The Press in the Arab Middle East Studies in Middle Eastern History Bernard Lewis, Itamar Rabinovich, and Roger Savory GENERAL EDITORS THE TURBAN FOR THE CROWN/ The Mamie Revolution in Irani Said Amir Arjomand THE PRESS IN THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST:/A History/Ami Ayalon LANGUAGE AND CHANGE IN THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST/The Evolution of Modern Arabic Political Discourse/Ami Ayalon IRAN'S FIRST REVOLUTION:/Shi'ism and the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1909/Mangol Bayat ISLAMIC REFORM/Politics and Social Changes in Late Ottoman Syria/ David Dean Commins KING HUSSEIN AND THE CHALLENGE OF ARAB RADICALISM/ Jordan, 1955-1967/Uriel Dann EGYPT, ISLAM, AND THE ARABS/Tfe Search for Egyptian Nationhood, 1900-1930/Israel Gershoni and James Jankowski EAST ENCOUNTERS WEST/France and the Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth Century/Fatma. Muge Gocek T NASSER'S "BLESSED MOVEMENT/Egypt's Free Officers and the July Revolution/ Joel Gordon THE YOUNG TURKS IN OPPOSITION/M Sukru Hanioglu THE FERTILE CRESCENT, 1800-1914/A Documentary Economic History/ Edited by Charles Issawi THE MAKING OF SAUDI ARABIA, 1916-1936/Fram Chieftaincy to Monarchical State/Joseph Kostiner THE IMPERIAL HAREM/ Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire/ Leslie Peirce ESTRANGED BEDFELLOWSA/Britan and France in the Middle East during the Second World War/Aviel Roshwald FROM ABDULLAH TO HUSSEIN/Jordan in Transition/Robert E. Satloff OTHER VOLUMES ARE IN PREPARATION The Press in the Arab Middle East A History AMI AYALON In cooperation with THE MOSHE DAYAN CENTER FOR MIDDLE EASTERN AND AFRICAN STUDIES New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1995 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay Calcutta Gape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1995 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ayalon, Ami. The press in the Arab Middle East : a history / Ami Ayalon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-508780-1 1. Press — Arab countries — History. I. Title. PN5359.A93 1995 O79'.17'4927-dc20 94-9482 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For my mother, Sara and to the memory of my father, Moshe This page intentionally left blank Contents Abbreviations, ix Introduction, 3 I HISTORICAL PHASES 1. State Bulletins: Pronouncing the Official Truth, 11 "Egyptian Events, "13 The Official Ottoman Press, 20 2. Enthusiastic Beginnings: The Private Press, 1855-1882, 28 The Private Press in Lebanon, 31 Egypt: The Focus Moves West, 39 Europe, the Convenient Refuge, 46 3. The Private Press, 1882-1918, 50 Egypt, the Capital of Arab Journalism, 51 The Fertile Crescent and the Hejaz: Beginnings, 62 Wartime Exigencies, 69 4. The Arab States and the Press, 1918-1945, 73 Egypt, 75 Syria and Lebanon, 82 Iraq, 91 Palestine, 95 The Journalistic Periphery: Transjordan and the Arabian Peninsula, 101 The End of an Era, 104 viii CONTENTS II ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT 5. Press, State, and the Question of Freedom, 109 State and Press: The Stick and the Carrot, 110 Journalists and Freedom, 126 6. The Reader, 138 Cultural Determinants, 138 Circulation, 145 Popular Exposure to the Press, 154 Press and Readership, 159 7. Cultural Legacy and the Challenge of the Press, 166 Printing and the Guardians of Old Values, 166 Newspapers and Traditional Literary Norms, 173 The Vocabulary of the Press, 182 8. The Economic Angle: The Press as Merchandise and as Enterprise, 190 The Press as Merchandise, 190 The Press as Enterprise: Starting Up, 195 Sources of Income: Advertising, 202 Sources of Income: Circulation, 206 Sources of Income: Subsidization, 211 9. The Craft of the Arab Journalist, 215 Lure and Frustration, 216 Toward Professionalism, 223 Kurd 'Ali, Yusuf, Musa, Istanbuli, 230 Conclusion, 24-3 Notes, 247 References, 275 Index, 289 Abbreviations BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies EI2 Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition IJMES International Journal of Middle East Studies JA Journal Asiatique JO_ Journalism Quarterly MEJ Middle East Journal MES Middle Eastern Studies MW Muslim World RMM Revue du Monde Musulman WI Die Welt des Islams