The Content of Opinion Articles in the Libyan Online Newspaper Al-Nas From July 1, 2025, to January 27, 2026: An Analytical Study

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the content of opinion pieces published on pages 10 and 11 of the online newspaper (Al-Nas), which was the subject of the study, in terms of the types of articles, their subject areas, how they were utilized, the authors’ perspectives, their presentation styles, and the accompanying elements of emphasis. The study reached the following key findings: Publication priority was associated with political opinion pieces, which accounted for more than half of the content, followed by economic, social, cultural, scientific and technological, and finally religious topics. The articles covered local geographic areas (65%), followed by international topics (12.3%) and Arab topics (6.5%). Expository articles were the most prominent, followed by argumentative, narrative, and finally descriptive articles. The most prominent categories of political articles were international issues, followed by the rejection of violent and hate speech, and then Arab issues. The priority among economic article categories was economic corruption (44%), followed by economic security (33%). As for social articles, the most frequently covered category was service institutions (33.3%), followed by social institutions (16.6%), and human values, customs, and traditions (12.5%).  The category of analysts and experts surpassed other types of writers, with journalists coming in second, followed by academics. Opinion articles primarily relied on radio stations, documents, and records as sources of information, followed by the community, and then online news sites. Their primary functions were analyzing events first, followed by educating, then explaining and interpreting. Most articles were short in length, followed by medium-length, and relied on a single headline at a higher rate, followed by multiple were positive (55%) and negative by (41%) and neutral (3.6%); the articles were presented objectively (65%) and emotionally objectively (34.7%), and the moderate pyramid style was followed (94%). Most opinion piece writers were men, accounting for 97%, while women accounted for no more than 2.8%