Al Qabas

Al-Qabas was launched on 22 February 1972.{{cite journal|author=Kjetil Selvik|title=Elite Rivalry in a Semi-Democracy: The Kuwaiti Press Scene|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|date=2011|volume=47|issue=3|pages=477–496|doi=10.1080/00263206.2011.565143|s2cid=154057034}}{{cite book|author1=Haya Al Mughni|author2=Mary Ann Tétreault|editor=Naomi Sakr|title=Women and Media in the Middle East Power through Self-Expression|date=2004

|publisher=I.B.Tauris|location=London|page=122

|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9780755604838.ch-008|doi=10.5040/9780755604838.ch-008|chapter=Engagement in the Public Sphere: Women and the Press in Kuwait|isbn=978-1-85043-545-7 }} The founding shareholders of Al Qabas, according to the founding contract as printed in the official gazette Kuwait Al-Yawm are Kuwaiti merchant families Al-Nusif, Al-Kharafi, Al-Bahar, Al-Shaya, and Al-Saqer.{{cite news|title=Kuwait daily urges end to royal infighting|url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/39319/World/Region/Kuwait-daily-urges-end-to-royal-infighting.aspx|accessdate=22 September 2013|work=Ahram Online|date=15 April 2012|agency=AFP}}{{Cite web|title=Dar Al-Qabas Press Printing, Publishing and Distribution Company, Kuwait|url=https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/company/Dar_AlQabas_Press_Printing_Publishing_and_Distribution_Company-465438/|access-date=17 October 2020|work=Al Zawya}} The paper is headquartered in Kuwait City.{{cite web|title=Sources|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/sources/alqabas#|work=Al Monitor|accessdate=10 October 2014}}

Al-Qabas' in early days were characterized by Mohammed Al-Sager, who had been its dynamic editor-in-chief since 1982 until his election in the Kuwait National Assembly in 1999. With his experience in international finance, Al-Sager had set up an international edition that was published in Paris, London and Marseilles (for the North African market). The paper had maintained the most extensive foreign correspondent staff of any Kuwaiti newspaper with large bureaus in Washington, London, Beirut, Cairo, and Moscow.

After the liberation of Kuwait, Al Qabas discontinued its international editions.{{cite news|author=Sheila Rule|title=A Kuwaiti Newspaper Reopens in London|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/23/arts/a-kuwaiti-newspaper-reopens-in-london.html|accessdate=9 October 2014|work=The New York Times|date=23 August 1990}} During the invasion it moved to London and was first published there on 2 August 1990.

Al Qabas had a weekly supplement on environmental issues, which can be translated into English as Our Environment is Our Life.{{cite web|author=Najib Saab |title=The Environment in Arab Media|url=http://www.afedonline.org/afedreport/english/book14.pdf |work=Arab Forum for Environment and Development|accessdate=7 October 2014|format=Report|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010170621/http://www.afedonline.org/afedreport/english/book14.pdf |archivedate=10 October 2014}}

The daily had a circulation of 120,000 copies before the invasion of Kuwait in 1991. Its 2001 circulation was 79,000 copies and the paper was the third best selling newspaper in Kuwait.{{cite web|title=Kuwait|url=http://www.pressreference.com/Gu-Ku/Kuwait.html|work=Press Reference|accessdate=10 September 2014}}{{cite web|title=World Press Trends|url=http://www.wan-press.org/ecrire/upload/wpt2004.pdf|work=World Association of Newspapers|accessdate=8 February 2015|location=Paris|date=2004}} The paper also began its online edition which had 30,000 weekly hits in 2001.

Al Qabas had a critical approach to government of Kuwait{{cite web|title=Kuwait |url=http://www.arabpressnetwork.org/newspaysv2.php?id=105 |work=The Arab Press network |accessdate=18 September 2013 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808043005/http://www.arabpressnetwork.org/newspaysv2.php?id=105 |archivedate=8 August 2013}} and is a liberal publication. In April 2012, it published an editorial calling for ending the struggle within the ruling family of Kuwait, Al Sabah.

The paper's editor, Mohammed Al-Sager, is a winner of the International Press Freedom Award of the Committee to Protect Journalists "for courageous reporting on political and human rights issues in the face of government threats of censorship and prosecution".{{cite web|url=http://www.cpj.org/news/1998/kuwait25june98.html|title=CPJ Deplores Sentencing of Two Journalists by Kuwait|date=25 July 1998|work=Committee to Protect Journalists|accessdate=28 May 2011|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110603081839/http://www.cpj.org/news/1998/kuwait25june98.html|archivedate=3 June 2011 |url-status=live}}

The other significant editors of the daily include Abdullatif Al-Duaij and Ahmad Bishara. The Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali worked for the paper in the 1980s and he was killed in 1987 while working for the London edition of the daily.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/22/newsid_2516000/2516089.stm On this day 1987: Cartoonist shot in London street] BBC 22 July 2010.

Respected Arab figures also contributed to the daily, including Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz and Egyptian philosopher Fauad Zakara.

In 2019, Al Qabas launched a premium digital subscription service, producing video content for subscribers. Its flagship show, The Black Box featured 32 interviews with controversial former Kuwaiti MP and academic Abdullah Al-Nafisi. Subsequent seasons featured extensive interviews with former Guantanamo detention camp detainee Faiz Al Kandari.{{Cite web|date=7 September 2019|title=العرض الأول من "الصندوق الأسود".. عبر "القبس بريميوم"|url=https://alqabas.com/article/5705250-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%B6-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A8%D8%B3-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85|access-date=17 October 2020|work=Al Qabas|language=ar}}

{{Reflist|33em}}

• {{Official website|https://www.alqabas.com/}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Newspapers in Kuwait}}

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Category:1972 establishments in Kuwait

Category:Arabic-language newspapers

Category:Newspapers established in 1972

Category:Newspapers published in Kuwait

Category:Mass media in Kuwait City