The 10 oldest newspapers in the Gulf –
1. AL FALAH
Founded: 1920
The oldest newspaper in the GCC, Al Falah (The Peasant) appeared in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
2. UM AL QURA
Founded: 1923
Al Falah was followed by Um al Qura (The Mother of Villages – one of Mecca’s names in Arabic), which was the official newspaper of the newly founded Saudi Kingdom.
3. AL BILAD
Founded: 1932
The paper began publication in April 1932 under the name Voice of Hijaz before changing its name to Al Bilad (The Country), 28 years later. It has been struggling to stay afloat in recent times.
5. BAHRAIN
Founded: 1936/1938
Bahrain, a weekly, was the Kingdom’s first newspaper and carried news articles from Arabic speaking broadcasting services such as the BBC. The newspaper published its last issue on May 15, 1994.
6. AL MADINA
Founded: 1936/1937
Started as a weekly by the Hafiz brothers, the pro-government newspaper was later converted into a daily and continues to be published from its headquarters, now in Jeddah.
7. AL NADWA
Founded: 1958
The Mecca-based newspaper, considered religiously conservative, was reportedly forced to shut down operations in February this year because of unpaid financial dues.
8. OKAZ
Founded: 1960
Based in the city of Hijaz, Okaz was originally a cultural weekly, but is now printed daily in Riyadh and Jeddah and distributed across the Kingdom. The New Yorker has described the paper as an Arabic version of the New York Post.
9. KUWAIT TIMES
Founded: 1961
The oldest English-language newspaper in the Gulf, Kuwait Times was founded by Yousuf Saleh Alyan. The 40-page broadsheet also publishes special pages in Urdu, Malayalam and Tagalog to cater to the country’s expatriate community.
10. AL JAZIRAH
Founded: 1962/1963
A pro-government daily, Al-Jazirah is known for its daily supplements, and claims to be the first newspaper in the Kingdom (SA) to launch a website in 1996.
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