"My election as President of Distripress is probably a sign of recognition of the growing importance of the Middle East and some other regions of the world in an industry traditionally dominated by its players in Europe and North America. Many countries in these regions show a healthy development even in the field of the 'classical' printed press products but are at this moment less involved in international cooperation and distribution." APN spoke to Tony Jashanmal, Director of the Jashanmal Group in the United Arab Emirates and the first ever president from the Middle East of Distripress, the largest organisation of companies involved in distribution of print media internationally. More
For the first time in its 54-year history, the Zurich-based Distripress has elected a President from the Middle East. Tony Jashanmal, Director of the Jashanmal Group headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, was voted as the president for a three-year term. The elections were held as part of the Annual Distripress Convention in Istanbul. More
The Comorian monthly Kashkazi was missing from newsstands in January due to financial reasons. It will be back again in Feburary, but remains threatened by closure in a near future.
At the end of 2007, around twenty independent Mauritanian newspapers were threatening to cease publication following the announcement by the authorities of an increase in printing costs. The government has not turned a deaf ear to their demands.
Despite the arrival of nearly 150 private titles on the newspaper market in recent years, the Syrian press still faces many challenges including a self-censorship which often can be more severe than state censorship.
After 17 years in the public press, Hadda Hazzam decided to branch out on her own and launch a daily in Algeria. Today, she is the only woman to head a private newspaper in the country. Al Fadjr employs around 50 journalists and has a circulation of 50 000.
The Yemen Times is one of the most independent newspapers in its country. Still, printing in state-owned facilities was a challenge to both the independence and quality of the paper. To overcome these obstacles, the bi-weekly decided to acquire its own printing press. It was a critical bet in terms of finances.
When Sapress
started distributing Moroccan daily press back in 1977, there were just
five national newspapers in the country, all of them mouthpieces of
political parties. Today, Morocco has 21 dailies, several of them
independent. The company founder and CEO, Mohamed Berrada, had a clear
motto when he first started: “A newspaper for every citizen.”