Arab News Newspaper

Arab News Newspaper is one of the newspapers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the first daily newspaper published in English. It is issued from Jeddah Governorate, with the first issue published on April 20, 1975, in tabloid size by the Saudi Research and Publishing Company (currently the Saudi Research and Media Group).

The idea for the newspaper was initiated by Hisham Ali Hafiz and his brother Mohammed, who recognized the importance of establishing an English-language newspaper targeting expatriates in the Arab region and around the world. Their concept was then conveyed to King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud through Kamal Adham, who was the head of the Office of External Communications. Following this, royal approval was granted for its establishment.

The establishment of Arab News was discussed with the then Minister of Media, Ibrahim al-Anqari. The Hafiz brothers selected the first editor-in-chief, Ahmad Mahmoud, along with five employees. They faced several challenges in the early stages of proving their new project, including a shortage of sufficient manpower, a lack of photographs, poor print quality, and limited news sources.

Since its inception, the newspaper has focused on publishing news relevant to foreign communities in the Kingdom. This focus helped it gain a readership from this demographic. The name Arab News was chosen to reflect both Arab and Western styles.

Arab News provided local perspectives to the world through a group of columnists who addressed various global and regional issues. The newspaper targeted executives and financial institutions both domestically and internationally, among others. It operates several daily printing presses in the capital, Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, and its publications are available throughout the Middle East.

The newspaper covers social and political issues, as well as economic and trade news. It strives to position itself among international and regional newspapers as a Saudi newspaper that follows balanced editorial practices.

In line with the advancements in journalism, the newspaper established an internal training and development unit for employees and trainees called (Arab News University). This unit offers a variety of courses and programs in journalism for continuous learning, providing trainees with the opportunity to gain more knowledge from their own comfort zones.

A number of the editorial team at the newspaper contribute to imparting knowledge and training through main lectures, workshops, courses, and one-on-one sessions. The courses are taught by in-house experts as well as experts from the newspaper's partnerships with renowned media organizations, such as Agence France-Presse, CNN, LinkedIn, and the Misk Foundation.

In recognition of its efforts in outstanding journalistic practice, Arab News received nine newspaper design awards in May 2021 from the (Society of Publication Designers), along with numerous other awards.