Outlet profile

Ahram Online

Egyptian state media, pro-government

Owned byAl-Ahram Foundation, controlled by the Egyptian government through the National Press Authority (formerly the Supreme Press Council); the government holds a controlling share and appoints editors

FundingState-funded through the Egyptian government budget; supplemented by advertising revenue

On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

Al-Ahram was founded in Alexandria in 1875 by Lebanese Christian immigrant brothers Salim and Bisharah Takla; it became a daily in 1881 and relocated to Cairo in the late 1890s. For decades it cultivated a reputation for relative independence and broad international coverage despite British colonial pressures. That independence ended when President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Egyptian press in 1960, making Al-Ahram a de facto government organ; editors have since been state appointees understood to be loyal to whoever holds power. Ahram Online launched on November 26, 2010, as an English-language digital edition aimed at international readers, giving the outlet a global footprint during and after the Arab Spring. Under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who took power in 2014, the outlet has consistently offered favorable coverage of the government and avoided criticism of officials—a pattern documented by Reporters Without Borders, which has repeatedly ranked Egypt among the world's biggest jailers of journalists. Media Bias/Fact Check rates Ahram Online as right-center biased with mixed factual reliability, attributing this to state censorship and pro-government framing. Because Egypt and the United States maintain a deep strategic partnership—including U.S. military aid and joint diplomatic efforts on Gaza—Ahram Online's coverage of the Trump administration has been broadly neutral and at times cooperative rather than adversarial.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-08-26; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

← Back to track record