Ma'an News Agency (MNA; ) is a large wire service created in 2005 in the

Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...

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

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

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

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. 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 Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and English, 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 is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

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 (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

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, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

''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 content is signal transmission, transmitted via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV rece ...

stations in the

and occasionally by the

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is 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 and Dutch Representative Offices to the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a c ...

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

Attacks from Israel

Ma'an's offices in Gaza were severely damaged in the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

by the Israeli bombing of the Al-Watan tower in Gaza City on 8 October 2023. A photographer from the agency, Abdel Nasser al-Laham, was arrested by Israeli forces on 16 October 2023, and was held without charge in the military's Ofer Prison.

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 International Advisors, a h ...

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 rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

, press freedom, and media pluralism in Palestine." In an interview with media scholar Matt Sienkiewicz, former Ma'an

Chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

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.

Hamas pressure

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

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

to carry out a "defamation campaign" against MNA, and to cease its criticism of "the Hamas movement". In July 2013, Hamas closed the Gaza City bureaus of Ma'an and Al-Arabiya after the outlets reported that Hamas was sheltering Muslim Brotherhood figures who had fled Egypt. Hamas officials also questioned Ma’an News bureau chief Emad Eid for several hours on 30 July. According to Ma’an News director-general Raed Othman, Hamas objected to Ma'an using sources from Israeli media. The bureau reopened in November.

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. Described as "a cross between ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

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

Reliability

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), a right-wing NGO that claims to reveal bias in Palestinian media, 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." According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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), "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
{{Palestine topics News agencies based in Palestine Mass media in Bethlehem Arabic-language websites English-language websites Multilingual websites Palestinian news websites 2005 establishments in Palestine Internet properties established in 2005