily.[4][5] Talal Salman also served as chief editor of the paper.[6] In 2005, the daily's chief editor was late Joseph Samaha.[7][8] The current publisher of the daily is Dar Al Safir.[3] It is published in broadsheet format.[9]

On 18 July 2011, the paper, together with Al Akhbar, another daily published in Lebanon, was banned in Syria.[10]

As-Safir has a weekly page on the environmental issues.[11]

Political approach

As-Safir states its mission as to be "the newspaper of the Arab world in Lebanon, and the newspaper of Lebanon in the Arab world."[12] This remains the slogan printed on the paper's masthead.[5] The paper provided an independent voice for the left-wing, Pan Arab tendency which was increasingly active in Lebanese intellectual and political life in the years after the Arab defeat in the Six-Day War. It also focuses on Muslim interests, advocating Arab nationalism, and is close to Hezbollah and has a pro-Syrian stance.[13]

Another Lebanese daily, An-Nahar, is cited as the rival of As-Safir.[14] In the mid-1990s, the paper was described as a left-of-center paper, whereas An-Nahar as a right-of-center paper.[15] During the same period, As-Safir was also described by Robert Fisk as a Syrian-backed newspaper.[16] In the 2000s these papers were again supporters of two opposite poles in Lebanon, in that An-Nahar is a supporter of March 14 alliance, whereas As-Safir supported March 8 alliance.[17]

After the assassination of Rafik Hariri on 14 February 2005, Talal Salman wrote "Some want to use his death as a catalyst to create sectarian strife to complete the schemes of the Israeli occupation in Palestine and the American occupation of Iraq."[18]

Circulation and websites

As-Safir had the second highest circulation in the 1990s after An-Nahar.[15] Its circulation was 45,000 copies in 2003, being the second best selling paper in Lebanon.[9] In 2012, the Lebanese Ministry of Information stated that the daily had a circulation of 50,000 copies, being the first in the country.[4][17][19]

In addition to its Arabic website, the paper has also an English website. The paper's online version was the 16th most visited website for 2010 in the MENA region.[20]

References

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  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.  – via Questia (subscription required)
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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