Al-Monitor ( ar, المونيتور) is a news website launched in February 2012 by the

Arab American Arab Americans ( ar, عَرَبٌ أَمْرِيكِا or ) are Americans of Arab ancestry. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World. According to the Arab American In ...

entrepreneur Jamal Daniel and based in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, United States. Al-Monitor provides reporting and analysis from and about the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

History and organization

Al-Monitor was launched on 13 February 2012 by the Arab-American Jamal Daniel (who was born in Syria, but grew up in Lebanon). It was founded with the intention to publish a diverse set of perspectives on the region, bridging the gap of information available to both those in the Middle East and those elsewhere with a desire to better understand a rapidly changing region. In 2018, Al-Monitor partnered with North Base Media which was founded by

Marcus Brauchli Marcus W. Brauchli (born June 19, 1961) is a journalist, media investor and advisor. He is co-founder, along with Saša Vučinič, of North Base Media, an investment firm specialized in media and technology in global growth markets, and has served ...

and Sasa Vucinic in managing Al-Monitor in order "to provide top-level operational and financial decision-making, and work with the company to explore possible content and commercial avenues." At its founding, the site also translated content from countries in the Middle East; however, the site now only provides original content and does not translate from partners. Among its media partners were '' El Khabar'', '' Al-Masry Al-Youm'', ''

Azzaman ''Azzaman'' ( ar, الزَمان meaning ''The Time'') is a daily Iraqi newspaper published simultaneously in London, Baghdad and Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a popula ...

'', '' Calcalist'', ''

Yedioth Ahronoth ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...

'', '' Al-Qabas'', '' An-Nahar'', ''

As-Safir ''As-Safir'' ( ar, السفير, lit=The Ambassador), was a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon. The headquarters of the daily was in Beirut. It was in circulation from March 1974 until December 2016. The last issue of the paper wa ...

'' (now closed), '' Al-Hayat'', ''Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal'', '' Habertürk'', '' Milliyet'', '' Radikal'' (now closed), ''

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...

'', '' Taraf'' (now closed), '' Al Khaleej'', and ''Al-Tagheer''.

Content

Al-Monitor features reporting and analysis by journalists and experts from the Middle East, with special focus sections (that Al-Monitor terms "pulses") on

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

, the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

, Palestine, Syria,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

as well as

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

's relationship with the Middle East. In 2015, Al-Monitor relaunched its website and expanded coverage to include further reporting on Washington, the addition of a

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these grou ...

section, a new

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

and video coverage. Contributors have included Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies,

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

; Kadri Gursel, formerly and editor with

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

;

Bruce Riedel Bruce O. Riedel (born 1953) is an American expert on U.S. security, South Asia, and counter-terrorism. He is currently a senior fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, and a professor at Johns Hopkins Schoo ...

of the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

;

Amberin Zaman Amberin Zaman is a Turkish journalist and a senior correspondent for Al-Monitor. Having started as a journalist in Turkey, Zaman contributes to various newspapers throughout the world. Her writing is centered on minority rights issues in Turkey. L ...

, formerly a Turkey correspondent for ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econ ...

''; Sultan al Qassemi, former columnist with the United Arab Emirates–based '' The National'' and one of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

''s 140 Best

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Feeds of 2011 selections; Barbara Slavin, former diplomatic correspondent for ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...

'' and senior fellow at the '' Atlantic Council''; Laura Rozen, a former foreign policy reporter for ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

'', ''

Foreign Policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...

'', and '' Yahoo''; and Madawi al-Rasheed, professor of social anthropology at King's College London; the late

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

-based political analyst

Bassem Sabry Bassem Sabry ( ar, باسم صبري) (25 October 1982 – 29 April 2014) was an Egyptian journalist, blogger, civil rights campaigner who had reported extensively on the Egyptian Revolution and the founder of COMET which stands for “Conferen ...

, an Egyptian writer who wrote extensively on

and the Arab Spring; Akiva Eldar, a long-time Israeli political columnist formerly with ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner ...

'', and Gaza-based

Asmaa al-Ghoul Asma al-Ghul (born in 1982; also ''Al Ghoul'', ''Alghoul'' )( ar, أسماء الغول) is a secular Palestinian feminist journalist who writes for the Ramallah-based newspaper Al-Ayyam, chronicling what she calls “the corruption of Fatah and ...

. The site also conducts interviews with newsmakers, including former Deputy Secretary of State William Joseph Burns; former Director of Policy Planning for the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

Anne-Marie Slaughter; former U.S. Senator

Chuck Hagel Charles Timothy Hagel ( born October 4, 1946)Mustafa Barghouti, one-time candidate for Palestinian Authority president.

Awards

In 2014, the International Press Institute awarded Al-Monitor its

Free Media Pioneer Award International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia University ...

, stating that Al-Monitor's "unrivalled reporting and analysis exemplify the invaluable role that innovative and vigorously independent media can play in times of change and upheaval". In 2017, the Online News Association awarded Al-Monitor an

Online Journalism Award The Online News Association (ONA), founded in 1999, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Washington D.C., United States. It is the world's largest association of digital journalists, with more than 2,000 members. The majority of O ...

for Best Explanatory Reporting for the series: "Middle East Lobbying: The Influence Game". The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing awarded Al-Monitor a Best in Business Award for its Middle East lobbying newsletter in 2019.

Reception

In January 2013, Ian Burrell of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' called Al-Monitor "an ambitious website that pulls together the commentary of distinguished writers from across the region." In 2012, former ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' foreign affairs blogger Max Fisher called Al-Monitor "an invaluable Web-only publication following the Middle East." ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' has referred to Al-Monitor as "increasingly a daily must-read for insightful commentary on the Middle East," and ''

'' recommended Al-Monitor's Egypt and Iran coverage in its What to Read section.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Monitor 2012 establishments in Washington, D.C. Publications established in 2012 American news websites Mass media in the Middle East