Bahrain news, front pages compared
Crosswire tracks 5 major Bahrain news outlets. Preview their homepages side by side below — switch between two, three and four columns, go compact, or translate every page into your language.
The Bahrain media landscape on Crosswire
Crosswire lays Bahrain's front pages next to one another so you can see which stories lead where, how headlines are framed, and what one outlet foregrounds that another leaves out. All 5 titles tracked in Bahrain sit near the editorial centre in our classification, which is common where the press is dominated by public broadcasters and agencies, or where no confident left/right rating was available. Comparison here is less about political line than about which stories each newsroom judges worth the top of the page.
By kind of outlet, the 5 titles break down as 4 daily newspapers (see all daily newspapers worldwide) and 1 digital-native outlet (Bahrain Mirror). Crosswire lists no public-service broadcaster for Bahrain, so the fixed point in a comparison has to be a wire service or the most widely read daily instead.
Bahrain sits in The Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, on Crosswire's Middle East and North Africa hub. By outlets tracked it is 5th of the 7 countries in The Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula and 7th of the 20 across the Middle East and North Africa, where the average is 5 outlets per country. Its neighbours in The Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula with hubs of their own are United Arab Emirates (6), Saudi Arabia (5), Qatar (5), Kuwait (5), Oman (5) and Yemen (4).
Leaning groupings are approximate guides drawn from widely cited media-bias assessments — see the methodology and what the labels can and can't tell you. Counts are taken from the directory as of .
Which are Bahrain's main news outlets?
Across Bahrain's editorial spectrum, Crosswire currently lists near the center, Gulf Daily News, Al Ayam, Akhbar Al Khaleej, The Daily Tribune and Bahrain Mirror. Each outlet below links to a full profile — its facts, editorial leaning and a live front-page preview — and the comparison view above shows any of them side by side.
Gulf Daily News is Bahrain's main English-language daily newspaper, published by the Al Hilal Group since 1978. It covers Bahraini, Gulf and international news, business and sport.
Al Ayam is a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Bahrain, established in 1989. It covers Bahraini local affairs, the Gulf region, economy and sport.
Akhbar Al Khaleej is Bahrain's first Arabic-language daily newspaper, founded in 1976. It is one of the kingdom's most established dailies, covering local, Gulf and international news.
The Daily Tribune, published online as News of Bahrain, is an English-language daily newspaper based in Manama. Serving Bahraini readers and the kingdom's large expatriate community, it covers local news, government affairs, business and sport alongside regional and international stories, operating within Bahrain's closely regulated press environment where coverage generally tracks official positions.
Bahrain Mirror is an independent Arabic-language digital outlet founded in 2011 and published from exile, with an English-language section. Reporting on Bahraini politics, human rights and the economy, it offers opposition-inclined coverage unavailable in the kingdom's domestic press, where the last independent newspaper, Al-Wasat, was shut down by authorities in 2017.
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