Arab press feels the strains of economic crisis

A Kuwaiti daily was the latest casualty of the financial crisis that has decimated profits in the newspaper industry worldwide as it was forced to shut down operations Monday even as a Lebanese daily shuttered for outstanding debts two weeks ago managed to resurrect itself.

The Arabic daily Assawt announced it had published its last edition Monday because of the economic downturn just months after it began. The publisher Investment Dar cited the closure as part of its cost-cutting strategy, though a spokesperson said it may relaunch later in a different format.

In a front-page announcement Monday Assawt editor-in-chief Yussef al-Sumait said the paper, which launched in October, was forced to close because "it was a victim of the financial crisis that has battered the local economy." It went on to say he hoped Assawt would be the first and the last victim of the crisis and would seek to publish again.

Just two weeks ago Lebanon’s only English newspaper, the Daily Star, was abruptly forced to shutdown because of unpaid debts, but managed to resume publishing Monday after reaching a negotiated settlement with Standard Chartered Bank, the paper reported on its website.

"Like many other businesses around the world, we expect to face considerable obstacles as the effects of the global financial crisis spread out across several economic sectors," said the statement, noting that advertising revenues were down, especially because of the English daily's efforts "to avoid servitude to either local or foreign political forces."

The details of the settlement were not made public and it was not clear how the paper managed to settle a reported $700,000 debt.

“I think the newspapers in the Arab world are facing a serious crisis, circulation is going down badly, you don't have many people reading newspapers, and limited advertising,” explained Dr. Nabil Dajani, professor of communication at the American University of Beirut, in an interview with AlArabiya.net.

The Arab press is following the general trend worldwide of declining subscription rates and decreased advertising revenue, he said, noting that even established American newspapers like the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times have had to move entirely online or adopt new revenue models.

But the financial models of newspaper publishing in the Arab world also differ from their Western counterparts, with a sclerotic advertising industry, low subscription rates and political financing, according to experts.

Although Dajani said that he forsees newspaper moving online like their Western counterparts, the lack of computers and internet access poses an especially high barrier to making online news delivery a viable option for the general public.

Furthermore, in most Arab countries, from Lebanon to Morocco to Egypt, newspapers depend on political subsidies, and few are profitable.

The Kuwaiti government approved Monday a stimulus package worth billions of dollars to bail out the emirate's financial system, including troubled investment firms like Dar, one of the leading Islamic investment firms in the oil-rich emirate, which has been seeking government aid to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

I think the newspapers in the Arab world are facing a serious crisis, circulation is going down badly, you don't have many people reading newspapers, and limited advertising,

Dr. Nabil Dajani, professor of communication at the American University of Beirut