Arabic Saudi Arabian daily newspaper
Okaz
(
Arabic
:
????
) is an Arabic
Saudi Arabian
daily newspaper located in
Jeddah
.
[1]
[2]
The paper was launched in 1960
[3]
and its sister publication is
Saudi Gazette
. The paper is simultaneously printed in both
Riyadh
and Jeddah and has offices all over Saudi Arabia.
[4]
However, the daily mainly serves the provinces of the Hejaz and
Asir
.
[5]
As of 2012 Abdullah Saleh Kamel was the chairman of the board of directors of the Okaz Organization for Press and Publication.
[6]
Lawrence Wright
of
The New Yorker
states that
Okaz
is "like an Arabic version" of the
New York Post
.
[7]
History
[
edit
]
Okaz
was established in Jeddah in 1960 by Ahmed Abdul Ghafoor Attar and is one of the oldest newspapers in Saudi Arabia.
[8]
[9]
John R. Bradley
, in his book
Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis
, described it as a "
downmarket
newspaper ... the closest Saudi Arabia has to a
yellow press
."
[10]
Despite Bradley's description,
Okaz
was originally a cultural weekly based in the
Hijaz
.
[9]
In October 1964, it was relaunched as a daily paper.
[4]
Front page of Okaz first issue, 28 May 1960.
Its name was used as
Okadh
in some scientific publications while referring to it.
[11]
In fact, the paper is named after the popular Okaz market, which was one of the largest open markets during the
pre-Islamic era
in the Hijaz region.
[4]
[12]
The market inspired the founders of the paper was
Suq al Ukaz
where eminent poets of the period came together to congregate poems and hold recitation competitions in
Taif
.
[13]
[14]
Popularity
[
edit
]
Okaz
was most popular newspaper in
Hijaz
at the beginning of the 1990s. In the mid-1980s, the paper was often perceived as a newspaper in decline because of failure to invest. However, it invested in printing facilities and its circulation expanded.
[15]
In 2009,
Okaz
is regarded as the most popular paper in the Hijaz and third most popular in Riyadh. Furthermore,
Okaz
is said to be one of only two major Saudi print media that do not have the member of the
Al Saud family
among its share-holders.
[15]
Based on the results of a media survey conducted by research company
Ipsos Stat
,
Okaz
is first in readership ratings, beating many other newspapers published in the country.
[16]
Dubai Press Club
states that the paper is mostly preferred by Saudi nationals and younger people.
[17]
Circulation
[
edit
]
In 2002,
Okaz
was the largest newspaper in the country.
[2]
In 2003, it had an estimated circulation of 147,000 copies.
[3]
[8]
Its estimated circulation is reported to be 150,000 in 2009.
[15]
Dubai Press Club in 2010 reported that
Okaz
is the most popular Arabic daily paper in the Kingdom with a circulation of 250,000 that was confirmed by the media research.
[17]
Global Investment House stated the market share of
Okaz
as around 6% in 2009.
[12]
The circulation of the paper was 250,000 copies in 2010.
[17]
The online version of the paper was the 23rd most visited website for 2010 in the
MENA region
.
[18]
It was reported by
Forbes Middle East
in 2011 to be one of top ten
online newspapers
(specifically the ninth) in
the MENA region
.
[19]
In 2012,
Okaz'
s online edition was ranked by
Forbes Middle East
as the sixth in the MENA region with 42.56 million hits, including 12.60 million unique hits.
[20]
Political approach
[
edit
]
Okaz
, a paper of Hejaz, is considered to be one of the two leading liberal daily papers in Saudi Arabia. The other one is
Al Watan
.
[21]
However, the paper was reported to be close to late
Crown Prince Nayef
.
[7]
Prominent columnists
[
edit
]
The newspaper has several well-respected columnists such as Juhair bint Abdallah Al Musa'id and Abdallah Al Jufri.
[9]
The pioneering deputy chair of the
National Society for Human Rights
, Al Jawhara bint Mohammed Al Anqari also writes for
Okaz
.
[22]
Hussein Shobokshi is among the former columnists of the paper who left it after publishing an article on accountable government.
[23]
Content
[
edit
]
It appears that
Okaz
publishes articles and news about several distinct topics ranging from lesbians' confessions to
Zionist
threats. Besides a critical coverage of social issues,
Okaz
reports almost taboo subjects, like the harsh treatment of women by the religious police. On the other hand,
Okaz
was generally considered as the most aggressive and sensationalist about news against
Yemen
and then-President Saleh.
[
citation needed
]
The paper also contains a section on
environmental issues
.
[24]
Hussein Shobokshi, a former columnist for
Okaz
, wrote about his vision of a country where the government is fully accountable to the public, citizens can freely vote, and women can drive cars in his July 2003 column.
[23]
His article led to a huge public reaction, including complaints from what he called "tribal and religious groups." Then, he was quickly put in the blacklist for the next year and his new talk show on the Saudi-owned satellite broadcaster
Al Arabiya
was cancelled. His editor told Shobokshi that he was banned without explaining why or by whom.
[25]
Princess Fahda bint Saud
, one of
King Saud
's daughters, published an article on
Okaz
on 15 November 2003. The article was titled "The Bombings: Who is Behind the Scenes? Who is Behind Terrorism?" and concerned with
Zionist
threats posed to Saudi Arabia.
[26]
In an editorial entitled 'The limits of our responsibility' published in
Okaz
on 28 November 2003, it was admitted that Saudi money had gone to finance the terrorist acts of
9/11
, but added: "It was to be expected that funds have gone out of our pockets and our wealth to those who carried out the act (of 9/11) even though it was done indirectly and without our knowledge."
[27]
Two female reporters wrote about a taboo in the context of Saudi Arabia, lesbians, in 2007. They reported the confessions of two women having lesbian relationship.
[28]
Muhammad Al Tunisi, who had been serving as
editor-in-chief
of the paper since October 2008,
[29]
allowed the publication of a report by Sami Al Harbi about high consumption of the Khat drug plant in
Jazan
in late November 2011. The report based on a field study claimed that 70% of residents used the Khat plant, affecting the cells of the human body and leading to sexual deviation. This report led to Jazan's residents', particularly young men's, boycott against the newspaper and call for the paper to be banned. Then, Al Tunisi was dismissed by the paper administration, although he apologized and the paper declared that the report had been a scientific study.
[30]
Then, Al Tunisi was replaced by Hashim Abdo Hashim as editor-in-chief in December 2011.
[31]
According to the
Okaz
, the murdered Saudi journalist
Jamal Khashoggi
was a terrorist sympathizer whose sectarian goals were designed to destabilize the Saudi kingdom.
[32]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]