Gulf Times
Encyclopedia
The Gulf Times newspaper was founded in 1978 as the first publication of the Gulf Publishing and Printing Company in the capital city of Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

, Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...

 (or ad-Dawhah). One of three English-language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 newspapers in the country (the others being "The Peninsula
The Peninsula
-Geographic locations:*The Peninsula, Durham, the historic centre of Durham, England*In the United States:**The Peninsula at St. Johns Center, a building in Jacksonville, Florida**The San Francisco Peninsula, in Northern California....

" [1995] and the "Qatar Tribune
Qatar Tribune
TheQatar Tribune is an English newspaper published in Doha, Qatar with local and international coverage. The newspapers motto is "First with the News and What's Behind it." The Qatar Tribune, Al Watan , and Jamila are published by the Qatar Information and Marketing Company...

") [2006]. Gulf Times is the oldest surviving newspaper in Qatar.

History

The Gulf Times, Qatar, (the first publication of the Gulf Publishing and Printing Organisation) was founded on June 1 1978, its contract was signed and the required license was issued on August 5, 1978 in accordance with the laws of Qatar. The first edition of Gulf Times was published on December 10, 1978 as a black-and-white tabloid, under the leadership of Mr. Yousef Kassim Darwish, the Editor-in-chief of both Gulf Times and later the sister Arabic-language paper Arrayah — first published May 10, 1979.

Gulf Times is Qatar's oldest surviving newspaper (an older Arabic language publication, Al Arab, ceased publication in the mid-1990s).

On January 1, 1993, Gulf Publishing & Printing Company - encompassing both the Gulf Times and Arrayah Arabic daily moved to new headquarters in the Al Hilal
Al Hilal
Al Hilal may refer to:*Al-Hilal , a weekly Urdu language newspaper established by the Indian leader Maulana Abul Kalam AzadIn football:*Al-Hilal, Saudi Arabian football club*Al-Hilal , Libyan football club...

Area, on the C Ring Road, with a larger printing press, more up-to-date facilities and a more office space, they were now able to allow the newspaper to grow both in physical size, but also in publishing figures.

In December 1995, Gulf Times was converted from tabloid to broadsheet and the content was increased considerably.

Currently, a Gulf Times newspaper is typically 40 pages, broadsheet, with a separate feature section, called 'Time Out'.

The paper is one of the leading publications in the English language market in Qatar. It has been notable for carrying news reports that go beyond the self-censorship usual to the Gulf region. It pioneered reporting of criminal court cases, including reporting serious offences by Qatari nationals and other negative social issues, such as the black market in alcohol but has since become more conservative. It was the first Gulf paper to document the mistreatment of very young camel jockeys in a report that is credited with leading to the reform of the camel racing industry in several Gulf states.

Although it falls short of the best standards of the Western media [in particular its editorial department faces extreme pressure over coverage of matters concerning leading advertisers (but usually not over political issues)] it has been one of the few Persian Gulf papers that has tried to provide a proper news service, even of events in the country where it is based.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK