The Media Landscape in the Arab Gulf Countries

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The Media Landscape in the Arab Gulf Countries

Dr. Adnan Jasim BuMetea

University of Bahrain - kingdom of Bahrain

Introduction:

Since modern media emergraed in t he Arabian Gulf st ates at t he st artof t he twent iet h cent ury, rapid development in the media t ook place

in what can now be seen as two dist inct stages. The changes that

t hat t ook place during t he first stage were related to independence

f rom Britain and t he boom in oil prices, while t he second stage of

changes t ook place in response t o advances in communicat ion

t echnology during the 199 0s.

This paper will describe the basic media sect ors in t he Gulf, wit h

part icular emphasis on print media. While t he st ruct ure and funct ion

of t he media in t he Gulf are no diff erent f rom t hat of ot her count ries,

actual media content is highly dist inct ive since it is t he product

of t he Gulf s polit ical, economic social and cult ural elements, as

described above. We will also show here how media policy put in

place by the different governments in the region regulates the

st ruct ure and performance of dif ferent media sect ors. Mediaownership in t he Gulf is also highlight ed in order t o demonst rat e

how governments can influence t he media t hrough ownership and

financial support . While t he majorit y of t he print media in t he Gulf are

privat ely owned, t he elect ronic media are st ill owned and regulat ed

by the state governments, with some little freedom for privet

investment in satellit e channels. We will show t hat t he majorit y of

t he print media are loyal t o t heir governments, even when t hey are

privately-owned.

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14

Hist orical Background :

Communicat ion in the Arabian Gulf st ates has t radit ionally been

seen as part of Arab cult ure it self , which is well-known as being

orally orientated and widely expressed by means of poet ry. The

people of t he region have been used t o t ransferring and exchanging

informat ion through t heir f amily and t ribal relat ionships, by means

of religious fest ivals and observances, and t hrough commercial

act ivit ies (Al-Rumaihi, 2002: 56 ) . Oral communicat ion is widespread

and is regarded as just as import ant as mass media in t he Arab world(Rugh, 2004 : 12) .

The development of t he press in Arab count ries in general is linked

t o t he involvement of West ern powers, argues Alt erman (1 998 :

5) who point s out t hat press act ivit ies developed at t he start of

the 19th century with the coming of western missionaries, and

t hat local government s throughout t he Middle East used t he press

t o promulgate official news and ent ert ainment . The hist ory of t he

print ing press in the Gulf st ates is comparat ively recent , however,

when compared to count ries such as Brit ain, where t he first daily

newspaper was founded in 1704. The Arabian Gulf countries

witnessed the emergence of print media only at t he start of t he 20 t h

cent ury. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain were among t he pioneers

in t he field, while Oman, Qatar, and t he UAE had t heir fi rst newspapers

only in t he 1960s and 19 70s. Saudi Arabia>s first newspaper(Hijaz) appeared in 19 08 during t he reign of t he Ot t oman Empire. It

was not unt il t he 19 50s that Saudi dailies first appeared in modern

formats focusing more on news and current affairs (Al Shobaily,

2000 : 10 6). The same is t rue of t he Kuwait i press, which st art ed to

emerge in 1928 when it produced t he first newspaper (Al-Kuwait )

(Azzat , 19 83: 1 7; Al-Rubiaan, 1995: 1 3), and developed into a

modern indust ry during t he 19 60s. The first Bahraini newspaper

(Al-Bahrain) was established in 1939, but modern print media

emerged only at t he beginning of t he 1970s following independence.

1 According to Al-Magushi (1 99 4) , «There is disagreement among historians about t hefirst newspaper in the area and some claim that the first publication dates back to 1883,because t he first print shop commenced operat ions in 188 2, publishing Hijaz WilayatiSilnamah Se in Turkish as well as certain profiles of Ottoman rulers written in Arabic.» Al-Magushi added t hat «Hizas was t he first weekly of ficial paper of t he stat e published in 19 08 .»



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The first daily newspaper in t he UAE was Akhbar Dubai (Dubai News)

produced in 196 6 ( Azzat , 1983 : 203; Redha, 1988 : 12) . Oman’s

first newspaper (Al-Wat an), on the other hand, saw the light of day

only in 1970 at t he t ime of independence. Similarly in Qatar, t he first

daily newspaper (Al-Raya) was set up in 1972 (Mohamed, 19 84:

12) .

Radio broadcast ing services became more est ablished with t he

development of technology during the late 1950s and 1960s.

This development was followed by t he adopt ion of t elevision bycount ries in t he Gulf during the 1970 s and 1980s. With the 199 0s

and t he t echnological advant ages t hat became responsible for

int roducing sat ellit e channels and a growt h in compet it ion, t he

region also wit nessed the appearance of privat ely owned and semi-

government al sat ellit e channels.

In t he elect ronic media field, Saudi Arabia was t he first t o set up a radio

net work in 19 32, t he main purpose of which was st at ed to be that of

informing t he King and his officials about event s in t he region. Public

broadcast ing start ed only in 1948, however, and the first t elevision

t ransmissions in t he Kingdom t ook place in 1965. Bahrain and

Kuwait radio launched t ransmissions as the first public broadcast ing

stat ions in the Arabian Gulf region when it went on air in 19 41 during

t he Second World War. These Arabic language stat ions were set up

by t he Brit ish t o count er Nazi broadcasts. The first official Bahrainibroadcast ing stat ion however had t o wait for it s inaugurat ion unt il

195 5, and the offi cial Kuwait i radio stat ion dat es t o only 196 1, the

year Kuwait became independent (Bold, 1993: 130) .

In Kuwait , a privat e t elevision stat ion owned by businessmen st art ed

it s movie programming in 1957 (Kuwait : Facts and Figures, 1999:

206) . Officially, t elevision services in Kuwait start ed only in 19 61

and colour t elevision was launched in 19 74, t he year in which official

t elevision broadcast ing started in Bahrain.



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In Qatar, t he UAE and Oman, radio t ransmission started later t han in

t he ot her count ries, in 1968, 1969 , and 1970 , respect ively (Boyd,

1993: 17 8; Oman 99: 13 5; Redha, 19 88) while in Bahrain, official

colour t elevision broadcast ing began in 1974.

Two factors have been part icularly significant in influencing

t he recent development of t he Gulf media in general and t hat of

print media in particular: firstly, the establishment of political

independence, and secondly t he increase in oil revenues during t he

1970s. In Bahrain, for example, in t he wake of a cent ury of mediasuppression by t he Brit ish, growt h in t he press media was observed

only following independence (Hamod and Parsigian,1994:28).

Cont inuing t his t rend, the launching of radio and t elevision

broadcast ing in Qatar, Oman, t he UAE and Kuwait occurred as an

expression of t he newly found sovereignt y of t hese count ries af t er

independence, and t heir f elt need t o announce the advent of a new

voice in t he region. Media development in t he Gulf region came

subsequent to the implementation of government policy (now

made possible by enormous increases in oil revenues) direct ed

at est ablishing st rong infrast ruct ure provisions, as evidenced

by t he const ruct ion of radio and t elevision service infrast ruct ure

and Internet services. Kazan (1993) points out that the rise in

oil revenues led t o economic expansion in t he Gulf count ries,

and t hereby t o t he expansion of inf rast ruct ure, including mass

communicat ion. This, in t urn, result ed in increasing urbanisat ionand an improvement in lit eracy rat es as bot h religious and secular

educat ion expanded. These unprecedent ed and dramat ic changes

bot h required and t hemselves engineered t he development of

modern mass media in t he Arabian Gulf count ries.



1

Print Media:

Where t he number of daily newspapers and magazines published in

each of t he Gulf count ries is concerned, by 2002 Saudi Arabia had

a tot al of 1 76, Kuwait 80, t he UAE 72, and Oman 25 , and Bahrain

and Qatar each had 22 (Gulf Media and Press Direct ory, 20 02) (see

Table 3.3 for det ails of daily newspapers in the Gulf region). In each

of t he Arabian Gulf count ries, while the main daily newspapers are

published in Arabic, t he formal language of t he region, a number of

dailies are also published in ot her languages, especially English, duet o t he sizeable populat ion of expat riat es in t he region’s workforce.

In Saudi Arabia, leading Arabic dailies include Al-Hayat (Life) , Asharq

Al-Awsat (Middle East ) , Al Riyadh, Al Jazirah (Peninsula) and Okaz.

Al-Hayat (Life) and Asharq Al-Awsat are however based in London,

and are regarded as t he most popular privat e pan-Arab newspapers

(Amin, 2001: 27) . The English language dailies are Saudi Gazet t e,

Arab News, and Riyadh Daily (Table 3.3). There are a number of

magazines and periodicals, including Al Yamama and Igraa (Read).

Um-Al Qura is t he official weekly newspaper issued by t he Saudi

government . Today, t here are over 7 0 Saudi magazines published

on a wide range of t opics.

Kuwait has five Arabic dailies; Al-Rai Al-Aam (Public Opinion) , Al

Wat an (The Homeland) , Al Qabas (Firebrand) , Al Anba (News) and

Al Siyasa (Polit ics) (Table 3.3 ) . In addit ion to t he Arabic dailies, thereare t wo English newspapers, Arab Times and Kuwait Times. The

lat t er is also published in Malayalam and Urdu. In addit ion, t here are

a number of magazines published eit her weekly, like Iqra’a (polit ical

weekly) , Al-Dostoor, Al-Yaqaza, Almouasher and Azzamen

Magazine, or mont hly such as Al-Arabi and New Arabia. A furt her 50

or more weekly magazines and mont hly periodicals are published by

privat e and semi-government al organisat ions.



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Six daily newspapers are current ly published in Bahrain: four in

Arabic, and t wo in English . The count ry’s current principal daily

newspapers in Arabic are Akhbar Al Khaleej (Gulf News) and Al Ayam

(The Days). Three new Arabic newspapers were set up concurrent

wit h t he new polit ical changes in t he count ry, and t hese are Al-

Wasat (The Medium) , Al Met haqe, and Al Ahd (The Era) , a weekly

newspaper established in 20 03. English-language dailies include

t he Bahrain Tribune and Gulf Daily News (Table 3.3 ) .

Oman’s first daily newspaper, a privat e sect or init iat ive, wasAl-Watan (The Count ry) , and it cont inues t o enjoy t he highest

circulat ion (Benn’s Media Direct ory, 2 002) . The ot her dailies

published in Arabic include t he government -owned newspapers

Oman and Al-Shabiba (The Yout h) . Government -owned English

language dailies include Oman Daily Observer and Independent

Times of Oman (Table 3.3) . Apart f rom t hese daily papers, Oman

t oday has 24 diff erent periodicals and magazines.

The privately-owned press in Qatar consist s of t he Arabic dailies

Al-Rayah (The Banner) , Al-Wat an (The Count ry) , and Al-Sharq

(The East ) . The English language newspapers are Gulf Times and

The Peninsula (Table 3.3) . Twelve or more magazines on diff erent

t opics are also published.

The main daily Arabic newspapers in t he UAE include Al-It t ihad(The Unit y) Al-Bayan (The Manifest ) , Al-Khaleej (The Gulf) ,

Al-Fajr (The Dawn) and Alwehdah (The Union), t he latest addit ion

t o t he list being Akhbar Al-Arab (Arab News). English dailies

include Dubai News, UAE Today, Gulf News, Gulf News Tabloid,

Gulf News Classified, and Khaleej Times (Table 1). A number of

weeklies are also published, including Al-Reyadha wa Al-Shabab

(Sport and Yout h) , Al-Sada Magazine (The Echo) and Emirat es

Today. Several publicat ions covering diff erent t opics also appear in

Arabic and English.

2 In Bahrain, t wo more newspapers were published Al-Watan (Home) inDecember 200 5, and Al-Waqt (Time) in February 200 6.



1

Table 1: Daily Newspapers in Arabian Gulf St ates

CountryName of

PaperSince

Circulat ion

(2002-

2003)

Language Publisher

Bahrain

Al Bahrain1939-

1945Arabic

Abdullah al

Zayed

Akhbar Al

Khaleej

1976 42,000 ArabicDar Akhbar Al

Akhaleej

Al Ayam 1989 17,000 Arabic Al Ayam Press

Gulf Daily

News1978 22,000 English

Dar Akhbar Al

Khaleej

Bahrain

Tribune1997 5,000 English Al Ayam Press

Al Wasat 2002 12,000 Arabic

Dar Alwasat for

Publishing and

Distribution

Al-

Meethaq2003 5,000 Arabic

Dar Al-Meethaq

for Publishing

and Dist ribut ion

Al Wat an 2005 10,000 Arabic

Al Wat an for

Publishing &

Dist ribut ion Co.

Al Waqt 2006 10,000 ArabicDar Al Waqt for

Media

Al Bilad 2008 N/ A ArabicAl Bilad for

Publishing

Circulation Total 12 3,000



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Kuwait

Kuwait

Magazine

1928-

1945Arabic

Abdul Aziz Al

Rasheed

Arab Times 1977 23,000 English Dar Al Siyasah

Al Anbaa 1976 85,000 Arabic Kuwait Press House

Al Qabas 1972 87,000 Arabic Al Qabas Ltd

Al Watan 1974 91,000 Arabic Dar Al Watan KSC

Al Rai Al

Aam1961 101,500 Arabic Dar Al Rai Al Aam

Al Siyasa 1965 50,000 Arabic Dar Al Siyasah

Kuwait Times 1961 32,000

English,

Malayalam

and Urdu

Dar Al Siyasah

The Daily Star 2003 18,000 English Dar al Watan Press

Al Jareeda 2007 30,000 ArabicAl Jareeda for

Printing & Publishing

Al Wasat 2007 50,000 Arabic Dar al Khabar

Al alam Al

Yaom2007 50,000 Arabic National Media Group

Annahar 2007 65,000 ArabicAnnahar Publishing &

Printing

Circulation Total 683,000



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Oman

Al Watan 1971 40,000 Arabic

Omani Etablishment

for Press, Printing and

Publishing

Oman 1972 20,000 ArabicOman Newspaper

House

Al Shabibah 1993 12,000 Arabic Dar Al Shabibah

Oman

Observer 1981 7,000 English

Oman Newspaper

House

Times of Oman

1975 21,000 English Al Essa Printing andPublishing

Azzamn 2007 25,000 Arabic Azzmn Establishment

Circulation Total 125.000

Qatar

Al Jareedah

Al Rasmeyah1961 Arabic

Information

Department- Doha

Al Arab 1972 20,000 Arabic

Dar Al- Ouruba

Priting and

Publishing

Al Watan 1995 25,000 Arabic Dar Al Watan Printing

Al Sharq 1987 22,000 Arabic Dar Al Sharq Printing

Al Rayyah 1979 18,000 ArabicGulf Publishing and

Printing Co.

Gulf Times 1978 25,000 EnglishGulf Publishing and

Printing Co.

The Peninsula 1996 10,000 English Dar Al Sharq Printing

Qatar Tribune 2006 15,000 EnglishQatar Information &

Marketing




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Saudia

Arabia

Hijaz Wilayati

Silnamah

1883-

1884

Arabic +

TurkishOttomani Welayah

Al Yaum 1965 42,000 Arabic Dar Al Yaum Pulishing

Al Madinah 1936 39,000 ArabicAl Madina Publishing

House

Al Nadwa 1958 50,000 ArabicMecca Printing and

Information Est

Al Bilad 1934 14,000 Arabic Dar Al Bilad Printing

Al Jazeera 1960 120,000 ArabicDar Al Jazeera

Publishing

Okaz 100,000 ArabicOkaz Organisation for

Press and Publication

Saudi Gazette 1976 67,000 EnglishOkaz Organisation for

Press and Publication

Al Riyadh 1965 120,000 ArabicAl Yamama Press

Establishment

Riyadh Daily 1985 15,000 EnglishAl Yamama Press

Establishment

Arab News 1975 21,000 English

Saudi Research and

Marketing Group

(SRMG)

Al Watan 1999 150,000 ArabicDar Aseer for Pressand Publishing

Al Hayat

(based in

London)

1946 270,000 ArabicDar Al Hayat Printing

and Publishing

A Sharq Al

Awsat

(based in

London)

1978 236,000 Arabic

Saudi Research and

Marketing Group

(SRMG)

Al Massaia 1981 21,000

Arabic

(Evening

Daily)

Dar Al JazeeraPublishing

Al Eqtisadiah 1992 80,000 ArabicSaudi Research &

Publishing Co.

Al Rreyadi 1994 55,000 Arabic Sab INTL Holding co.

Al Malaeb 2003 65,000 Arabic Al Madina Press Grp

Shms 2005 120,000 Arabic SH.M.S Co. Limited

Circulation Total 1,585,000



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UAE

Akhbar

Dubai

1966-

1967Arabic

Local Dubai

Government

Emirates

News1975 21,150 English

Al Ittihad Press and

Publishing Corp

Al Fajr 1975 20,000 ArabicDar al Fajr Press and

Publishing

Gulf News 1978 75,000 English Al Nisr Publishing

Al Bayan 1980 45,000 Arabic Al Bayan Press

Al Ittihad 1972 75,000 ArabicAl Ittihad Press and

Publishing Corp

Al Khaleej 1970 65,000 ArabicDar Al Khaleej

Publishing

Al Wehda 1973 20,000 Arabic Dar Al Wehda

Khaleej

Times1978 70,000 English

Galadari Printing and

Publishing

The Gulf

Today1996 70,000 English

Dar Al Khaleej

Publishing

Akhbar Al

Arab2001 33,500 Arabic

Al Wathba

Establishment

Printing and

Publishing

7 Days 2003 67,000 English Al Sidra Media

Emarat Al

Youm 2005 70,000 Arabic Awraq Publishing

Emirates

Today2005 85,000 English Awraq Publishing

Arab News 2006 2,000 EnglishSaudi research

Publishing


Gulf National Daily Newspapers Circulation 3,30,000



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Elect ronic Media:

Each of t he Arabian Gulf count ries now operates a wide range

of radio and t elevision channels. Kuwait , for example, has

four television channels: KTV1 (Arabic), KTV2 (English),

KTV3 (Sport s Channel) and KTV4 (overnight entert ainment )

(ht t p:/ / www.media.gov.kw/ accessed 25 20 02 / 3/ ). Wit h

the introduction of satellite, all countries in the region now

broadcast t elevision and radio services 24 hours a day. The radio

and t elevision syst ems’ reach enabled the broadcast of Arabiclanguage as the first programme and an English-language service

as a secondary programme, given the fact t hat English is widely

spoken in these countries (Amin, 2001: 2341-). The primary

radio and t elevision programmes are aimed at t he indigenous

populat ion of t he count ry and also t owards audiences scat t ered

across the Arabian Gulf . The secondary programmes are aimed

at expat riat es living in t he count ry and in the Gulf region. A

development over recent years is t hat some of t he Gulf count ries

now also broadcast in ot her languages. Saudi Arabia, for inst ance,

broadcasts in Bembari, Bengali, French, Indonesian, Farsi, Somali,

Swahili, Turkistan, Turkish and Urdu ( Kareem, 1982: 13; Boyd,

1993: 14 3) . Radio and t elevision services off er a wide variet y of

programmes covering polit ics, social and cult ural mat t ers, sport ,

drama, comedy, t alks, educat ional, children and family mat t ers,

ent ert ainment and religion, as well as providing a commercialservice t o local businesses and int ernat ional advert isers

(www.moi.gov.bh/ brtc/ radio.html, accessed 11 20 02 / 1/ ;

www.oman-t v.gov.om/ ,accessed 252 002/ 3/ ).

In t he case of t he UAE, each of t he emirat es has it s own radio and

t elevision st at ions. The Ras Al-Khaimah broadcast ing stat ion, for

example, has t wo channels in Arabic. The Sharjah broadcast ing

st at ion beams out programmes in Arabic and French, and t he

Umm Al-Qaiwain broadcast ing st at ion broadcast s in Arabic, while



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Abu Dhabi television programmes also incorporates informat ion,

entertainment , religion, cult ure, news and polit ics (Redha, 1988:

51) .

Table 2:Radio, TV and Int ernet in t he Arabian Gulf Count ries

Country

Radio Television Internet

Est.Date

No. of

Stations

(1998)

No. of

Receiversand No per

1000 (1997)

Est.Date

No. of

Stations

(1998)

No. of

Receivers

and No.

per 1000

(1997)

StartDate

No. of

Users

(1997)

Bahrain 1941

2 AM

3 FM

338,000

580/1000

1974 4

275,000

472/1000

Dec

199553,000

Kuwait 1961

6 AM

11 FM

1 SW

1,175,000

678/1000

1961 13

875,000

505/1000

Sep

199755,000

Oman 1970

3 AM

9 FM

2 SW

1,400,000

607/1000

1974 13

1,600,000

694/1000

Jan

199728,000

Qatar 1968

6 AM

5 FM

1 SW

256,000

450/1000

1970 3

230,000

404/1000

May

1996

25,000

Saudi

Arabia1932

43 AM

31 FM

2 SW

6,250,000

321/1000

1965 117

5,100,000

262/1000

Jan

1999190,000

UAE 1969

13 AM

7 FM

2 SW

820,000

355/1000

1969 15

310,000

134/1000

Aug

1995

220,000



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The Int ernet :

The int roduct ion and subsequent development of Int ernet

services in t he Gulf region was brought about t hanks to st rong

oil-dependent financial provisions, and t he availabilit y of a high

standard t elecommunicat ions inf rast ruct ure (see Table 2 f or

figures). All t he Gulf daily newspapers and most of t he magazines

are now available on t he Int ernet . The Int ernet has provided t hese

newspapers wit h wider dist ribut ion and direct interact ion wit h

t heir readers (Kirchner, 2001:13 7158-) . What is more, all radioand t elevision services t hroughout t he Gulf now have elect ronic

pages (Al-Shehri, 20 00) . Ot her web pages are also available apart

f rom t he elect ronic edit ions of newspapers, and t hese provide

audiences with a wide variety of updated news features. The

services in quest ion include: www.nassej.com, www.elaph.com,

and www.moheet .com ( www.mideast web.org/ mewnewslinks,

accessed 16 04 -05-).

While governments were keen to promote the use of the

Int ernet , its advent in the region saw measures put in place by

t he aut horit ies t o prohibit certain web pages, in order t o prot ect

t he minds of children and t o cont rol Internet content put out

by polit ical opposit ion groups by means of fi lt ering syst ems.

All the Gulf countries justify restriction of Internet access

for the purpose of ‘cultural identity protection’ (Kirchner,2001:137158-). The Internet, for example, is the arena in

which a bat t le t akes place bet ween two conflict ing object ives

current ly held by t he Bahraini government : its bid to become

<the telecommunications hub of the Gulf> (www.batelco.

com.bh/ GENERAL/ PROFILE.ASP, accessed 1304-05-) and it s

det erminat ion to suppress informat ion crit ical of t he Al-Khalifa

ruling family. On the one hand, the aut horit ies have promot ed

use of t he Int ernet , making access available ever since 19 95,

and easy t o obt ain. No permission is required t o launch a website.



2

Several Int ernet cafés serve t he public (www.bat elco.com.bh/

GENERAL/ PROFILE.ASP accessed 1304-05-) .

In Kuwait , t he Int ernet is managed by t he Minist ry of

Communicat ions, which ent ered int o a cont ract wit h GulfNet

Kuwait Comput er Company (now Gulfnet Int ernat ional

Company) in 1994 t o of fer Int ernet connect ions on an exclusive

basis t o public and government agencies. A new Int ernet service

provider, ZakSat was set up in Kuwait in 19 97, and st art ed

of fering public Int ernet access in the very same year. Omanopened Internet service t o t he public in 19 97 (www.gt o.net .om,

accessed 25200 4/ 4/ ).

Public Internet access has been made available in Qatar since

1996, while Saudi Arabia started allowing the public in that

count ry access t o t he Int ernet t o local service providers in 1999.

Saudi Arabia it self has been connected t o t he Int ernet since

1994, but had rest ricted it s use t o state academic, medical and

research inst it ut ions. Saudi cit izens and resident s were however

f ree to purchase comput ers and modems, and could connect t o

t he Int ernet t hrough dial-up services of fered by f oreign ISPs, and

even place websites on foreign servers. It was not unt il January

1999, however, t hat local ISPs began connect ing ordinary

cit izens. This delay was due in large part t o t he self-proclaimed

determination of the authorities to establish a system forcontrolling the flow of information online (www.hrw.org/

advocacy/ internet / mena/ saudi, accessed 12 004/ 4/ ).

Nat ional News Agencies:

Each of t he Arabian Gulf count ries has an of ficial nat ional news

agency, t he main purpose of which is t o gat her and disseminate

news about it s own count ry. These news agencies are regardedas t he official sources for t he nat ional mass media and for t he



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foreign media (Jamal, 2001: 90 ) . They funct ion as affiliat es of

t he Minist ry of Informat ion in all of t he count ries except Qat ar,

where t he nat ional news agency is at t ached t o t he Qatar General

Broadcast ing and Television Corporat ion. There are no privat e

news agencies operat ing in the region. All t he nat ional news

agencies have Int ernet websites f rom which informat ion can be

obt ained. The first and t he largest nat ional news agency in t he

Gulf is t he Saudi Press Agency (SPA) , set up in 1971. SPA has a

staf f of nearly 50 0 employees, t ransmit t ing a comprehensive

Arabic news bullet in 24 hours a day t hat feat ures bot h nat ionaland internat ional news. It also broadcasts news bullet ins in English

and French, and dist ribut es a special bullet in and phot ographs.

Locally, SPA has set up main offices in major Saudi cit ies, and

appointed a number of correspondent s in governorat es and small

t owns. Abroad, SPA has t o date set up seven offi ces in the capital

cit ies of major count ries, (ht t p:/ / www.spa.gov.sa/ html/ spa,

accessed 23200 2/ 1/ ).

The ot her nat ional news agencies in t he region were est ablished

lat er, wit h smaller capabilit ies and resources. Kuwait News

Agency (KUNA) was founded in 1976 and t wo years lat er, t he Gulf

News Agency ( GNA) was est ablished as an official regional news

agency f or Gulf count ries. GNA lat er became t he Bahrain News

Agency in 20 01. The Emirates News Agency, WAM, was set up

in 19 76 ( ht t p:/ / www.wam.org.ae/ accessed 72 00 2/ 4/ ). TheQat ar News Agency (QNA) was founded in 1975, (ht t p:/ / www.

qnaol.com/ accessed 16 20 05 / 3/ ).

Media Policy and Regulat ion :

There are t wo main precondit ions for t he development of media

policy in t he Gulf st at es. The first of t hese is t hat media policy

must have been developed by individual st ate government s andt he second is t hat it must have t he approval of t he GCC, which



2

out lines t he elements of common media policy for t he region,

as well as a charter for media in t he Gulf st ates t hat establishes

t elevision programming st andards.

Kazan (1993: 93) summarises the main principles of Gulf

communicat ion policies as follows:

1.The media should promot e and deepen t he idea of obedience

t o Allah, as defined by t he ruling elit e and t he Prophet .

2.The media should ref rain f rom crit icising t he ruler, and should

urge people t o respect and preserve t he established order.

3.The media should prot ect Islamic values.

4.The media should pay special at t ent ion to t he youth in a way

t hat would avoid their deviat ion f rom t he right pat h.

5.The media should not be allowed to publish any mat erial t hat

implies t he defamat ion of any Arab or Muslim head of stat e

or t he head of any ot her st at e considered friendly t o t he Gulf

count ries, and Gulf t elevision services should st rive t o

preserve local cult ural t radit ions and should adhere in their

programme t o t he goals of preserving spirit ual values and t o

behavioural pat t erns derived f rom Islamic ideology.

Media policy in each of t he Gulf count ries is regulat ed by publishing

law t hat regulat es licensing and ownership, and provides general

out lines on what is prohibit ed from being published (Hindi,

1999) . In all the Gulf count ries apart f rom Kuwait , publishing

law explicit ly forbids the publicat ion of any t opics crit icising

nat ional securit y, st abilit y, t he Islamic religion, and t he head of

state or royal family members. No law current ly on the st at ut ebook in Kuwait , however, prohibit s crit icism of t he head of stat e



30

(Abu Zaid 1986: 113; Hindi 1999: 331) . Publishing law in t he

Gulf st ates generally, wit h the except ion of Kuwait and Oman,

stat es t hat heads of ot her f riendly count ries and t heir diplomat ic

represent at ives should be respect ed and not crit icised. Under

Omani publishing law, no crit icism is allowed of t he Sultan, but

not hing is said about t he heads of ot her count ries (Al-Abd,

1995:192, Rugh, 20 04: 6 7). Kuwait i publishing law, by cont rast ,

cont ains no such prohibit ions. The Kuwait i press is complet ely

different from that of the other Gulf countries. According to

Kuwait ’ s 19 91 const it ut ion, «f reedom of opinion is guarant eedt o everyone . . . within t he limit s of t he law.» The 1961 Press and

Publishing Law est ablished fines and prison t erms for publicat ion

of banned mat erials, which include report s crit ical of t he

government . Before t he Iraqi invasion in 1990, Kuwait had t he

reput at ion of having t he most liberal press in the Gulf region. Pre-

publicat ion censorship was non-exist ent , and t he government

it self of t en used «leaks» t o t he press t o t est public responses t o

it s policies. Kuwait has managed t o maint ain it s reput at ion for

relat ively uncensored press coverage.

In Saudi Arabia, censorship is st rict and crit icism of t he

government is censored aut omat ically. There is a censorship

committee with representatives from different ministries to

monitor all local and foreign publications (Amin, 2001: 27).

The Kingdom>s press code, in force since 1964, gives thegovernment considerable powers t o int ervene in t he media as it

judges necessary ( Al- Magushi, 1994) . In 1994, t he Saudi Arabian

government banned satellit e t elevision receiving equipment .

The government promised t o implement a recept ion scheme

for f oreign satellit e broadcasts and deliver t hese t elevision

programmes t hrough a cable system, allowing t he government

t o cont rol programme content (Boyd, 1993: 147; www.saudi-

t v.org/ accessed on 22 002/ 3/ ) . No crit icism of Islam, t he rulingfamily or t he government is allowed (Rampal, 1994:254) . This



31

notwithstanding, the government has permitted criticism of

specific government members and crit icism related t o social

issues, since 1990. This relaxat ion of t he ban on crit icism aimed

at individuals engaged in government and in respect t o social

issues is regarded as a consequence of t he impact made by t he

first and second Gulf Wars (Rugh, 2004: 71 ) .

Qatar has no official censorship. The government formally lif t ed

censorship of t he media in 1995 and government interference

since t hen has remained significant ly limit ed. Newspapers inQatar, however, recognise the need for self-censorship in not

publishing mat erial crit ical of t he ruling f amily, t he government

or religious issues (Rugh, 2004: 69) . The St at e of Qat ar’s Radio

and TV Corporat ion (RTC) operat es the Qatar News Agency, t he

Qatar Broadcast ing Service, and t he Qatar Television Service.

In Bahrain, although publishing law appears on t he surface t o be

ext remely st rict , commencement of t he present King’s reign in

1996 was accompanied by major changes favouring f reedom of

speech. The press was for t he first t ime allowed t o quest ion the

government about it s policies and plans, and in pract ical t erms,

many crit ical issues ant it het ical t o t he government have been

raised in t hese newspapers since t hat t ime. Following this t rend,

t he UAE government began t o allow greater press freedom,

permit t ing some newspapers t o raise cont roversial issues inways that would have not been allowed in t he previous years.

(Rugh, 200 4: 74 ).

Radio and t elevision are cont rolled more t ight ly t han the print

media and are direct ly supervised by t he government , given the

fact t hat broadcast media are able to bypass obst acles t o lit eracy

and reach a wider audience (Amin, 2002) . Government s have

set t he media agenda for radio and television in order t o promot et heir polit ical, religious, cultural and economic programmes



32

(Kamalipour and Mowlana, 19 94) . The elect ronic media in the

Gulf are managed by t he government s in the region t hrough a

Minist ry of Informat ion in all of t he count ries, except in Qatar,

which abolished it in 1996 when t he Qatar Television and Radio

Corporat ion was est ablished (Amin, 2001:23 41-; Rugh, 2004:

204) . All t he government s in t he region supervise and monit or

radio and t elevision programmes in one way or t he ot her in order t o

guarant ee t hat t hey comply wit h t heir communicat ion and policy

guidelines. Kazan (1993) explained t he reason for t his sit uat ion

as being on account of t he elect ronic media’s import ance as asymbol of sovereignt y and independence and as a t ool of polit ical

and social significance. According to Rugh (2004: 181191-),

elect ronic media channels in t he Gulf are used as inst rument s of

propaganda and as symbols of power, rather t han inst rument s of

t wo-way communicat ion. They are cert ainly not t o be regarded

as agent s of social change. Amin (1 996: 102) argues that t he

primary goals of developing satellit e television in t he Arab world

were t wofold: present ing a favourable pict ure t o t he rest of t he

world, and broadcast ing Arabic language programmes t o Arabs

living abroad.

It would seem from t he basic media policies of t he administ rat ions

in the Gulf t hat much of t he media has been direct ed to creat e

‘of ficial’ media in which media cont ent consist s of ‘of ficial’ news,

especially news about t he decisions and act ivit ies of seniorgovernment of ficials. According t o Amin (1996: 10 3) «The

official funct ion of t he media in the Arab world can be underst ood

in terms of f ollowing sequence of priorit ies: conveying news and

informat ion, interpret ing and comment ing on events, reinforcing

social norms and cult ural awareness, providing specialized dat a

for commercial promot ion, and ent ert ainment .»



33

Media Ownership and Financial Support Pat t erns:

In general, media policy in t he Gulf advocates private ownership

of the print media, but reserves ongoing ownership of the

elect ronic media by t he dif ferent government s. The press

in t hese count ries is owned by private individuals, families or

groups. The press in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar is

ent irely privately owned. Despite t his, t he print media receive

financial support f rom t heir respect ive government s in t he form

of payment s for advert isement s, subscript ions for governmentemployees, and even direct subsidies (Rugh, 20 04: 75 ) . Bahraini

newspapers are generally «commercially savvy» and derive much

of t heir income from sales and advert ising (Hamod and Parsigian,

1994: 40 ) . Despit e t his, t hey cont inue to depend subst ant ially

on government funding, the government itself owning

approximat ely 4 0% of Al Ayam, for inst ance (Rugh, 20 04: 69 ) .

Media policy in Saudi Arabia ensures that all newspapers cont inue

t o be owned by press establishment s (Al-Shobaily, 20 00: 128;

Rampal, 1994: 246). Despite this favoured position, these

est ablishment s receive financial support f rom t he government

by various means: through loans and financial cont ribut ions,

through subsidies for government advertisements, through

free transportation of newspapers to outlying parts of the

Kingdom on Saudi Airlines, t hrough t he provision of loans and

financial cont ribut ion, through subsidies for government aladvertisements, not to mention the fact that such press

est ablishment s are exempt f rom government t axes (Al-Shobaily,

2000: 135) . In Kuwait , t he press is basically a privat e inst it ut ion,

owned by Kuwait i families as family businesses. The profit abilit y

of newspapers, however, depends subst ant ially on government

advert ising and direct governmental subsidies (Rugh, 2004:

99) . The print media sect or in Qat ar is openly subsidised by t he

government , despite being ent irely privat ely owned (Arafa,

1994: 240).



34

Some newspapers in Oman and the UAE are st ill owned by t he

government . In Oman, a number of newspapers are owned by

t he government or government agencies; these include Oman

and Oman Daily Observer (Noor A l-Deen, 1994: 194) . The UAE

government cont inues to own a small number of newspapers,

but the trend is towards complete privatisation. Among the

nine dailies current ly published, t hree are sponsored by t he

government : Al-It t ihad, Al-Wahda and Al-Bayan (Babbili and

Hussain, 1994: 307; Rugh 2004: 64) . In dist inct cont rast t o t he

print media in the Gulf, t he elect ronic media, including the Int ernetare owned, t ight ly cont rolled and managed by Gulf government s

through the Ministry of Information in each of the countries,

apart f rom Qatar, which abolished it s minist ry of informat ion

in 1996 and set up t he Qat ar t elevision and radio corporat ion

(Qatar General Broadcast ing and Television Corporat ion) (Amin,

20 01 :23 41 -; Rugh, 20 04 : 20 4) .

The Bahraini government made radio and t elevision an

administ rat ively and financially independent public corporat ion

in 1993. Despite this, it remained under government cont rol.

Qatar creat ed a General Associat ion for Radio and Television

t o supervise government -owned terrest rial broadcast ing

facilit ies. The government current ly owns all t he radio and

t elevision st at ions except Al Jazeera, which has an independent

administ rat ive and financial body. In 1995, t he government oft he UAE set up t he Emirat es Broadcast ing Corporat ion (EBC)

wit h t he aim of improving t he performance of nat ional radio

and t elevision services. A few years lat er in 1999, however, t he

government re-organised radio and t elevision services, creat ing

an autonomous organisation attached to the Information

Minist ry, the Emirat es Media Incorporat ion (EMI) , charact erised

by an independent administrative and editorial body which

was given freedom and autonomy, but remained financiallydependent on t he government . While the EMI represent s the



35

federal government , each of t he emirat es like Dubai, Sharjah and

Ajman have t heir own separate t elevision channel, cont rolled by

t heir local government s (Rugh, 2004: 181191-).

Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait have seen a few changes in t he

st ruct ure of radio and t elevision services when compared t o

ot her count ries in the region. In Saudi Arabia, t he broadcast ing

services depart ment of t he Minist ry of Informat ion cont inues t o

have a monopoly over all public broadcast ing. Kuwait and Oman

have maintained their terrestrial television stations with littlechange and t hese cont inue to be under government cont rol

(Rugh, 20 04 : 18119 1-).

Gulf Media in Transit ion:

Af t er t he discovery of oil in t he t hirt ies and t he boom in oil prices

lat er in the sevent ies, t he Arabian Gulf st ates have come rapidly

into t he global market . Nevertheless, much of t heir t radit ional

social st ruct ure has been preserved. As explained above, t he

most important elements that shape the traditional social

st ruct ure in the Arabian Gulf st ates are religion as Islam and t he

Arabian culture. Fox et al. (2006: 3) argue t hat in t he Arabian

Gulf st at es, t radit ional familial st ruct ure direct s t he process of

globalisat ion. They st at ed t hat “ t he Gulf societ ies are recept ive

to material benefits of globalisation, on the other hand theydeliberately cushion themselves from t he negat ive aspect s

of market penet rat ion int o social life and ideology.’’ It seems

t hat globalizat ion in the Gulf meshes with Gulf t radit ions rat her

t han being an imported t ot al package of lifest yle and values.

In t heir view, ideology and kinship are overarching dimensions

channeling t he day-t o-day events creat ing globalisat ion. On the

ot her hand, they have benefit ed from t he informat ion technology

such as comput erizat ion, modernizat ion, sat ellisat ion, andInt ernet isat ion. The UAE most probably has done much more even



36

in terms of infrast ruct ure by allocat ing necessary invest ments

promot ing it s potent ialit ies and t aking serious init iat ives in the

e-commerce market (Abdulla, 2006: 183) . The est ablishment

of Dubai f ree zone for t echnology and media would determine

t he future of t he region not only f or t he UAE.

In general, t he majorit y including t he leadership in t he Arabian

Gulf seems t o accept globalisat ion by mainly incorporat ing new

t echnology and show t hat Islam as a religion is very t olerant .

Nevert heless, some do antagonise globalisat ion and declare t hatit is against t he values of Islam (Fox et al., 20 06: 9) .

These conservat ive oil rich st at es appear t o be more comf ort able

t o deal with economic and t echnical t han with polit ical aspect s

of globalisat ion. They seem t o be t hreat ened by polit ical

globalisat ion through dif ferent aspect s. Abdulla (2006: 18 4)

summarises t he threat s as follows:

1. Trusting the market and its invisible forces to regulated

relat ionships bet ween people and count ries, so t hat local

government s cede cont rol t o outside forces.

2. Gradually losing t heir power t o govern and eventually

surrendering t heir nat ural sovereignt y t o t he people as

consumers who become responsible for t he way t heir owncommunit y is governed, so t hat people’s sovereignt y replaces

stat e sovereignt y.

3. The breakdown of t he st at e t o collect ive decision making of

many st ates in addressing global issues.

4. The failure of t he states t o live up t o t he requirement s of an

open and globalized societ y where cit izens are f reely connected



3

t hrough global networks, which replace nat ional st ruct ures and

loyalties.

5. The emergence of larger polit ical unit s, wit h t heir own

supranat ional administ rat ive apparatuses.

6. St ates are forced t o democrat ize and embrace liberal

democracy, which is in conflict wit h t he t radit ional ruling

dynast ies prevailing in the Gulf st ates.

On the contrary, Abdulla (2006: 185) claims that many

opport unit ies may also arise wit h polit ical globalisat ion in the

Arabian Gulf. Most import ant ly are t he democrat ic reforms t hat

t hese count ires have t o accept . In t he Arabian Gulf region over

t he last decade t here have been however, some movement s

t owards democrat isat ion and polit ical reforms and more ease

on cont rol on t he press. Along with t his, there has been growing

number of civil societ y groups demanding part icipat ion in polit ical

decision-making and t he easing of repression and censorship

(Hafez, 2002 ; Vogt, 2002 ).

Alt hough t he government s in t he region have not changed the

writ t en media policies, they have act ually reduced censorship and

allowed some crit icism of t he government , as explained above.

They also encouraged and permit t ed t he establishment of privat ebroadcast ing (Vogt , 2002) , which was in it self a revolut ionary

act in t he history of Gulf media. The privat e broadcast ing was

somehow more independent f rom government al cont rol, such

as Al-Jazeera in Qat ar and Al-Arabiya in Dubai. Even in Saudi

Arabia, where media cont rol is t he st rict est , Al-Akhbariya was

established, allowing Saudi women present ers t o appear on

screen for t he first t ime.



38

The int roduct ion of t he private-owned and semi-government al

sat ellit e channels had a significant polit ical impact on t he

polit ical sit uat ion not only in the Gulf, but on all Arab audiences.

Since 1990, af t er the int roduct ion of sat ellit e television, many

profound changes in t he st ruct ure and content of bot h news and

t elevision programmes emerged. The first import ant sat ellit e

channel, Middle East Broadcast Corporat ion (MBC), est ablished

by privat e Saudi businessmen broadcast ing f rom Europe and

seeking a pan-Arab market , influenced t he content and st yle

of programmes of Gulf count ries’ nat ional t elevision channels,which were cont rolled by t heir governments, and encouraged

t hem t o est ablish their own sat ellit e channels (Rugh, 2004:20 1-

248) . The region also entered a new era of communicat ion by

t he establishment of Al-Jazeera in Qatar in 19 96. Lat er on in

February 2003, t he MBC launched Al Arabia as a main 24 hours

news channel f rom Dubai.

Specifically, Al Jazeera and Al Arabia, through t heir informat ion

provision and interpretation of the important Arabic political

issues, such as t he Iraqi and Palest ine-Israeli confl ict s have

had an enormous impact on t he audience views and polit ical

consciousness, present ing informat ion and polit ical analysis in

t he Arabic language t hrough Arabic eyes. Furt hermore, ot her

programmes are also presented on t hese channels like talk

shows, polit ical comment ary and women’s programmes, all ofwhich t ackle social and polit ical issues freely and out spokenly.

Talks shows have part icularly have gained popularit y, since

t hey focus on very sensit ive issues which are never allowed t o

be discussed on government -owned channels. El-Nawawy and

Iskandar (2002) pointed t hat t he channel had emerged as a

polit ical player in t he event s following t he 11 Sept ember at t acks

on t he Unit ed St ates. More t han an agency report ing t he news as it

happens, Al-Jazeera has access t o t he Arab world, is <scooping>t he west ern media conglomerat es, and is considered a powerf ul



3

and openly crit ical satellit e pan-Arab news net work in the Arabic

language (Amin, 2001: 2341-). Al-Jazeera has gained wide

acceptance amongst Arab audiences and it s programmes have

creat ed an independent public sphere (Hafez, 2002).

Sharabi (2003) has predicted that t his t rend in media may have

a posit ive impact on people’s polit ical at t it udes. This predict ion

is based on increased polit ical awareness in t he region, people’s

capability t o approve opinions on polit ical issues t hat were not

accepted previously, and t he ef fect ive roles of t he polit icalgroups. Kazan (1994: 177) , in his st udy of t he impact of media

on t he modernity among individuals in the Arabian Gulf st ates,

has commented that exposure to world news content as

disseminat ed by local, regional or f oreign media had resulted in

at t it udinal modernity ( i.e, staying informed about t he world and

t aking an act ive role as cit izens) .

In t he same t rend, t he Gulf media have t ransformed int o a new

form, start ing with t he establishment of Dubai Media Cit y,

located in t he UAE since January 2001, t ransforming Dubai into

an invest ment zone for giant media conglomerat es. The Cit y

provides an advanced inf rast ruct ure and support ive environment

for media-relat ed businesses t o operate globally out of Dubai.

Since it s opening, the Cit y has grown t remendously t o become

a thriving media community wit h over 780 companies and5,00 0 knowledge workers including over 200 f reelance media

professionals. CNN has launched it s Arabic news websit e and

regional news bureau at t he Cit y. Pan-Arabic giant broadcast er

MBC relocat ed it s int ernat ional headquart ers f rom London t o

Dubai and also launched a new Arabic sat ellit e 24-hours news

channel Al-Arabia. CNBC Arabiya, a regional Arabic-language

news channel, has launched operat ions from it s new st udio in

DMC. Showt ime Net work, Reut ers, AFP, Associated Press (AP) ,SRPC, Sony Broadcast and Professional, St ar TV, BMG, Showt ime,



40

Bert elsmann and Lowe Worldwide have shift ed t heir regional

headquart ers t here.

These changes in the Gulf media have been t remendous, and

although accompanied by relatively more participation and

democrat isat ion, t here are st ill elements of uncert ainty and

uncont rollability. In Bahrain, for example, in spit e of t he relat ive

polit ical opening-up and securit y relaxat ion, freedom of t he press

st ill suff ers as many journalist s have been quest ioned and several

books have been banned f rom publicat ion (A l-Salehi, 2004) .

Zahlan (2001: 363) claims that the Gulf governments «have

established an enabling environment t o manage t he process of

change, which is demonst rat ed in t heir commit ment t o invest

in human resources. The adopt ion of environment al prot ect ion

policies, the int roduct ion of qualit y t elecommunicat ion services,

and high levels of Int ernet and comput er penet rat ion syst ems

all illust rate Gulf leaders’ quest for excellence.» In t he age of

t he informat ion revolut ion, t he t radit ional set t ings in t he Gulf

count ries of cont rol and rest rict ion will not persist . Kuwait is t he

most democrat ic and liberal count ry among t he Arabian Gulf

count ries, and is get t ing much more open towards democracy.

Bahrain is moving along t he same t rack and has lessened t he

cont rol on press by allowing great er freedom of expression. The

rest of t he Arabian Gulf had some polit ical reforms but are st ill farbehind. Now t he government s of Arabian Gulf stat es have the

decision t o move forward towards great er democrat isat ion.





42

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Documents

The Media Landscape in the Arab Gulf Countries