Daily newspaper in Saudi Arabia
| Field | Value |
|---|
| logo | Alriyadh-Newspaper-logo.gif |
| type | Daily newspaper |
| format | Broadsheet |
| owner | Al Yamamah Press Establishment |
| publisher | Al Yamamah Press Establishment |
| chief_editor | Turki Al Sudari |
| associate_editor | Yousuf Al Kuwailit (2012){{cite web | author=Y. Yehoshua | title=Saudi Arabia cautiously Navigating Conflict with Iran amid Arab Spring Storm | url=http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/189/0/5946.htm | work=MEMRI | access-date=27 May 2012 |
| format | Inquiry and Analysis Series Report No.778 | date=23 December 2011}} |
| managing_editor | Nawal Al Rashed (for women section) |
| founded | |
| political_position | Pro-government |
| language | Arabic |
| headquarters | Riyadh |
| publishing_country | Saudi Arabia |
| website | |
| oclc | 12593490 |
Al Riyadh () is a Riyadh-based, pro-government Saudi daily newspaper. Its sister paper was Riyadh Daily that was in circulation between 2003 and 1 January 2004. Al Riyadh is one of the dominant papers in Nejd.{{cite book|page=114
History and ownership
Al Riyadh is the first daily newspaper that was published in Arabic in Riyadh.{{cite news|title=Profile - Al Riyadh
|archive-date=21 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054136/http://english.forbesmiddleeast.com/details.php?list=44467&row=2660}} Its first issue was published on 11 May 1965 with a limited number of pages. Later, it became a daily publication with 52 pages, 32 pages of which were colored pages. Its current issues are with 80-100 pages. The paper is published in broadsheet format.{{cite book|author=Anthony Shoult|title=Doing Business with Saudi Arabia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=or08gGGX_toC&pg=PA277|year=2006|publisher=GMB Publishing Ltd
Al Riyadh is also pioneer in other aspects. It is the first Saudi paper that included caricatures which were drawn by Ali Kharjy, a then-leading caricaturist. It is argued that Al Riyadh gained popularity among the public due to these caricatures at the end of the 1960s.
Al Riyadh is owned and published by Al Yamamah Press Establishment. The company is also the publisher of weekly magazine Al Yamamah. In 2006 it employed five women to improve the editorial design of the publications, including Al Riyadh.{{cite journal|author=Naomi Sakr|title=Women and Media in Saudi Arabia: Rhetoric, Reductionism and Realities|journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies|year=2008|volume=35|issue=3|pages=390, 399
Political approach
Al Riyadh is officially independent in that it is being published by a private company.{{cite web|year=2008
Content
Al Riyadh employs the following news feeds: AFP Arabic, AFP Sports, AP, DPA Arabic, GPA Arabic, Kuwait News Agency Arabic, MENA Arabic, QNA Arabic, Saudi Press Agency Arabic, Reuters Arabic, Reuters Photos, Reuters Graphics, RSS news, and full-body feeds from PR Newswire, GNN Network and CCN Matthews. The paper heavily covers the news regarding political, social, religious, economic and cultural events. It also provides its readers with sports news. It is one of the few newspapers in Saudi Arabia which publish unsigned editorials.
Turki Al Sudairi, the chief editor of the paper, argued in December 2011 that Iran was much more dangerous threat for Saudi Arabia than Israel, since the latter's enmity is limited to Palestinians.
In March 2013, the then Lebanese foreign minister Adnan Mansour publicly argued that the Arab League should reinstate Syria's membership. After this declaration, Al Riyadh described Mansour as "the foreign minister of the terrorist Amal Movement," due to Mansour's close relations with the Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is also the leader of the Amal Movement. The daily further claimed that Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, is "a terrorist".
Influence and audience
Al Riyadh is regarded as one of the major daily newspapers published in Saudi Arabia. The others are Al Watan, Al Madina and Al Jazirah.{{cite web|title=Arab media review. Anti-semitism and other trends|url=http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/arab/arab-media-review-July-December2010.pdf|work=Anti-Defamation League
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119200951/http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/arab/arab-media-review-July-December2010.pdf|access-date=16 May 2012|date=July–December 2010|archive-date=19 January 2012|url-status=dead}} Al Riyadh is described as one of the most respected dailies for local and regional news.{{cite journal|author=Andrew Leber|title=Seek Fact From Texts: Saudi Media on China Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic|journal=Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies|year=2020|volume=14|issue=4|pages=538–553
Since the paper is edited and published in Riyadh, its target population is government officials, military officials, professionals, academics and businesspeople.
Prominent columnists
The chief editor of the paper is Turki Al Sudairi who has held the post for a long time. He is regarded as a pro-government editor.{{cite web|author=Joel Campagna|title=Saudi Arabia report: Princes, clerics, and censors|work=Committee to Protect Journalists
Sultan Al Bazie who is the executive vice president of International Public Relations Association-Gulf Chapter (IPRA GC) and co-founder CEO of Attariq Communications was formerly a reporter and managing editor for Al Riyadh.{{cite web|title=Speakers|access-date=10 May 2012
Circulation and offices
The paper sold 25,000 copies in 1975.{{cite thesis|author=Bilal Ahmad Kutty|title=Saudi Arabia under King Faisal|degree=PhD|year=1997
The paper has a very impressive website, where readers can comment on articles.
Al Riyadh has also an English-website which was the seventh top online newspaper among the fifty English-language online newspapers in the MENA region in 2010.{{cite news|author=Samia Badih|title=Gulf News No. 1 English online paper in Mena|newspaper=Gulf News
The paper's Arabic online version was the fifth most visited website for 2010 in the MENA region. In 2012, it was again ranked to be the fifth in the MENA region by Forbes Middle East with 123.9 million hits.{{cite news|title="Forbes" Crown "Al Riyadh" as Strongest Saudi online Newspaper
Al Riyadh has offices in many Saudi cities in addition to its editorial offices in Cairo and Beirut.{{cite web