''L'Orient-Le Jour'' () is a leading
French-language daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...
in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
.
History
''L'Orient-Le Jour'' was first published on 15 June 1971, following the merger of two French language Lebanese dailies, ''L'Orient'' (founded in Beirut in 1924 by Gabriel Khabbaz and
Georges Naccache) and ''Le Jour'' (founded in 1934 by
Michel Chiha).
Between 1970 and 1975 one of the contributors was
Samir Frangieh
Samir Frangieh (4 December 1945 – 11 April 2017) was a Lebanese politician and a leftist intellectual. He was a member of the Lebanese Parliament. He was from the Frangieh family, one of the well-known political families of Lebanon.
Early li ...
. During the
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
the paper was closed down by the occupying Syrian Army for a brief period in 1976 but the paper resumed publication after. The editor-in-chief of ''L'Orient-Le Jour'', Eduard Saab, was murdered on 16 May 1976.
The paper covers politics, local and international news, finance and economics, culture, entertainment as well as sports. According to the Arab Press Network, an offshoot of the
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organisations, and many individual newspaper ex ...
(WAN-IFRA), it is the only extant Francophone newspaper in Lebanon and is "partisan to a liberal, Christian leaning line."
"L'Orient le Jour"
, Arab Press Network. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
The paper is published by Société de presse et d'éditions SAL, that also published the business magazine '' Le Commerce du Levant''.
Ownership
The main shareholders of ''L'Orient-Le Jour'' are former minister Michel Eddé and his grandchildren (38 percent), the Choueiri group (22.7 percent) and the family of the former minister Michel Pharaon
Michel Pharaon ( ar, ميشال فرعون), a Lebanese politician, and was Minister of Tourism in Lebanon. He was the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the Fouad Siniora government. In the general election held in 2000, he won a ...
(15.49 percent). The latter's shares are distributed as follows: Pharaon directly holds 2.6 percent of the shares, his sister, Nayla De Freige, holds 1.7 percent, the Pharaon Holding SAL has 11 percent and Libano-Suisse Insurance Consulting has 0.2 percent.[
]
See also
*French language in Lebanon
French is the second language of Lebanon, with about 45% of the population being Francophone. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used within government, and is often used as a prestige language for business, diploma ...
References
External links
*
Official site
L'Orient Today
English version
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orient Le Jour
1971 establishments in Lebanon
French-language newspapers published in Lebanon
Newspapers published in Beirut
Newspapers established in 1971
Daily newspapers published in Lebanon