Prominent Journo Talal Salman Passes Away, Leaves Behind A Legacy of Revolutionary Journalism

By Staff, Al-Mayadeen

Talal Salman, the editor-in-chief of the As-Safir newspaper, and staunch supporter of Palestinian and Arab liberation died today at the age of 85.

Salman is a Lebanese journalist and author. He was the founder, editor-in-chief, and publisher of the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, which operated from March 1974 until January 4, 2017.

Salman's As-Safir was known as the “voice of the voiceless”. He himself was dedicated to writing about issues of the Arab homeland, the Arab nation, and Arab liberation.

Throughout his career, which abounded with writing books and articles and interviewing prominent political figures, Salman remained committed to his staunch opposition to hegemony and colonialism, despite the dire circumstances which included assassination attempts and attacks on his household.

Salman was born in the town of Shmestar in 1938. He married Afaf Mahmoud Al-Asaad from the town of al-Zararia in southern Lebanon in 1967, and they had Hanadi, Rabia, Ahmed, and Ali.

Salman began his career as a proofreader for the al-Nidhal newspaper, then worked as an unpaid journalist for the al-Sharq newspaper in late 1956.

After a training period in some daily newspapers, he moved to al-Hawadith magazine in 1957, where he worked as an editor, and then as editor-in-chief.

From there, he moved to al-Ahad magazine in 1960, where he took over the editorial department.

In the fall of 1962, he traveled to Kuwait, where he published the magazine Dunia al-Orouba [The World of Arabism] for the al-Ra’i al-Aam publishing house where he later worked as editor-in-chief for a short period.

Later on, he returned to Beirut to take over the editorial management of Al-Sayyad magazine in the summer of 1963. Between 1963 and 1973, he moved between al-Sayyad, al-Ahad and al-Huriya magazines, before devoting himself to al-Sayyad and al-Anwar magazines to cover Arab events.

Salman interviewed a group of the most prominent Arab kings, presidents, and political and party leaders, and dealt with a number of hot topics.

In mid-1973, he dedicated himself to issuing the daily newspaper As-Safir. It was issued on March 26, 1974, after extensive contacts, consultations, and discussions that included a number of senior Arab leaders, politicians, writers, and journalists until it materialized in accordance with its slogan “Lebanon’s newspaper in the Arab world, and the Arab nation’s newspaper in Lebanon.” Its subsequent slogan was The Voice of the Voiceless.

After the Israeli invasion in 1982, As-Safir dedicated itself to rejecting the internal Lebanese conflicts [which were ongoing as part of the Civil War] prioritizing the need to resist the occupation.

He survived an assassination attempt in front of his house on Hamra Street in Beirut, on July 14, 1984, and suffered wounds in various parts of his body.

He won the Russian Victor Bosovalyuk International Award for the best foreign press reporting on events in the Middle East, and received the award on November 7, 2000.

He also won the Stefano Chiarini award from the “Lest We Forget Sabra and Shatila” committee in 2007.

The Lebanese University honored him on May 7, 2010, by awarding him an honorary doctorate.

He was also honored by Hezbollah on January 25, 2017, at a banquet held in his honor, which was attended by a number of political and social figures.