Al-Akhbar

Established by journalist Joseph Samaha (1949-2007), Al-Akhbar first issue was published on August 14, 2006 by the media company Akhbar Beirut, after acquiring the license for a newspaper also named Al-Akhbar that was founded in 1953. A pro-Hezbollah and pro-Syrian regime daily, it generally opposes Saudi Arabia, the United States, the Future Movement, and the March 14 Alliance. Its Editor-in-Chief is Ibrahim al-Amine, also the founder and Chairman of Akhbar Beirut.

In December 2010, Al-Akhbar received and published an advanced copy of the US State Department cables by WikiLeaks, after which the newspaper’s website was hacked and then shut down briefly. In 2011, the newspaper launched the English-language website Al-Akhbar English, which was closed in March 2015 due to lack of funds.

On May 14, 2014, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague initiated the trial of Al-Akhbar and Ibrahim al-Amine on charges of contempt of the court and obstruction of justice after it published two articles pretending to reveal confidential information on protected witnesses. In August 2016, the Special Tribunal issued its verdict and ruled that al-Amine be fined 20,000 Euros (eventually paid in October 2018) and that Akhbar Beirut be fined 6,000 Euros.

Key facts

Audience Share

7.8%

Ownership Type

Private

Geographic Coverage

National

Content Type

Paid

Data Publicly Available

ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.

2 ♥

Media Companies / Groups

Akhbar Beirut SAL

Ownership

Ownership Structure

Ibrahim Al-Amine owns 36.4% of Akhbar Beirut SAL directly and 7.4% through his ownership of 59.7% of Akhbar Beirut Holding. Youssef Wehbi owns a total of 34.8%; 29.9% directly and 5% through his ownership of 40% of Akhbar Beirut Holding. The Sun Press SAL owns 18.8 % of the shares of the Akhbar Beirut SAL. It is owned by MP Moustafa El Husseini (66.6%), and his son Firas (16.6%), and daughter Dima (16.6%).