Monday, November 01, 2010
Al-Akhbar
Al-Akhbar has become a newspaper phenomenon in Lebanon, and beyond that in the Arab world at large. It is, as the veteran editor/columnist Rafiq Khuri of Al-Anwar told me, a newspaper by reporters. Something unusual in a country where the newspaper is the function and product of a strong-willed publisher and his whims. Its other formula is the ability to challenge taboos of all kind. I know that the paper has been critical of some of those who fund it. This is most unusual. Its publisher, Hasan Khalil, does not interfere ever in editorial decisions, and i know that. It will soon launch and pan-Arab edition and an English language website. The newsroom is filled with excitement and the young reporters are thrilled to be working there. It is an atmosphere that i have not seen in other newsrooms. You may say that I am praising a newspaper where I write: but no, there is no conflict of interest. I have no role in the paper except to send a weekly 2400 words article. The praise and credit go to the people there and to the unusual partnership of two different personalities: Khalid Saghiyyah and Ibrahim Amin. At last, leftists proved that they can produce something interesting, funny, and ironic. I don't know why I wrote all this but I have high hopes. I always say: Al-Akhbar has been the best thing to happen to As-Safir. It forced it to revitalize itself. An-Nahar is now dead: for all intents and purposes. It still have subscriptions and send free copies and so on, but no one talks about An-Nahar. It is dead: very dead. As dead as Rafiq Hariri.