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.