Al-Ahram

Al-Ahram
الأهرام
Typical Al-Ahram front page
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Egyptian Government
Founder(s)Beshara Takla
Saleem Takla
PublisherAl-Ahram Publishing House
EditorMohamed Abdelhady Allam
Founded5 August 1876; 148 years ago (1876-08-05)
Political alignmentUncertain (2011–present)
National Democratic Party (1978–2011)
LanguageArabic, English
HeadquartersBoulaq, Cairo, Egypt
CountryEgypt
Circulation1,000,000 daily
1,200,000 Fridays[1]
WebsiteArabic: gate.ahram.org.eg
English: english.ahram.org.eg
Français: hebdo.ahram.org.eg

Al-Ahram (Arabic: الأهرام; lit.'The Pyramids'), founded on 5 August 1876, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya (The Egyptian Events, founded 1828).[2] It is majority owned by the Egyptian government, and is considered a newspaper of record for Egypt.[3]

Given the many varieties of Arabic language, Al-Ahram is widely considered an influential source of writing style in Arabic. In 1950, the Middle East Institute described Al-Ahram as being to the Arabic-reading public within its area of distribution, "What The Times is to Englishmen and The New York Times to Americans";[4] however, it has often been accused of heavy influence and censorship by the Egyptian government.

In addition to the main edition published in Egypt, the paper publishes two other Arabic-language editions, one geared to the Arab world and the other aimed at an international audience, as well as editions in English and French.

  1. ^ Drost, 1991: 139–140.
  2. ^ "Publication overview" (PDF). Ipsos. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  3. ^ "Al Ahram". Media Ownership Monitor.
  4. ^ Middle East Institute, 1950, p. 155.