Al Qabas

Al-Qabas (Arabic: القبس, lit. 'the Firebrand or the Starbrand')[1] is an Arabic daily Kuwaiti newspaper and tabloid published by Dar Al Qabas Press Printing Publishing and Distribution Company in Kuwait City.

For the Syrian newspaper, see Al Qabas (newspaper).

Al-Qabas
القبس
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatTabloid
Owner(s)Al-Nusif, Al-Kharafi, Al-Bahar, Al-Shaya families
PublisherDar Al-Qabas Press Printing, Publishing and Distribution Company
Editor-in-chiefWalid Al-Nisef
Associate editorAbdullah Ghazi Almudhaf
Founded22 February 1972 (1972-02-22)
Political alignmentLiberal
LanguageArabic
HeadquartersKuwait City
WebsiteOfficial website

History and profile

Al-Qabas was launched on 22 February 1972.[2][3] The founding shareholders of Al Qabas, according to the founding contract as printed in the official gazette Kuwait Al-Yawm are Kuwaiti merchant families Al-Nusif, Al-Kharafi, Al-Bahar, Al-Shaya, and Al-Saqer.[4][5] The paper is headquartered in Kuwait City.[6]

Al-Qabas' in early days were characterized by Mohammed Al-Sager, who had been its dynamic editor-in-chief since 1982 until his election in the Kuwait National Assembly in 1999. With his experience in international finance, Al-Sager had set up an international edition that was published in Paris, London and Marseilles (for the North African market). The paper had maintained the most extensive foreign correspondent staff of any Kuwaiti newspaper with large bureaus in Washington, London, Beirut, Cairo, and Moscow.

After the liberation of Kuwait, Al Qabas discontinued its international editions.[7] During the invasion it moved to London and was first published there on 2 August 1990.[7]

Al Qabas had a weekly supplement on environmental issues, which can be translated into English as Our Environment is Our Life.[8]

The daily had a circulation of 120,000 copies before the invasion of Kuwait in 1991.[9] Its 2001 circulation was 79,000 copies and the paper was the third best selling newspaper in Kuwait.[9][10] The paper also began its online edition which had 30,000 weekly hits in 2001.[9]

Political stance and staff

Al Qabas had a critical approach to government of Kuwait[11] and is a liberal publication.[9] In April 2012, it published an editorial calling for ending the struggle within the ruling family of Kuwait, Al Sabah.[4]

The paper's editor, Mohammed Al-Sager, is a winner of the International Press Freedom Award of the Committee to Protect Journalists "for courageous reporting on political and human rights issues in the face of government threats of censorship and prosecution".[12]

The other significant editors of the daily include Abdullatif Al-Duaij and Ahmad Bishara.[11] The Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali worked for the paper in the 1980s and he was killed in 1987 while working for the London edition of the daily.[13]

Respected Arab figures also contributed to the daily, including Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz and Egyptian philosopher Fauad Zakara.[7]

In 2019, Al Qabas launched a premium digital subscription service, producing video content for subscribers. Its flagship show, The Black Box featured 32 interviews with controversial former Kuwaiti MP and academic Abdullah Al-Nafisi. Subsequent seasons featured extensive interviews with former Guantanamo detention camp detainee Faiz Al Kandari.[14]

References
  1. Barrie Gunter; Roger Dickinson (2013). News Media in the Arab World: A Study of 10 Arab and Muslim Countries. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-4411-0239-3.
  2. Kjetil Selvik (2011). "Elite Rivalry in a Semi-Democracy: The Kuwaiti Press Scene". Middle Eastern Studies. 47 (3): 477–496. doi:10.1080/00263206.2011.565143. S2CID 154057034.
  3. Haya Al Mughni; Mary Ann Tétreault (2004). "Engagement in the Public Sphere: Women and the Press in Kuwait". In Naomi Sakr (ed.). Women and Media in the Middle East Power through Self-Expression. London: I.B.Tauris. p. 122. doi:10.5040/9780755604838.ch-008. ISBN 978-1-85043-545-7.
  4. "Kuwait daily urges end to royal infighting". Ahram Online. AFP. 15 April 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  5. "Dar Al-Qabas Press Printing, Publishing and Distribution Company, Kuwait". Al Zawya. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  6. "Sources". Al Monitor. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  7. Sheila Rule (23 August 1990). "A Kuwaiti Newspaper Reopens in London". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  8. Najib Saab. "The Environment in Arab Media" (PDF). Arab Forum for Environment and Development. Archived from the original (Report) on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  9. "Kuwait". Press Reference. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  10. "World Press Trends" (PDF). World Association of Newspapers. Paris. 2004. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  11. "Kuwait". The Arab Press network. Archived from the original on 8 August 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  12. "CPJ Deplores Sentencing of Two Journalists by Kuwait". Committee to Protect Journalists. 25 July 1998. Archived from the original on 3 June 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  13. On this day 1987: Cartoonist shot in London street BBC 22 July 2010.
  14. "العرض الأول من "الصندوق الأسود".. عبر "القبس بريميوم"". Al Qabas (in Arabic). 7 September 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
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