Since 1994, 3 May has been celebrated as the United Nation’s World Press Freedom Day, to celebrate the principles of press freedom, protect and grow press freedom throughout the world, and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
The first recognized newspaper was published in 1605 in the Holy Roman Empire. Since then, the role of the press, and indeed the very nature of journalism, has evolved to reflect changes in the way we consume information. Newspapers came later to the Arab world, emerging in the 19th century, but the region has been on the front lines of recent journalistic developments: social media and citizen journalism have driven and disseminated popular uprisings throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
Ami Ayalon’s The Press in the Middle East: A History is a concise, readable history of the early development of journalism in the region. More recent developments are explored by Mohammad Ayish and Noha Mellor in their Reporting in the MENA Region: Cyber Engagement and Pan-Arab Social Media; both books are available in our Main Collection.
Our Heritage Library has an extensive collection of historical newspapers from the region, many of which have been digitized in our Digital Repository.
Honor journalists past and present by browsing our entire collection of journalism-related books and other items.
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