Al-Monitor

Al-Monitor () is a news website launched in February 2012 by the Arab American entrepreneur Jamal Daniel and based in Washington, DC, United States. Al-Monitor provides reporting and analysis from and about the Middle East. 
History and organization.
Al-Monitor was launched on 13 February 2012 by the Arab-American Jamal Daniel (who was born in Syria, but grew up in Lebanon). It was founded with the intention to publish a diverse set of perspectives on the region, bridging the gap of information available to both those in the Middle East and those elsewhere with a desire to better understand a rapidly changing region.
In 2018, Al-Monitor partnered with North Base Media which was founded by Marcus Brauchli and Sasa Vucinic in managing Al-Monitor in order "to provide top-level operational and financial decision-making, and work with the company to explore possible content and commercial avenues."
At its founding, the site also translated content from countries in the Middle East; however, the site now only provides original content and does not translate from partners. Among its media partners were "El Khabar", "Al-Masry Al-Youm", "Azzaman", "Calcalist", "Yedioth Ahronoth", "Al-Qabas", "An-Nahar", "As-Safir" (now closed), "Al-Hayat", "Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal", "Habertürk", "Milliyet", "Radikal" (now closed), "Sabah", "Taraf" (now closed), "Al Khaleej", and "Al-Tagheer".
Content.
Al-Monitor features reporting and analysis by journalists and experts from the Middle East, with special focus sections (that Al-Monitor terms "pulses") on Egypt, the Persian Gulf, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, North Africa, Palestine, Syria, Turkey as well as Russia's relationship with the Middle East.
In 2015, Al-Monitor relaunched its website and expanded coverage to include further reporting on Washington, the addition of a culture section, a new podcast and video coverage.
Contributors have included Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences; Kadri Gursel, formerly and editor with Cumhuriyet; Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution; Amberin Zaman, formerly a Turkey correspondent for "The Economist"; Sultan al Qassemi, former columnist with the United Arab Emirates–based "The National" and one of "Time"s 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011 selections; Barbara Slavin, former diplomatic correspondent for "USA Today" and senior fellow at the "Atlantic Council"; Laura Rozen, a former foreign policy reporter for "Politico", "Foreign Policy", and "Yahoo"; and Madawi al-Rasheed, professor of social anthropology at King's College London; the late Cairo-based political analyst Bassem Sabry, an Egyptian writer who wrote extensively on Egypt and the Arab Spring; Akiva Eldar, a long-time Israeli political columnist formerly with "Haaretz", and Gaza-based Asmaa al-Ghoul.
The site also conducts interviews with newsmakers, including former Deputy Secretary of State William Joseph Burns; former Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department Anne-Marie Slaughter; former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel; and Mustafa Barghouti, one-time candidate for Palestinian Authority president.
Awards.
In 2014, the International Press Institute awarded Al-Monitor its Free Media Pioneer Award, stating that Al-Monitor's "unrivalled reporting and analysis exemplify the invaluable role that innovative and vigorously independent media can play in times of change and upheaval".
In 2017, the Online News Association awarded Al-Monitor an Online Journalism Award for Best Explanatory Reporting for the series: "Middle East Lobbying: The Influence Game". The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing awarded Al-Monitor a Best in Business Award for its Middle East lobbying newsletter in 2019.
Reception.
In January 2013, Ian Burrell of "The Independent" called Al-Monitor "an ambitious website that pulls together the commentary of distinguished writers from across the region." In 2012, former "The Washington Post" foreign affairs blogger Max Fisher called Al-Monitor "an invaluable Web-only publication following the Middle East." "The Huffington Post" has referred to Al-Monitor as "increasingly a daily must-read for insightful commentary on the Middle East," and "The Economist" recommended Al-Monitor's Egypt and Iran coverage in its What to Read section. 
While acknowledging a range of different opinions among the media site's writers, Lee Smith of the American Jewish "Tablet" magazine has alleged that Al-Monitor's stance towards Syrian and Lebanese issues often mirrors the official positions of the Syrian government and Hezbollah.