Al Misri

Al Misri (Arabic: المصري, romanized: al-Miṣrī, lit. 'The Egyptian') was a nationalist newspaper which was published in Cairo, Egypt, between 1936 and 1954. The paper was one of the most read newspapers during its lifetime and closed down by the Egyptian authorities on 4 May 1954.

Al Misri
Owner(s)Mahmoud Abu Al Fath
Founder(s)
Managing editorHussein Abu Al Fath
Founded1936
Political alignmentArab nationalism
LanguageArabic
Ceased publication4 May 1954
HeadquartersCairo
CountryEgypt

History and profile

Al Misri was established by Karim Thabit, Muhammad Al Tabai and Mahmoud Abu Al Fath in 1936.[1][2] Elie Politi, a leading Jewish businessman, assisted the foundation of the paper.[3] Soon after its start Mahmoud Abu Al Fath bought the paper for a few thousand dollars and made it an official media outlet of the Wafd Party.[4] Mahmoud Abu Al Fath's younger siblings worked at the paper: Hussein Abu Al Fath was the managing editor,[4] and Ahmad Abu Al Fath was the editor of Al Misri.[5][6]

Following the acquisition of the paper by Mahmoud Abu Al Fath Al Misri adopted a nationalist political stance.[7] The paper sold 100,000 copies, making it both a financial success and an influential political force.[4] It also became a competitor of Al Ahram.[2] In July 1939 the editors' houses were searched on the orders of the public prosecutor due to the fierce opposition of the Waft Party against the government.[8] During the same period Al Misri was among the ardent critics of the Muslim Brotherhood which began to gain more members in the society.[9]

Beginning with World War II the Egyptian government restricted the page number of all papers, including Al Misri, to six pages due to the shortage of paper.[2] Although the war ended and the paper supply was improved, the page number of the newspapers was set at eight pages by the government.[2] As of 1950 Al Misri had twelve-page.[2] The affiliation of Al Misri with the Wafd Party weakened after World War II.[2] However, it did not completely disappear, and the paper published numerous articles supporting the North African independence in line with the party policies in 1947.[10]

Al Misri sold 150,000 copies in 1953.[7] In May 1954 the Fath brothers were accused of being disloyal to the national interests following the publication of several articles in the paper demanding Gamal Abdel Nasser to follow the policies of the Wafd Party.[4][7] The paper was banned on 4 May 1954.[4][11] Soon after the closure of Al Misri its publishing facilities were used for the publication of the state-run newspaper Al Gomhuria which was launched the same year.[12]

References
  1. "al-Miṣrī (المصري)". Global Press Archive. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  2. Helen A. Kitchen (April 1950). "'Al-Ahram': The 'Times' of the Arab World". The Middle East Journal. 4 (2): 159, 165–166, 168. JSTOR 4322163.
  3. Reuven Snir (2006). "Arabic in the Service of Regeneration of Jews: The Participation of Jews in Arabic Press and Journalism in the 19th and 20th Centuries". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 59 (3): 301. doi:10.1556/AORIENT.59.2006.3.2.
  4. "The Press: Egyptian Uproar". Time. 17 May 1954. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  5. Raymond A. Hinnebusch (March 1984). "The Reemergence of the Wafd Party: Glimpses of the Liberal Opposition in Egypt". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 16 (1): 99–121. doi:10.1017/S0020743800027628. JSTOR 162942. S2CID 159971207.
  6. Rami Ginat (May 2003). "The Egyptian Left and the Roots of Neutralism in the Pre-Nasserite Era". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 30 (1): 9. doi:10.1080/1353019032000059063. JSTOR 3593243.
  7. Henry Ladd Smith (June 1954). "The Egyptian Press and Its Current Problems". Journalism Quarterly. 31 (3): 334–335. doi:10.1177/107769905403100307. S2CID 189023776.
  8. David S. Moore (1965). The Wafd Party of Egypt, 1936-1945 (MA thesis). American University of Beirut. p. 46. ProQuest 2316005707.
  9. Noha Mellor (2017). Voice of the Muslim Brotherhood: Da'wa, Discourse, and Political Communication. London: Routledge. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-351-62805-1.
  10. David Stenner (2016). "'Bitterness towards Egypt' – the Moroccan nationalist movement, revolutionary Cairo and the limits of anti-colonial solidarity". Cold War History. 16 (2): 165. doi:10.1080/14682745.2015.1100605. S2CID 155180500.
  11. Don Peretz (Winter 1959). "Democracy and the Revolution in Egypt". The Middle East Journal. 13 (1): 37. JSTOR 4323083.
  12. Jon B. Alterman (1998). "New Media New Politics? From Satellite Television to the Internet in the Arab World". The Washington Institute. 48: 6.
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