The BBC is planning to launch its own Arabic language television station, financed by the Foreign Office and run by the BBC. It seems to be following the Al Hurra model in that it is explicitly intended to compete with al Jazeera.
As with al Hurra, it probably won't make much difference in the Arab world. The Arab media market is still fiercely competitive, and Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya don't have much to worry about.
It doesn't have to be as disastrous as Al Hurra, though. Despite being tarnished by association with the US in Iraq, the Brits aren't America, and the BBC Radio Arabic Service has a long and respectable history. If the BBC can put together a high quality product with programming and news that people actually want to watch, they'll be a huge step above Al Hurra.
And if they can demonstrate editorial independence and establish themselves as a reliable source of news - including, for example, with hard hitting coverage of British domestic politics - then they'll be in a different class from Al Hurra, which doesn't seem to have been done that (no serious coverage of American domestic politics, oddly enough, even though that would seem to be their comparative advantage).
Even if the BBC station passes those two tests - quality product and editorial independence - it still won't make much difference. Arab opposition to the Bush administration's foreign policy is not just because of bad media or misunderstandings, no matter how many times Rumsfeld and Rice say so.
I just heard Fahmi Huwaydi, the highly respected Egyptian journalist, say that most Arabs would probably adopt a wait and see attitude towards the BBC Arabic Station. Huwaydi refuses to appear on Al Hurra - and I remember that when al Hurra was launched, Huwaydi was one of those who bucked the general trend by saying that he doubted that al Hurra mattered very much and that he wasn't especially bothered by it - and doesn't know anybody who watches it. Huwaydi doubts that the BBC station will succeed either, but he's willing to wait and see what it looks like. I imagine that I - who am not a highly respected Arab newspaper columnist - can do the same!
Ahhh....five Aardvark comments today. Very good, Abu, lots of yummy ants for everyone.
Two things:
Listening to NPR in the car, the network reported that BBC reporters are going to be sent to....reeducation camp. That's right, they are all being sent back to "approved" live-in journalism school for a few weeks to be run by the new BBC management.
Second, we saw Jehane Noujaim's film, 'Control Room'. In nine words: Al Jazeera faces off against CENTCOM for war news. Brilliant film. One of their poor reporters in Baghdad, featured in the film, was murdered, oh, excuse me, fatally and collaterally damaged in a deliberate news strike on their building.
Posted by: paper tigress | June 24, 2004 at 09:39 PM
This is actually the BBC's second attempt at an Arabic television channel. The first was shut down by the Saudi investors for the crime of criticising the Saudi government, whereupon the reporters ran away and started a little thing called Al-Jazeera.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2004 at 10:08 AM