Manama: Al Wasat daily, one of the five Arabic dailies in Bahrain, said that it would shut down next week, citing heavy financial losses.
The decision was supported by 18 board members and opposed by 14 at a meeting held on Monday to decide on the paper's future after it waded into controversy last month and its editor in chief Mansoor Al Jamri resigned.
The daily was accused by the official media authority of misleading the public by publishing stories that were reportedly lifted from Palestinian and Moroccan newspapers and that created negative feelings about the security situation in Bahrain.
The daily's former editor-in-chief, editor and local news editor were questioned by the public prosecutor over the issue.
Media sources said that the daily started facing advertisement problems and investors did not wish to take further risks and lose money.
Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA), the umbrella for hundreds of Bahrain-based journalists, said that it deplored Al Wasat's decision to shut down.
"While we do appreciate that Al Wasat's board is free to make its decision, we do urge its members to place the rights and dues of all journalists and workers at the top of their priority when they make the settlement," the BJA said in a statement. "We do pledge to help Al Wasat journalists and employees in any way we can and we will do our utmost to help them find employment with other establishments that will benefit from their skills and experience."
Al Wasat started publishing in 2002 and took full and immediate advantage of the new reforms to make a drastic change in the way dailies in Bahrain covered political and social events and activism.
Bahrain had six dailies in Arabic, but Al Wqat, a left-leaning newspaper, had to shut down in May last year after encountering financial problems.
