It looks like “Al-Watan” (The Nation) is going to be the FIFTH national Arabic daily newspaper in Bahrain. They have completed all the registration formalities according to Al-Wasat and are awaiting final approval. There was no announcement regarding the direction of the paper, it’s editors nor investors. No matter, the press is increasing and that’s a very good sign.
Comments
Re: 5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
Dream on Honey Bunny!!!
What do you know about the reality of journalism in Bahrain?
What do you know about the challenges and DOWNS journalists – not that all those who work in newspapers are – go through everyday.
Imagine banging your head on a brick wall for 72 hours continuously and then maybe, just maybe – you will understand what a real journalist goes through in this magical kingdom which doesn’t know whether it is going or coming!
You know what? If you have nothing better to do in your life, I would like to extend an invitation for you to spend a DAY – yes a DAY – in a newspaper shadowing a news editor just to get a feel of what it really feels like!!
Feel free to drop me a line and I will use my very influential contacts to get you in!!
5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
What? More paper to waste? More trees to kill?
What are those people thinking of?
Don’t they know that a free Press exists only in the mind of dreamers!
What will they achieve?
The Nation..What nation? The nation torn apart by people with petty little agendas and everyone serving his own little needs?
A news paper!! What is the purpose? It can’t even be used for toilet rolls!!
5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
Are there any other cities of comparable size to Bahrain (pop. 600,000) that publish seven daily newspapers? I’m not sure where all the new readers are supposed to come from since the Arabic language market’s saturated. Still best of luck to them.
The Tree of Life
Unfortunately not Ali. I’ve borrowed it until I can go there myself and take a picture. You have to thank google for it, I don’t know who the photographer is.
What I did do is crop it and edited it to remove the telegraph poles and wires running across the picture.
5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
Princess,
you’re right, I don’t know anything about the reality of journalism in Bahrain.. I’m a reader and I’m entitled to my opinion… why don’t you educate me on the troubles of being a journalist in Bahrain… Just cause you bang your head on a wall trying to think of a story, doesn’t mean that we all have to be happy with what you produce (btw if you have to bang your head for 72 hours to write a story for a daily newspaper, then maybe it’s time for a possible career change)… Is it your budget restraints? are you catering to a specific readership? what is it? teach me… don’t sit there and get so defensive on me.. I’m not the only one who thinks the English newspapers in Bahrain are lacking…
Reading a newspaper free of grammatical and spelling errors isn’t too much to expect. And I don’t think repeating the week’s headlines on Friday’s edition is very entertaining. I personally don’t feel that useless page fillers about the odd news of the world isn’t something the most respected newspaper in Bahrain should be boasting… do you? The letters section takes up most of the space and the only benefit you get is that they provide the reader with the people’s general views on the island.
You referred to Bahrain as being a magic kingdom that didn’t know if it was coming or going… you being a journalist should now that we’re going through a transition period right now… We’ve got a newly organized parliament, and the people are just getting used to the idea that they now live in a democracy… How long do you think it took the French to set up their republic? the United States of America? we’ve got a long way to go… The world is experiencing a wave of religious fundamentalism and people are turning to God for their answers… doesn’t that tickle your fancy? Did you ever think of actually interviewing the people of Bahrain and asking them if they’re happy with their parliamentary representatives? I think that’s kinda newsworthy, then again maybe you’re not allowed to do that in your newspaper, I don’t know so why don’t you explain it to me. If you’re that pissed off about the state of affairs, then why don’t you just quit and start your own newspaper, isn’t that what the people at AlWasat did?
Why don’t you use your influential contacts to get you a serious interview…
Re: 5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
I hear you!
As a matter of interest, where do people in Bahrain get their news from mostly? Word of mouth, internet news sites, blogs, newspapers? Would be interesting to find out to see if newspapers actually make a difference or are they just a business venture capturing (and splintering) the advertising market.
Al-Ayam has been sponsoring the book festival for the last 12 (?) years and they were the people who started it, so that’s one good thing they contributed.
Al-Wasat has done numerous seminars, the last of which just concluded where they discussed Islam and Democracy, I suspect that we shall see excerpts of the workshops and papers published in it through the next few days. That’s another good contribution.
The GDN and Bahrain Tribune haven’t (as far as I can remember) done anything of the like and they are generally a waste of time. Unfortunately they are the only venue available to non-Arabic readers and they should be better at reporting the news rather than what you rightly suggest be the fuel to the rumour mill. Even giving away BD10 for the “letter of the day”!
Re: 5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
there is nothing stopping the two incumbants from doing just that though is there other than their editors?
Or is it a policy dictated to them that they shall not do so in order to keep their readers kept in the dark and fed excrement and that everything is hunky-dorey?
A New Paper…..let me think….
a new paper ..hmmmmmm
Is it going to report real stories ? or is it just going to report government propaganda just like all the rest?
there is no point starting a new paper if it’s going to report news which the regime want’s you to hear.
#
5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
actually .. the arabic papers are in many ways jucier than the english dailies. and i would agree with eduibdu .. we do need better quality english dailies. in fact, a good starting point is for one of the arabic dailies to be transalted into english.
and i quite like the good daily nonesense, (GDN), it has the best horoscopes in town.
5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
how about a really good english newspaper? can you imagine that? an english newspaper in Bahrain that actually has real journalists writing about real stories? no spelling or grammatical errors? uptodate information? No silly page fillers like Reuters oddly enough news? Headlines, I forgot about Real Headlines and nothing stupid or shocking in a tabloid manner like “WAR ON SLEAZE”…
wishfull thinking?
5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
I’ve had the “misfortune” of working for the two English dailies. Now the thing is, one must keep in mind that they target a completely different layer and their readership is, well, quite limited. However, it would be more than interesting to finally see an English daily that is political, hard-hitting and does some proper investigative reporting.
On the other hand, a 5th Arabic daily can’t be the best (or the worst) news one hears. Mother (bless her) said the other day that she can’t seem to “enjoy” reading newspapers as much as she used to. Too many to pick from you see. And all too simialr in content.
As the saying goes… “More is Less”
By the bye, Mahmood, that’s a lovely photo of the Tree of Life. Did you take it yourself?
5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
Well, at least it wont be another press agency owned by the Saudis. It is a waste of time to read such papers as Asharq Al Awsat. They are run just like everything else in the Middle East. I know the new editor of Al Awsat, he graduated five years ago with a degree in journalism and is already the editor of one of the leading Arab language papers. Why? Wasta-connections. In the US it takes years, decades to become an editor of a major paper. Because this man’s family knew the right people in the al Saud family, what would normally be the reward for decades in the industry is given in a few years.
This is one of the major problems with the societies in the Middle East, especially in the gulf.
5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
what was the main purpose of the bahrain tribune apart from it being ‘another’ English Daily for non Arabic-readers in Bahrain? I flick thru the gdn fropm time-to-time and get bored after encountering so many typos and such despite the local happenings that keep me all informed.. and then i get to the bahrain tribune and find out that its mostly filled with commnetary-oriented info…. little said about local news, a wade of int’l articles but really doesn’t intrest ppl much apart from it business section ……..
I await the day when a ‘real’ newspaper comes out in this kingdom… well i guess the gdn could be called a ‘real’ newspaper if not for the current press laws …. news has definitely improved in recent years, however we all have a long way to go…….. oh… speaking of a long way … why doesn’t the GDN have a weekly bite on the buzz at local universities? I’m sure it’ll be hit… some kinda career advice section for students – transiting through high school – college – post graduation – and into the industry ……. now people are gonna’ say thats what COEDs are for… and frankly speaking – COEDs is more of a monthly -doesn’t hold sufficient – advice… not very informative – more generalised so as to speak of.. and i think many college students these days look for something specialized….. many local unis, for example, AMA, NYIT, UCB, etc. are in the process of publishing their own magazines for their students – good luck to them with that, but i think the way forward should be a uni-oriented page thru the GDN…..
Think about it… circulation wise….. the GDN is the best way to reach students, parents, educators, prospective employers, etc. theres loads of scope within such a project and it would actually encourage kids to read the news & keep updated on what’s happening!
I’d love to volunteer for such a page in the gdn… i’m sure many others from local unis would as well….. well anywayz.. its just a thought….. i started my post with a rant on the bahrain tribune.. and look at what i’ve ended up with….. 🙂
(PS. if u find any typos in my post here, it’s ‘cos its just an inet post…. :D)
Re: 5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
Strav!
Give me a call.. unless you have thrown my card away 😉
Re: 5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
Edubidu,
As an afterthought: let he who has not sinned cast the first stone!!
Why would someone who cannot spell “wishfull” want “no spelling or grammatical errors?” ?
Regards,
Amira
Re: A New Paper…..let me think….
Bugs..
Pssst! Reporting GOVERNMENT PROPOGANDA is not a choice!! Don’t tell anyone I said this please. I have a living to make!
New press law on the way
Has anyone heard about a new Press Law that’s currently before parliament – ending the current confusion? Are there any details?
Re(1): New press law on the way
Glad to hear about the progress with the Journalists Union. Things seem to have restarted again after the recent Khawaja debacle.
I hope the people voted to run the Union put journalistic principles in front of politics, and it doesn’t come with the odor of Al Wefaq entryism that dogged the BCHR.
Re(1): 5th arabic national daily newspaper on the way
LOL.. me ? throw yo car away ? :D… thats prolly someone else u thinking about….. anywayz.. i fugured out that you might be at the race rite now…. and i just got back from there to get some zleeb…. so if you don’t get a call from me by today evening i’ll definitely be calling you up first thing, tomorrow morning 🙂
btw.. is this al-watan daily a californian funded paper….?
Re: New press law on the way
Now we are speaking! Press law!! (heheheh)
There is a general assembly meeting for the Bahrain Journalists Union (under formation) tonight (Friday) at 8pm at Al Oruba Club.
If this project goes as planned, then MAY BE, just MAY BE, Bahraini journalism will have a little bit of credibility!!!
Let’s see how this turns out to be.
As to Parliament discussing the Press law: NO COMMENT!
Re(1): New press law on the way
I’m interested in attending this AGM as a silent observer – that’s if the discussion is gonna’ be in English, if so, how do i get to the Al Oruba Club…?
We need a university campus press law too…. some guidelines or code of ethics that student journalists may follow…….. is they any existing one? Anyone aware of it, pls by all means do inform me……… oh and Good Afternoon to the smart bots from the MoI 😀