Ma'an News Agency (MNA; ar, وكالة معا الإخبارية) is a large wire service created in 2005 in the

Palestinian territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The I ...

. It is part of the Ma'an Network, a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

media network created in 2002 in the Palestinian territories among independent journalists throughout the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. It has partnerships with eight local television stations and twelve local radio stations. Ma'an News Agency publishes news 24 hours a day in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, 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 ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, and claims to be one of the largest wire services in the Palestinian territories, with over three million visits per month. Ma'an News Agency also publishes feature stories, analysis and opinion articles. The agency's headquarters are based in

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

and it has an office in Gaza.

History

The Ma'an Network was launched in 2002 as a partnership between Bethlehem TV and local Palestinian media organizations. The name ''Ma'an'' is the Arabic word for "together". The group is run by Raed Othman, the former manager of Bethlehem TV. Ma'an has produced three

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

s (one of which, ''Mazih fi Jad'' (''Joking Seriously''), was described as the first television drama series produced in the

), numerous news and public affairs programs and the

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

''Kafah''. Ma'an's programs are broadcast by ten independent

terrestrial television Terrestrial television or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the signal transmission occurs via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV receiver having an ant ...

stations in the

and occasionally by the

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

-run Palestine TV satellite broadcaster. The Ma'an News Agency was launched in 2005 with funding from the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Representative Offices to the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

. The news agency is the most visible component of the Ma'an Network.

Independence

Ma'an News Agency says that it "scrupulously maintains its editorial independence and aims to promote

access to information Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO se ...

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

, press freedom, and media pluralism in Palestine." The Ma'an Network was founded with the goal of creating a media source that was free of factional control, unlike the major existing broadcasters such as

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

' Al-Aqsa TV and

's Palestine TV. In an interview with media scholar Matt Sienkiewicz, former Ma'an

Chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

Wisam Kutom stated that he told potential Ma'an funders that: "Palestinian television is factional television right now we alestinianscannot tell the stories we want to, only the stories the factions will let us. There is no independent television".

Funding

Funding for Ma'an Network comes from advertising revenue and from foreign donors.

2007 Threat from Hamas

In July 2007, at the time the de facto Gaza Strip government, MNA alleged that MNA's chief editor had received "direct threats" from

to carry out a "defamation campaign" against MNA, and to cease its criticism of "the Hamas movement".

Reach

Ma'an News Agency describes itself as "the main source of independent news from Palestine" and "the premier source of independent Palestinian news on the internet". According to a 2007 survey, 95.6% of Palestinians with internet access "frequently visit" the site. As of December 2013, Ma'an News receives the fourth most site visitors in the Palestinian territories.

Reality TV

In 2013, Ma'an TV (Ma'an Network's satellite channel) broadcast the hit reality show '' The President'' in collaboration with

Search for Common Ground Searching or search may refer to: Computing technology * Search algorithm, including keyword search ** :Search algorithms * Search and optimization for problem solving in artificial intelligence * Search engine technology, software for findi ...

. Described as "a cross between ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' and ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...

''", audience members would vote through SMS to elect the show's young contestants who competed in mock press conferences, political campaigns, and debates.

Reliability

An Israeli NGO,

NGO Monitor NGO Monitor (Non-governmental Organization Monitor) is a right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically ...

, criticizes Ma'an for regularly re-publishing "non-verifiable or inaccurate claims" from partisan NGOs and for, "subjective, biased reporting."

Palestinian Media Watch Palestinian Media Watch (PMW; ) is an Israel-based nongovernmental organization and media watchdog group. Founded in 1996 by Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch documents cases of incitement in Palestinian media. It describes itself as "an ...

(PMW) criticized Ma'an for "sanitizing" its English-language reporting while publishing in Arabic reports that “include the hate ideology espoused by the terror organizations that deny Israel's right to exist ndexpress reverence for suicide terrorists." In further reports, PMW criticized Ma'an for "demonization of Jews," for publishing news stories in materially different Arabic and English versions, and for

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' during the spate of Palestinian stabbing attacks against Israelis in 2015, Ma'an inaccurately reported that a young knife attacker had been "murdered" by Israeli police, (he was wounded and taken for treatment at

Hadassah Hospital Hadassah Medical Center ( he, הָמֶרְכָּז הָרְפוּאִי הֲדַסָּה) is an Israeli medical organization established in 1934 that operates two university hospitals in Jerusalem – one in Ein Karem and one in Mount Scopus –, ...

), "In a video report accusing Israel of faking evidence of other knife attacks, a reporter for the Palestinian news agency Ma'an described the clip as evidence of “murder” and claimed in her narration that the video showed the boy lying on the ground when “an Israeli occupation soldier shoots him in the head,” which it does not."

References

External links

Ma'an News Agency

Ma'an News Agency
{{Palestinian media News agencies based in Palestine Mass media in Bethlehem Arabic-language websites English-language websites Multilingual websites Palestinian news websites 2005 establishments in the Palestinian territories Internet properties established in 2005