Al Arabiya
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|
| Network | Middle East Broadcasting Center |
| Headquarters | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Arabic |
Al Arabiya (Template:Lang-ar al-ʿArabiyyah; "The Arabic One") is a Pan-Arabist Saudi-owned[1] Arabic-language television news channel. Launched on March 3, 2003,[2] the channel is based in Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates, and is majority-owned by the Saudi broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC).
A free-to-air channel, Al Arabiya carries news, current affairs, business and financial markets, sports, talk shows, and documentaries. It is rated among the top pan-Arab stations by Middle East audiences.[3] The channel has been criticized for having a "pro-Saudi agenda", [4] and it was once banned in Iraq by the US-installed Governing Council for "incitement to murder" for broadcasting audio tapes of Saddam Hussein. [3]
On January 26, 2009, American president Barack Obama gave his first formal interview as president to the television channel.[5]
Content and Al Jazeera rivalry
Al Arabiya was created to be a direct competitor of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera.[3] As a response to Al-Jazeera's criticism of the Saudi royal family throughout the 1990s, members of the Saudi royal family established Al-Arabiya in Dubai in 2002.[6] According to a 2008 New York Times profile of Al Arabiya director Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, the channel works "to cure Arab television of its penchant for radical politics and violence," with Al Jazeera as its main target.
Investment and ownership
The original investment in Al Arabiya was $300 million by the Middle East Broadcasting Center, Lebanon's Hariri Group, and other investors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the Persian Gulf states.[3]
Track record and controversies
Al Arabiya had been banned from reporting from Iraq by the country's interim government in November 2004 after it broadcast an audio tape on November 16 purportedly made by the deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.[3] The Iraqi government had also banned the channel on September 7, 2006 for one month for what it called "imprecise coverage".
On February 14, 2005, Al Arabiya was the first news satellite channel to air news of the assassination of Rafik Hariri,[7] who was one of its early investors.
On October 9, 2008, the Al Arabiya website (www.alarabiya.net) was hacked.[8]
On September 2, 2008, Iran expelled Al Arabiya's Tehran bureau chief Hassan Fahs. He was the third Al Arabiya correspondent expelled from Iran since the network opened an office there.[9] On June 14, 2009 the Iranian government ordered the Al Arabiya office in Tehran to be closed for a week for "unfair reporting" of the Iranian presidential election. Seven days later, amid the 2009 Iranian election protests, the network's office was "closed indefinitely" by the government.[10]
Slain reporters
In September 2003 Al Arabiya reporter Mazen al-Tumeizi was killed on camera in Iraq when a US helicopter fired on a crowd in Haifa Street, Baghdad.[11]
In February 2006, three Al Arabiya reporters were abducted and murdered while covering the aftermath of the bombing of a mosque in Samarra, Iraq. Among them was correspondent Atwar Bahjat, an Iraqi national whose calm, non-sectarian coverage of the war had made her a popular figure in the region.[12]
Barack Obama appearance
On January 26, 2009 President of the United States Barack Obama gave his first formal interview as president to Al Arabiya,[13] delivering the message to the Muslim world that "Americans are not your enemy", while also reiterating that "Israel is a strong ally of the United States" and that they "will not stop being a strong ally of the United States".[5] The White House contacted Al Arabiya's Washington Bureau chief, Hisham Melhem, directly just hours before the interview and asked him not to announce it until an official announcement was made by the administration.[13]
Online
The Al Arabiya internet news service (alarabiya.net) was launched in 2004 initially in Arabic, and was joined by an English-language service in 2007, and Persian and Urdu services in 2008. The channel also operates a business website that covers financial news and market data from the Middle East in Arabic (alaswaq.net). The Al Arabiya News Channel is available live online on JumpTV and Livestation.
The Al Arabiya website has been plagued with numerous technical difficulties during the Egyptian protests at the end of January, 2011. The site very often goes offline with error message as such:
"The website is down due to the heavy traffic to follow up with the Egyptian crisis and it will be back within three hours (Time of message: 11GMT)"
Competitors
References
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10762652
- ^ About Al Arabiya TV. AlArabiya.net. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
- ^ a b c d e Peter Feuilherade (2003-11-25). "Profile: Al-Arabiya TV". BBC Monitoring. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
- ^ Pop culture Arab world!: media, arts, and lifestyle - Page 55<
- ^ a b "Obama tells Al Arabiya peace talks should resume". AlArabiya.net. 2009-01-27.
- ^ Kraidy, Marwan. (2006). "Hypermedia and governance in Saudi Arabia." First Monday. Special Issue No. 7.. Page 10. Departmental Papers (ASC). University of Pennsylvania. 2010-09-22. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
- ^ "Major industry award and dynamic programming mark Al Arabiya's third anniversary". AME Info. 2006-03-04.
- ^ "Arabiya TV Website Hacked". Kuwait Times. 2008-10-11.
- ^ "IRAN: Al-Arabiya reporter banned from working". Menassat. 2008-09-03.
- ^ "Al Arabiya's Tehran bureau closed indefinitely". AlArabiya.net. 2009-06-21. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
- ^ "U.S. army defends helicopter attack in Baghdad". Reuters. 2004-09-15.
- ^ "Shock Over Iraqi Reporter's Death". BBC News Online. 2006-02-23.
- ^ a b "Al Arabiya anchor: how we got Obama exclusive". AlArabiya.net. 2009-01-28.
External links
- Official website: English, Arabic, Persian, Urdu
- BBC Profile: Al Arabiya TV
- Al Arabiya at LyngSat Address