AL ARABIYA

'Al Arabiya' () is an Arabic-language television news channel. It was established on March 3 2003.
The station is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is owned by the broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) and "a number of Arab investors".
MBC's Saudi ownership leads many in the Arab world to believe that Al Arabiya is often censored or biased.
Like its contemporary, the Qatar based news channel Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya is well known for its ability to break fast-moving news stories and for the occasional airing of video statements from militant groups.
According to a BBC report on November 23, 2003, "Al Arabiya, the Dubai-based satellite TV channel banned from reporting from Iraq by the country's interim government, is consistently rated among the top pan-Arab stations by Middle East audiences, although it was only launched in February 2003.
Al Arabiya was launched in February 2003 with an investment of $300m by the Saudi-controlled pan-Arab satellite TV pioneer MBC, Lebanon's Hariri Group, and other investors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Gulf states. It was set up as an all-news channel to compete directly with Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV."[1]

Contents

Reporters killed

Explosion

Controversy

References

External links

Reporters killed

In September 2004, Al-Arabiya reporter Mazen al-Tumeizi was killed on camera by US military action.
On 22 February 2006, Al-Arabiya reporter Atwar Bahjat was abducted and brutally murdered while covering a story.

Explosion

On January 22, 2007, there was a large explosion at Al Arabiya's offices in Gaza City, just days after it was reported as criticizing members of Hamas. The offices were closed at the time and no injuries were ever reported.

Controversy

Al-Arabiya has made many homophobic remarks in its articles, calling homosexuals "perverts". Al-Arabiya.net also launched a smear campaign against HELEM, a GLBT rights organisation in Lebanon, spreading dangerous and odious rumors about the organization, in its coverage of the IDAHO event on May 20.Al-Arabiya.net Smear Campaign Against Helem

References

★ Tatham, Steve (2006), ''Losing Arab Hearts & Minds: The Coalition, Al-Jazeera & Muslim Public Opinion'', Hurst & Co (London). (Published 1 January 2006.)

External links

★ Official Site

★ About the channel

★ BBC: Profile:Al Arabiya TV