In 1965 the government issued a press law that required all newspapers to be licensed by the Ministry of Information before beginning publication. The same law regulated the contents of reports that could be published, prohibiting, for example, articles deemed offensive to the reputation of the ruling family or harmful to national security. Violations could result in the suspension of a publishing license and prosecution.

In 1993 Bahrain had two daily Arabic newspapers, Al Ayam (The Days) and Akhbar al Khalij (Gulf News), which had a combined circulation in excess of 45,000. In addition, there was one English-language paper, the Gulf Daily News, with a circulation of 11,500. Several weekly and monthly periodicals also are published.

Data as of January 1993