Saudi Arabia: "youth paper" shut in Mohammed cartoon row

"The paper, which is aimed at the country's young people, said it was doing so to mobilize the campaign in Saudi Arabia against Denmark.

But whatever the motive behind it, the mere fact of publishing the cartoons does not seem to have gone down well with the authorities. Sources in Saudi Arabia have told the BBC that the ministry of media and culture has launched an investigation into the paper's decision to print the images.

As a result, they say that the ministry has now suspended the paper. Executives at Al-Shams contacted by the BBC did not wish to confirm this, but the paper did not appear on 20 February.

Al-Shams was started just two months ago in a tabloid format aimed directly at Saudi young people. There has been nothing like it on Saudi news stands before. It has tackled issues in fresh ways - such as the role of women in Saudi Arabia - as well as reporting on entertainment, culture and sport in a style tailored for the young.

Sources in Saudi Arabia have told the BBC that some of its articles have stirred controversy by going against the prevailing views of the conservative establishment that runs the country."

For the Editors Weblog, this is the temporary - hopefully - end of a very positive initiative in Saudi Arabia and collateral damage of the cartoon controversy!

Source: BBC Monitoring

See also our study about how many newspapers published the Mohammed cartoons