Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi
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Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi
Acting Editor-in-Chief
In the name of Allah the most Beneficent, the most Merciful, I extend my heartiest greetings to our readers and everyone who have been supporting the Peninsula in the state of Qatar and beyond in its successful journey forward, now in its 21st year.
Qatar has carved a niche in the global arena, thanks to the wise policies of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. A Nation on the move, Qatar is spearing ahead with growth plans and development in all sectors of the economy.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of The Peninsula, I also extend sincere greetings to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani, and Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani Al Thani, Deputy Chairman of the Board for their immense support.
Right from the launch of The Peninsula, Abdullatif bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, CEO of Dar Al Sharq, has been the leading light guiding and supporting us in our day-to-day efforts. I would like to make a special mention of his vision and forward thinking.
I am grateful to the former Editors-in-Chief — Nasser Al Othman, Abdul Aziz Al Mahmoud, Dr Ahmed Abdul Malik, Abdullatif bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, CEO of Dar Al Sharq, Khalid Al Sayed and Dr Khalid Al Jaber for their contribution and vision to steer the newspaper ahead.
The Peninsula was launched on March 9, 1996 by Dar Al Sharq group, a leading media house in Qatar, which also publishes the Arabic news daily Al Sharq and the recently launched (February 2016) Arabic business daily Lusail.
Since the end of September 2015, The Peninsula began its transformation process into a more wholesome daily newspaper of international standard both in terms design and content. The Qatar community and institutions witnessed a significant change when the newspaper was relaunched with a new design and more content on January 3 this year, with renewed focus on Qatar.
From 28 pages till last year, the all-colour newspaper has gone up to 36 pages in the main section — 20 pages covering local and international news and separate 8 pages of business news and separate 8 pages of sports news.
The Peninsula also has a 16-page community news tabloid — Doha Today — published along with the newspaper from Sunday to Thursday. On Friday, it has a 16-page weekend tabloid named The Peninsula Plus.
The online edition of the newspaper (www.thepeninsulaqatar.com) also went through a complete revamp to match the new-look print edition. A new team was formed to handle the online edition along with the social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Google+. The popularity of The Peninsula website and its social media platforms can be gauged from the increasing number of page views it receives and the growing engagement with the readers.
In addition, the newspaper has also a classified advertisement pull-out called Penmag, which is published during the weekdays.
The newspaper, now, has raised the bar of journalism in the country with in-depth coverage of local events, regional and international news. The newspaper provides extensive news coverage, analyses and commentary from around the world, but with firm roots and primary focus on life in Qatar.
Eminent Qatari and Arab columnists, writing on a wide range of issues, on the Arab World and Middle East in particular, now feature on the Opinion pages. This is in addition to reputed columnists from the Washington Post and Bloomberg.
Today, The Peninsula occupies a prestigious position in Qatar’s media scene in terms of credibility and influence. Readers value it as a newspaper with a mind of its own, decision-makers look at it as a barometer of public opinion and thought leaders seek its views on matters of critical importance to society.
All this transformation would not have been possible without the support and hard work of a dedicated team of The Peninsula.
Last but not the least, I promise our readers that The Peninsula is committed to innovation and will remain Qatar’s newspaper of choice in the years to come.
The Peninsula
