Media Princes: Prince Al-Waleed and Fox News Take on Aljazeera, Brother Plans a Fundie Network, Etc…….
“RIYADH: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal appointed journalist Jamal Khashoggi to head a new news channel that is scheduled to be launched in the near future and is owned by Alwaleed. The prince confirmed that the channel will be independent from Rotana Holding and will focus on development in the Kingdom and Arab world on the political, economic and social fronts. The channel will run 24 hours with reporters from the Arab world broadcasting from different bureaus to cover news from the region and the world. It will also highlight the talents of young people in various fields. “We no longer have a void in the Arab world as it is now heavily occupied, therefore the new news channel is going to become an addition and an alternative for viewers. Our personal aim is to achieve this,” said Alwaleed. The exclusive and modern news channel will be one of the largest locally and regionally. It will have a specialist team to cater to different viewing needs…….”
Aljazeera satellite channel has been the most popular and most reliable Arabic news channel since it started airing. The Saudis started their own Alarabiya to compete with it. Soon other Arabic satellite channels sprang with the aim of taking away viewers from Aljazeera. But the Qatar based station remains the most popular for one simple reason: it tackles controversial issues that often depart from Arab orthodoxy as set by the oligarchs.
Now another Saudi satellite news network is about to come to the rescue of the oligarchs. Prince al-Waleed Bin Talal has teamed with Fox News and they are about to start a new Arabic news channel. Look forward to seeing all the right wingers like Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck gabbing in Arabic. Oh, I forgot that Arab-ophile: Bill O’Reilly.
Like all other satellite networks, the new one will be stationed outside Saudi Arabia (it is easy to guess why).
“Fox loves the Islamic world so much that the TV news company is planning a 24-hour Arabic-language news channel. Fox is partnering with Al-Waleed bin Talal, a mid-ranking prince in the sprawling Saudi royal family and an international businessman so successful that Time nicknamed him an "Arabian Warren Buffett." The new channel will compete with the existing Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera networks for access to the world's 300 million native Arabic speakers. The United Arab Emirates National's Ben Flanagan reports:
Prince Alwaleed had previously said his news channel would not be produced through Kingdom Holding or his media company Rotana Holding, but would instead follow the business model of [Rupert] Murdoch’s Fox and Sky News channels. The move further cements business ties between Prince Alwaleed and Mr Murdoch’s News Corp empire, which owns Fox. Prince Alwaleed has a 7 per cent stake in News, and in February News agreed to pay US$70 million (Dh257.1m) for a 9.09 per cent stake in Rotana……..”
But wait, that is not all. Prince Khalid Bin Talal, a Salafi fundamentalist brother of al-Waleed is also starting a television channel, a Wahhabi fundamentalist one. Now princes are clamoring to own media outlets: newspapers (Asharq Alawsat owned by Prince Salman, Alhayat owned by Prince Khalid Bin Sultan, etc, etc) and television channels. Soon every prince will have his own channel and newspaper. All these channels are based outside the magic kingdom.
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