New opposition Libyan newspaper launched

A new pro-opposition Libyan newspaper, Mayadin, is the latest of dozens of new media outlets - TV, radio and online - that have appeared inside and outside Libya since February, providing an alternative to the output of the regime's media machine.

Mayadin is distributed in Benghazi but printed in Cairo. It is produced by a number of Libyan writers under Ahmad al-Fayturi, editor-in-chief, Salim al-Ukali, managing editor.

The newspaper enjoys the support of the National Transitional Council (NTC) and opposition figures abroad, according to the London-based Al-Sharq al-Awsatnewspaper.

Mayadin is temporarily published on a weekly basis in a tabloid format, with plans to publish daily in the future. "This is the first newspaper, in the full sense of the word, to be published in the wake of the 17 February revolution," Al-Sharq al-Awsat quoted Al-Fayturi as saying.

"We have no option but to print it temporarily in Cairo. This is because the forces of Al-Qadhafi burnt and destroyed all print houses in Benghazi, along with the radio and television building. This delivered a deadly blow to the press and media activity," Mayadin's editor-in-chief added.

Al-Fayturi said the newspaper's primary concern is to "document the 17 February revolution in Libya at all political, economic, social, cultural and legal levels".

He explained that the name Mayadin, which means 'squares' in English, "sums up the spring of Arab revolutions", as all of the revolutions broke out from public squares in Arab cities and capitals.

Speaking on how difficult it is to print in Cairo and distribute in Benghazi, Al-Fayturi said: "We knew in advance that we are running a risk surrounded with problems and hardships. But perhaps what mitigates this situation is the fact that we have enthusiastic Egyptian friends who help us with the work."

The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper quoted on 13 June an editorial by Al-Ukali published in Mayadin's first edition which said Mayadin is "the start of an independent journalistic project of which Libya was deprived for more than four decades".

Al-Ukali pointed out that, in the beginning, the idea behind Mayadin was to revive the Al-Haqiqah newspaper which was closed by the regime in the early 1970s. "But out of respect for the right of the inheritors of this [publishing] house, we changed our mind, and it is also because of our desire to establish our own newspaper which for long was our dream at a time when a dream was a sin," he said.

"Our enthusiasm for this great revolution required us to choose our front where we are good at fighting, journalism, as one of the ingredients of success for any dream of change," Al-Ukali added.

"Our aim now and in the future is to maintain the highest degree of objectivity and professionalism, and be a mirror for a new civil state where freedom of expression is an ingredient of its legal and democratic conscience, and where free journalism is the fourth estate."

The first edition of Mayadin included a long interview with the head of the NTC in Libya, Mustafa Abd-al-Jalil.

He spoke about his experience in the Libyan regime, from the time when he started working in the judiciary in 1975 until he became a minister of justice.

The first edition also featured interviews with a number of prominent members of the NTC, including Maj-Gen Abd-al-Fattah Yunus and Umar al-Hariri, along with the NTC spokesman Abd-al-Hafiz Ghawqah.

Muhammad Shukri is Middle East Media Analyst at BBC Monitoring.