Elaph (; ''Solidarity'')
is the first daily Arabic independent online newspaper and is not associated with any established print or broadcast medium.
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History and profile
''Elaph'' was launched by Elaph Publishing in London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 2001. The reason for choosing London as its headquarters was to be free from the censorship rules of Saudi Arabia and also, offer liberal viewpoints, particularly in opposition to religious radicalism. The goal of ''Elaph'' is stated as to offer a mix of print, audio and visual material to its readers. The paper claims that it does not target Saudi Arabian readers, but all Arabs.
The owner of the news portal is Saudi businessman, journalist and author Othman Al Omeir
Othman Al Omeir (; born 1950) is a Saudi Arabia, Saudi-born British businessman, journalist and editor. He is considered to be close to several Saudi rulers, including the incumbent Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, King Salman and former rulers Kin ...
, who is the former editor of the London-based weekly '' The Majalla'' and Arabic-language daily '' Al Sharq Al Awsat''. After the ban of ''Elaph'' in Saudi Arabia in May 2006, it was registered in the United Kingdom.[
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Staff and management
The founder and editor-in-chief of ''Elaph'' is Othman Al Omeir. Emile Isaac is the managing director and Samar Abdul Malak is the deputy editor-in-chief of ''Elaph''. The news portal has journalists in Saudi Arabia, UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...
, Qatar
Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
, Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
, Bahrain
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
, Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
, Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
, Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
, Yemen
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
, Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
, Algeria
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
and Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
.[ , the portal employed 90 journalists worldwide.]
''Elaph'' is managed by Integrated Intelligent Solutions (IN2SOL), a Middle East provider of IT services.[ In June 2014 ''Elaph'' reported that it would use unmanned aerial drones to cover and delivers news.
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Content
The ''Elaph'' news portal offers the readers instant news from all around the world, making it a strong competitor to Arab and international news agencies.[ Additionally, it involves pages on politics, business, culture, health, sports, music, cinema, fashion, features, reports, newspapers, technology, writers, opinions, and special news.][ Elaph.com also provides video news and tries to provide an interactive platform for its readers.][ For instance, in January 2009, its readers were asked to send farewell letters to then US President ]George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
.
In September 2011, ''Elaph'' reported that the Saudi Ambassador to Cairo
Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
, Ahmad Abdelaziz Kattan, survived an attempted assassination by poison, allegedly organized by Iran. It further claimed that since the Saudi diplomats, including Adel Al Jubeir, were all close to Prince Bandar who was known to be a strong opponent of Iranian influence in the Middle East, they were likely to experience such events. The e-newspaper also reported a comment of a Salafist Sheikh in Egypt, Sheik Abu Ishaq al Heweny in December 2011 who said that "a woman's face is like a vagina so that it should be covered with a veil".
Traffic and influence
In 2003, it was reported that ''Elaph'' gained a wide audience among liberal and democratic writers. It was much more popular than on-line versions of the leading printed newspapers such as '' Al Hayat'' in 2004.[ The newsportal became the most popular internet site, ahead even the website of ]Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...
, in Saudi Arabia in 2005. Then, it enjoyed popularity in other countries as seen in the following figures of 2009: Egypt (11.4%), Saudi Arabia (8.3%), the United States (8.0%), Iraq (6.8%), the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
(6.4%), Libya (5.0%), Kuwait (4.9%), Algeria (4.8%), Lebanon (4.6%) and Qatar (4.0%). The other countries where ''Elaph'' is read include Germany, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, France, Finland and Switzerland. On 5 November 2008, the day following the US presidential elections, ''Elaph'' reached an all-time record high of 18 million hits.[ As a result of its popularity and international readership, Elaph.com became one of the leading news portals in the Arab world.
The website was officially audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).][ Its traffic was certified in May 2010 which produced ABC's certificate of 1,179,801 users] and 8,565,601 page impressions. Furthermore, based on data from August 2010, the website had 1.3 million global users per month.[ ''Elaph'' was the tenth most visited website in the Arab world in 2012.
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Bans
''Elaph'' was blocked in Saudi Arabia in May 2006.[ The block for which no official reason had been stated was lifted in 2009.] However, after publishing the leaked cables in an article with the title of "Gulf after WikiLeaks storm, Riyadh Speaks while all are silent", the site was again blocked in Saudi Arabia on 6 December 2010. It is clear that the site, along with the other news portal '' Al Quds Al Arabi'', has been continuously blocked and unblocked in Saudi Arabia.
It was also blocked in Yemen in 2004 for a period of time based on the claim that it posted "sexual material". However, it was argued by '' Yemen Observer'' that the real reason for the block was reports of ''Elaph'' containing personal criticism of then Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh and his elder son Ahmed. Libya and Syria also blocked ''Elaph'' before 2006.[
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Expansion
It was announced in May 2011 that the website would be expanded by launching more comprehensive multi-media services, called Elaph Multi-Media MM in 2012. The CEO of EMM is reported to be current managing director of ''Elaph'', Nicholas Claxton. ''Elaph'' also partnered with Ultra Knowledge as its technology partner and innovator of the Newswall in May 2012.[
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Awards
''Elaph'' was awarded the Artistic Creativity Award in 2007, a prize offered by Arab Thought Foundation.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Elaph
2001 establishments in the United Kingdom
Arabic-language newspapers
Arabic-language websites
Censorship in Saudi Arabia
European news websites
Newspapers established in 2001
Saudi Arabian news websites
Newspapers published in London