Arab Times is the largest Arab-American newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

, published in the US since 1986 http://www.araboo.com/site/arab-arabtimes-10050.

Background

The Arab Times newspaper was founded by Dr. Osama Fawzi in Houston, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and first published in print form in 1986. In its present form, the newspaper is published by Arab Times Co.

In 1997, Arab Times launched an online site that complements its print version of the newspaper at http://www.arabtimes.com. An English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 version appeared later.

Focus

The Arab Times focuses on political personalities and events in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. The newspaper mainly concentrates on ruling elites, their power struggles and antics in both the Arab world and the Western world. In addition to political news in the Middle East, the publication also covers issues and events that affect the Arabic population in Europe and the United States.

Reach

Arab Times print version is published in Houston, Texas, and is distributed to at least 35 other states in the US. The newspaper is distributed around the world in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The online version is available to subscribers in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Middle East http://yahoo.domaintools.com/arabtimes.com.

Through its website, the newspaper offers to send the printed edition to any reader worldwide for an additional fee. Both the print and online versions of Arab Times are written mainly in the Arabic language. However, the online version has a small English language section.

Arab Times web version can be freely accessed worldwide. However, it is worth noting that most Arab governments block access to its website. Therefore, readers from those countries usually use special web proxies to bypass governmental block of the website. The newspaper is known to experience constant problems with Middle Eastern governments; a well-known case of this lies in the story of Jordan's first female Member of Parliament, Toujan al-Faisal

Toujan al-Faisal

Toujan al-Faisal is a human rights activist and a former TV journalist, who was Jordan's first female Member of Parliament. She is a Circassian.-Alleged apostasy:...

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020318/2002031819.html.

Arab Times newspaper claims to be the only newspaper banned from distribution in all Arab countries.

Criticism

In 1994, a Virginia jury awarded Shameem Noel Rassam, a former radio and television personality from Iraq, compensatory punitive damages for allegedly libelous statements made against her by Arab Times. The damages totalled $159,000 ($3,000 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages for each of three charges). Representing himself, the Editor-in-Chief and owner of Arab Times filed a brief before the United States Court of Appeals

United States court of appeals

The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...

 for the Fourth Circuit appealing against the jury verdict. In a 1996 per curiam opinion, and without hearing oral argument, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals panel found insufficient evidence to support any damages for two of the three charges, thereby reversing $106,000 of the damages http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/931960.U.pdf.

Website policy

The newspaper only publishes a small amount of its print articles on its website. The website has a number of freelance articles contributed by readers and journalists alike, in addition to editorials by the newspaper editors.

Much of the material published on the newspaper's website is representative of the writers' opinions and not the editorial staff of the Arab Times editorial team. However, the newspaper states on the site that they agree to take responsibility for publishing those articles. The newspaper's website is not meant to be a substitute for the print version, but a complement to it.

External links

• Arab Times website