Al-Arab ( ar, العرب) was a short-lived

Arabic-language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

news channel which vowed to practice

objective journalism Journalistic objectivity is a considerable notion within the discussion of journalistic professionalism. Journalistic objectivity may refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship, but most often encompasses all of these ...

. It was launched on 1 February 2015 and almost immediately shut down. The channel was owned by Saudi prince and entrepreneur

Al-Waleed bin Talal Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud ( ar, الوليد بن طلال آل سعود; born 7 March 1955) is a Saudi Arabian billionaire businessman, investor, philanthropist and royal. He was listed on ''Time'' magazine's Time 100, an annual list of the hu ...

, and was based in

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Creation

In July 2010, Prince Al-Waleed, owner of a stake in

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

, planned to collaborate with News Corp to launch a 24-hour Arabic-language news channel. After a year of deliberation, Al-Waleed announced on 13 September 2011 the launch of Alarab as a personal private venture. He said the channel's editorial stance would be "inspired by the recent political events that have transformed the region, with particular attention to be paid to freedom of speech." The channel was supposedly entirely privately funded, with Al-Waleed insisting that it would not receive instructions from the Saudi government. At the time of the launch, no mention was made of News Corp's involvement. In December 2011,

, was chosen as the network's headquarters.

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

and

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

were also among the cities considered to host the network. Prince Al-Waleed retained close ties with the

Bahraini royal family The House of Khalifa ( ar, آل خليفة, translit=Āl Khalīfah) is the ruling family of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Al Khalifas profess Sunni Islam and belong to the Anizah tribe, some members of this tribe joined the Utub alliance which mig ...

while his

Kingdom Holding Company The Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) ( ar, شركة المملكة القابضة) is a Saudi conglomerate holding company, based in Riyadh. The KHC is a publicly listed company on the Tadawul (Saudi stock exchange). The KHC consists of a select ...

maintains a presence in the country through indirect investments in the banking sector. Al-Arab was launched on 1 February 2015. Al-Arab's regional competitors were Qatari-owned

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

and Saudi-government-owned

Al Arabiya Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC. The channel is a flag ...

, along with

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

Sky News Arabia Sky News Arabia (stylised as Sky News عربية) ( ar, سكاي نيوز عربية ') is an Arabic 24-hour rolling news channel broadcast mainly in the Middle East and North Africa. It is a joint venture between UK-based Sky Group and Abu Dha ...

. In a January 2012 interview, Al-Waleed described Al Jazeera as the "masses channel" while implying that Al Arabiya is the "government channel" among the two main news channels in the Middle East. He stated his goal for Al-Arab to "takes the centre’s point of view" between the two networks.

Ownership and management

Al-Arab was privately owned by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, independent from

and

Rotana Group Rotana Media Group, commonly known as Rotana ( ar, روتانا, Rōtānā), is a Saudi Arabian entertainment company. It is primarily owned by Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal. The media conglomerate includes a film production company (Rotana ...

, two corporations controlled by the prince. It was headquartered in

's Media City complex. The channel was based outside

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

as the country does not allow independent news channels to operate within its borders. The channel's director was

Jamal Khashoggi Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi (; ar, جمال أحمد خاشقجي, Jamāl ʾAḥmad Ḵāšuqjī, ; 13 October 1958 – 2 October 2018) was a Saudi journalist, dissident, author, columnist for ''Middle East Eye'' and ''The Washington Post'', and a ge ...

, former editor of ''Al Watan'', a newspaper in Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi was removed as editor in 2010 after ''Al Watan'' published an article criticizing

Salafism The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a Islah, reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three g ...

, the fundamentalist Islamic movement that is Saudi Arabia's official state religion. The channel partners with US financial news channel

Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is head ...

, which would have provided five hours of daily programming, including financial bulletins, analysis, reports on regional business leaders, and global financial news. The partnership would have brought al-Arab into direct competition with Arabic-language financial news channel

CNBC Arabiya CNBC Arabia (Arabic: CNBC عربية) is an Arab free-to-air television channel. It covers regional and international affairs from an Arab economic perspective. CNBC Arabia's daily program schedule features the region's business news summary, inc ...

Censorship and shutdown

On 1 February 2015, al-Arab's first day of programming included an interview with Bahraini Shi'a politician and former member of the

Council of Representatives The Council of Representatives (''Majlis an-nuwab''), sometimes translated as the "Chamber of Deputies", is the name given to the lower house of the Bahraini National Assembly, the national legislative body of Bahrain. The council was created ...

Khalil al-Marzooq Khalil al-Marzooq is a Bahraini Shi'a politician and former member of the Council of Representatives. During his time in office, he served as first deputy chairman. On February 14, 2011, al-Marzooq and 17 other MPs from Al Wefaq, the main Shi'a I ...

, who discussed the cancelling of 72 Bahrainis' citizenship. Broadcasting was suspended after the interview. Al-Arab stated that the suspension was for "technical and administrative reasons", while the newspaper '' Akhbar al-Khaleej'' attributed the suspension to al-Arab "not adhering to the norms prevalent in Gulf countries". The shutdown of Al Arab TV was a result of the media censorship vigorously enforced by the ruling regime, where any criticism of the absolute monarchy or the mention of Shia majority oppression is not tolerated.

References

External links

* {{in lang, ar 2015 establishments in Bahrain 2015 disestablishments in Bahrain 24-hour television news channels Arabic-language television stations Arabic-language television Censorship in Islam Censorship in Bahrain Defunct television channels Mass media in Manama Television channels and stations established in 2015 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2015 Defunct mass media in Bahrain