Al Rai ranks fifth among region’s online newspapers

Al Rai newspaper ranked first in the Kingdom and fifth in the region in a Forbes Middle East report on the top online newspapers in the Arab world. In the ranking of the top 63 online newspapers of the region, Al Sabeel newspaper ranked second in Jordan and 23rd in the region, while Al Ghad ranked third in the Kingdom and 31st in the region. The Jordan Times ranked fourth at the national level, 47th in the Arab world, and 10th among the English dailies included in the report, which was published on the magazine's website Tuesday. The Egyptian newspaper Al Youm Al Sabe topped the list, followed by Algeria’s Chorouk, the UAE’s Emarat Alyoum, and Egypt’s Al Ahram. With its fifth place ranking, Al Rai climbed 25 positions from its ranking in 2010. Forbes Middle East compiled the list from web traffic and other relevant data collected from each newspaper’s management based on Google Analytics from July 5 to September 4, 2011. Samir Hiyari, chairman of the Jordan Press Foundation board, which publishes Al Rai and The Jordan Times, said the ranking of Al Rai reflects its importance and influence not only in the Kingdom but also across the Arab world. "We are delighted that Al Rai has taken this position at the Arab level. This is due to the efforts of all the employees, especially reporters, at the newspaper," he told The Jordan Times over the phone from Dubai, where he attended the ceremony to launch the report. "Al Rai and The Jordan Times should build on their achievements to continue to advance, and we are committed to supporting the two newspapers to realise this objective," Hiyari said. He noted that the foundation will continue to focus on the online editions of the two newspapers and on their Facebook and Twitter pages to attract more readers. In its July edition, Forbes Middle East ranked The Jordan Times eighth among the top Arab institutions present on Twitter, making it the only Jordan-based organisation on the list.