JEDDAH, 10 February — Dr. Abdul Qader Tash, editor in chief of Al-Bilad newspaper, has sent his letter of resignation in protest at being sidelined from the activities of the newspaper establishment’s executive committee.
Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday that Tash’s resignation was also in protest at the failure of the board of directors to fulfill its promise to the editorial staff to pay them outstanding salary dues and other benefits.
Confirming his resignation, Abdul Qader Tash said to reporters that his resignation is thus far still unofficial, but that in a few days he will "submit his resignation officially".
Regarding the events that led to his decision, Tash said: "It is because the recently-formed executive committee failed to implement the decisions on the payment of the salaries to the editorial staff."
The editor in chief of the oldest newspaper in the Kingdom explained that the committee had promised to pay to the staff only one month’s salary in the coming weeks, although they have not been paid for four months. The support staff have not been paid for the past two years, he added.
"The editorial staff was totally sidelined by the committee. Not one representative of the committee has even visited the editorial staff," Tash said.
"The chief editor has been sidelined by the committee, which did not even invite him or listen to what he had to say about the accumulating problems," he said.
Tash also criticized the priorities of the committee. He said the committee should have taken action to pay immediately the salaries of the workers before it signed a contract with Arthur Andersen to restructure the company.
Media circles viewed Tash’s threat to resign as a pressure tactic to draw the attention of the board of directors to the pressing needs of the editorial staff.
Al-Bilad went off the newsstands for one day early last month after technical employees did not turn up for work in protest at non-payment of salaries. The paper began publication in April 1932, the unification year of modern Saudi Arabia.
as the first Saudi newspaper in the name of "Voice of Hijaz," before changing its name to Al-Bilad (The Country) 28 years later.
