Tag Archives | assafir

Assafir Newspaper Printed Its Final Issue

2016 is over and so is unfortunately the paper print of Assafir daily. The last issue was printed on the last day of 2016 with an editorial titled “The nation without Assafir”.

It was originally planned for the newspaper to stop operating in March 2016 due to financial difficulties but it continued publishing for a few more months after getting some support. Talal Salman, its Chief Editor, blamed the closure on the crisis currently affecting all media outlets (falling sales and decrease in advertising), but in fact I believe it is their failure to adapt to changing times that should be blamed.

Advertisers are currently spending more on digital channels, and Chief Editors can no longer expect their newspapers to survive unless they accept to adapt and provide good content through their websites, social media, apps and even blogs.

I personally used to follow some of Assafir’s editors and will definitely miss reading their articles, so I really hope they keep publishing on some online platform.

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It’s Official: Assafir Will Stop Publishing

Several people from Assafir confirmed the rumors we all heard last week about a possible closure of the newspaper. Sanaa Khoury, a journalist in Assafir, was among the firsts who announced it on twitter.

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Assafir has been in print for 42 years now and was among the leading newspapers in Lebanon, so it’s definitely odd to see it closing down with its employees getting laid off. But then again, it’s only logical for the publishers to halt their operations if there’s not enough revenue.

Throughout my teenage years I got used to reading Annahar as it was my parents favorite, but that was up till 2005 when Gebran Tueini was assasinated and they then switched to buying Assafir. And although I personally enjoy flipping through the physical copy, I never felt the need to subscribe to a newspaper when I got married and moved out in 2011, mainly because I was staying up to date with news through the available news websites and feed readers.

This actually brings me to a related news on ministers Sejaan Azzi and Ramzi Jreige calling for support to media outlets suffering from financial difficulties. Times are changing, and any support a newspaper will be getting is going to be temporary in my opinion if people simply don’t feel like buying a physical copy anymore, just like stone tablets were abandoned for documentation hundreds of years ago. Moreover, the closure of a newspaper will not affect the culture in Lebanon if journalists kept expressing their opinions online because it’s the content that matter and not the medium. Publishers should simply adapt to the changing news consumption habits and act accordingly, and if the government feels like being nice then it should probably consider helping the laid off employees.

Photo via Al Arabiya

Update:

It was reported today that Assafir got some financial support and will keep publishing at least for the next few months. A press conference will be held by the management on Wednesday to talk about the issue with the public.

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VIPs got food poisoning

I was going through Assafir newspaper last night when I stumbled upon this piece of news

Some VIP’s got food poisoning during an event they were attending at one of the famous hotels in Lebanon. I wonder which one is it… after all we might have to congratulate their chef for the good job he did if these people turned to be politicians! (In addition to avoid going there)

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MoT to announce charges reduction this week

The news below is from Assafir newspaper of Friday June 10 2011.

تخفيضات جديدة الأسبوع المقبل
«الاتصالات»: 3 ملايين مشترك في الخلوي

أعلنت وزارة الاتصالات ان نسبة الاختراق في الهاتف الخلوي بلغت حتى تاريخه 75 في المئة من مجمل المقيمين في لبنان، بارتفاع بلغ 30 في المئة (نحو 700 الف مشترك جديد) منذ نهاية العام 2009.
واشارت الى ان مجمل عدد المشتركين تجاوز عتبة الـ 3 ملايين بفعل الاجراءات التي اتخذتها الوزارة، لجهة توسعة الشبكات وخفض التعرفات، اضافة الى تقديم عروض جديدة، ومنها ما سيجري إطلاقها الاسبوع المقبل وتتضمن تخفيضات اضافية تتراوح بين 25 و50 في المئة على الكلفة الفعلية التي يتكبدها المواطنون.
من جهة اخرى، استقبل وزير الاتصالات د. شربل نحاس، في مكتبه امس، رئيس مجلس ادارة شركة ألفا مروان الحايك لمناسبة حصوله على جائزة رجل العام 2011 للاتصالات في العالم العربي.
وقال الحايك: إن هذه الجائزة ثمرة الجهود المبذولة بين وزارة الاتصالات وشركة «ألفا»، والتي أدّت الى احداث نقلة نوعية في قطاع الخلوي، تمثلت في اطلاق عروض جديدة وزيادة نسبة الاختراق وخفوض في التعرفات، والاهم بدء العمل الفعلي لادخال خدمات الجيل الثالث والمتوقع ان يتلمسها المستخدمون منتصف هذا الصيف.

Seems like the ministry of telecommunications is promising 25-50% price reductions on some mobile services this week. Let’s wait and see, and while waiting let’s just hope this won’t require some further approvals from any other party!

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