Al Bayrak
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''Al Bayrak'' () was a daily newspaper published in Beirut, Lebanon. It was one of the leading and oldest Arabic papers in the country. After being published for a century, the paper ceased publication in August 2011.


History

''Al Bayrak'' was founded in 1911. Its founder was the Lebanese poet Said Akl. The publisher was the Dar Alf Leila Wa Leila publishing house, which owned a number of daily and weekly publications in Lebanon and in Europe, including '' Al Hawadeth'', '' Monday Morning'' and '' La Revue du Liban''. The company was headed by Melhem Karam. In the 1990s Melhem Karam was the editor and Said Nassereddine the
editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...
of the daily. Then Karam who was also the president of Lebanese Journalists Association served as the editor-in-chief. The daily folded in August 2011 due to financial problems.


Influence and political orientation

In 2009, the IREX, an international research board, cited the daily as one of the major eleven papers published in Lebanon. In the initial phase of the
Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...
in 1975, it had a pro-government stance. In the early 1980s the western media described the daily as conservative. It was one of the newspapers which advocated the
March 14 alliance The March 14 Alliance (), named after the date of the Cedar Revolution, was a coalition of political party, political parties and independents in Lebanon formed in 2005 that were united by their anti-Ba'athist Syria, Assad stance and by their opp ...
in 2009.


Content

In 1999, ''Al Bayrak'' published an interview with Robert Hatem, who was the author of ''From Israel to Damascus'' banned in Lebanon. Due to the publication of the interview the Beirut Appeals Court prosecuted Melhem Karam and Said Nassereddine, who were editor and editor-in-chief of the paper, respectively. Following the assassination of Lebanese journalist and lawmaker Gebran Tueni in December 2005, the headline of the daily was "Enough...".


Bans and attacks

The daily was banned by Michel Aoun, then interim prime minister and army commander, on 19 January 1990 due to its clash with Aoun's policies. In the immediate aftermath of the ban a reporter working for the daily, George Hajj, was abducted in Beirut and was freed eight hours later. Aoun was accused of the abduction.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayrak 21st century in Beirut 20th century in Beirut 1911 establishments in Ottoman Syria 2011 disestablishments in Lebanon Daily newspapers published in Lebanon Defunct Arabic-language newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Lebanon Newspapers established in 1911 Newspapers published in Beirut Newspapers disestablished in 2011