In a 6 Feb. New York Times’ article about the major players in Arab media, the writer made sure to mention Jordan’s al- Ghad newspaper along with giant dailies like al-Hayat, al-Ahram and al-Sharq al-Awsat.
This is how the New York Times described the paper:
Al Ghad: This new, independent newspaper is making waves in Jordan, taking on the established government-owned papers. Al Ghad is trying to cater to Jordan’s young elite by writing about controversial issues – like education and democratic reform – of interest to Arab baby boomers. The paper strives for a balanced editorial page. For instance, it has published letters from the Israeli ambassador to Jordan, something other Arab newspapers are very rarely willing to do.
Frankly, I have not really been following al-Ghad lately, but now after reading this I think I should. A while back I reviewed the very first issue of the paper but I’m not sure how the paper has been developing since. Any al-Ghad followers out there? Is it really catering to “Jordan’s young elite” as the Times’ article claims?
Well, we had had been a subscriber with Al-Ghad since day one. Basically, it did not really go beyond any lines that other dailies in Jordan stick to. They bring issues up every now and then, and other dailies do that as well. What is good about it is that they attracted some really good writers, some of the established names in the field in Jordan. Another thing is that they pay good attention to cultural and art events in Amman, for instance I read 3 different reviews about Musabah Bel Woudouh that you mentioned earlier, which made me really want to see it.
As Roba said, good paper/color quality is a great extra, as almost all pages are colored (except for Wafayat pages 🙂 ).. I think although many were disapointed when it first started, as they expected a completly different newspaper, it is turning and maturing to be something good.
Dr. Fanek and Dr. Malhas (no bias here) both publish controversial articles in Al Rai, but I’m sure we get a ‘light’ version of the originals.
As for Al Ghad, I was very impressed with the paper as a whole, a much needed infusion into the daily news scene in lieu of the barrage of cookie cutter news we get in Amman.
Yes.. Al Ghad are doing a very good job in the Jordanian context. They really have pushed Jordanian journalism forward. They see to have given a chance to a lot of young blood. This of course comes with some disadvatages: sometimes once feels that the some of the writers have too hot heads. Like a caption under a picture of apparently happy children during Eid, taken in a lower income area in Amman. The writer decided that although the kids look happy in the picture he had to write a caption that went something like “deprived childhood” or something.
The paper is quite balalnce and sometimes I feel it is actually a bit too tilted to the anti-US, anti-liberlization, anti..etc.. side.
So one still has to read Fahd Al Fanek in Al Rai to get a balanced view of things 🙂
By the way, the paper’s publisher, Mohammad Elayan, is around 30 and he has been selected yesterday as a member of a a new Royal committe of quite impressive names charged with setting the guidelines for the development process in Jordan during the coming decade.
I am also Al Ghad fan, beside the quality and the taste in presenting the news, they do try to tackle contravesial issues, their way is liberal in a conservative way.. Which i suppose is smart. I also like the variety, one of my young friends says it is like ” min kuli bustan zahra” from every garden a flower… which i find very true. I think maybe they should lose the conservative outfit, but they will do with time. Although i find Al Rai politicial analysisstronger than AlGhad.
I have stopped reading Al-Rai a while ago. If I respect Al-Ghad for one thing, it is the way they present the news: We still live in a country where the king’s news should be on the first line of the first page but that does not mean the irrelevant-at-many-times piece of news should be emphasized with big pictures and pompous use of adjectives. In Al-Ghad I get the most important news by reading their homepage most of the time. The tone of it is much different that Al-Rai or Al-Dustour, you can feel it is more critical of the things that need to be criticized. Just a quick example:
Al Rai (3rd or 4th headline online): مجلس النواب يقر موازنة الدولة بأغلبية 82 صوتاً من أصل 106
AL Ghad (opposite to the top headline, so in essence the first): النواب اوسعوا الحكومة نقدا وأيدوا بالموازنة
Not to mention Al Rai’s website crashes with Firefox 1.0.
Linda, you should do an exchange student program here if you’re interested in learning Arabic 🙂 They have a program at Jordan University for American university students, and my cousin Paul is taking it at the moment and he seems to be learning. I think you’ll like it.
Hm, we’re one of the families who only get Al-Ghad, but mostly because they’re printing quality is excellent and because they provide very interesting insight into life in Jordan(about artists, entreprenuers, etc), other than that, everything else they have is like the rest of the Jordanian newspapers. I don’t know… I certainly wouldn’t describe it as “controversial”.
Yup Yup. Unfortunately they dont teach it on my campus. But i plan to look for classes at UCLA after i get my masters this semester. And i dont want to learn the street language, i want to learn the fisha.
Linda, since you speak Arabic, it will be very easy for you to learn how to read it. I encourage you to start taking classes soon as I’m sure you will pick it up very quickly. And as a journalist, knowing Arabic is always a plus.
Boy am I ticked off, gosh darn it. If they really wanted to cater to the young arabs why dont they have the site in english too. now i cant make any analytical comments because i cant read arabic.