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London-Based Paper Reports BBC Decision to Launch Arabic TV Channel

Posted on: Sunday, 30 October 2005, 06:00 CST

Text of Al -Quds Al -Arabi report: "BBC Launches Arabic Television Channel to Compete with Al-Jazeera, Will Have to Close 10 Foreign Broadcasts in Return for Channel That Wins Arab Hearts", published by London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi on 26 October

The British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, has unveiled plans to introduce structural changes that are the biggest in its history in order to launch an Arabic television channel that competes with Al- Jazeera. However, in pursuing this venture, which seeks to boost the presence of British politics in the region, the BBC will have to restructure its World Service by shutting down 10 language services, eight of which target European audiences.

The new service will compete with Al-Jazeera, which is accused by Washington and Britain of lack of impartiality in its coverage of Iraq. One cannot disassociate this announcement from the ramifications of 11 September and the attempts by the US administration and its allies in London to win the hearts and minds of Arabs. Washington failed to undermine Al-Jazeera's presence when it launched an Arabic satellite channel, Al-Hurrah, at the start of 2004, which was soon abandoned by Arab viewers not only for political reasons, but also for technical reasons and reasons relating to professionalism.

Arab viewers see channels like Al-Hurrah as being no more than high-budget (62m dollars a year) US propaganda tools. BBC [World Service] Director Nigel Chapman viewed these structural changes as the "biggest transformation" within the corporation since it first international broadcast some 70 years ago. He said that the state- run radio and television corporation needs to strengthen its presence in the Middle East by launching satellite channels similar to Qatar's Al-Jazeera channel.

Chapman admitted that this measure reflects the changes in the world's media and political landscape in a manner demanding that we review Cold War priorities. He said: "The Middle East's media landscape has changed profoundly following the spread of satellite television. Without a BBC news presence in Arabic on television, we run the risk of always being second to television, despite the quality of our radio and new media tools."

The decision to launch the new Arab station was taken upon the request of the British Foreign Office, which finances the World Service through a direct grant valued at approximately 239m pounds (422.2m dollars) for the year 2005.

World Service officials said that the new channel, which will be not require a subscription and will be available to anyone who has a satellite dish or a cable connection, will act as an alternative to Al-Jazeera.

Al-Jazeera is preparing to launch an English-language channel starting next year. BBC ratings dropped in the Arab world following the first Gulf War, but Chapman said that the BBC, which is expected to begin broadcasting in Arabic in 2007, is "more experienced" in providing such a service.

He added: "The viewers know that the BBC is unique in that it has a magnificent international network of journalists, is the best in the world in terms of bureaus and correspondents, and has a reputation that was established over more than 60 years of Arabic radio broadcast."

Nigel Chapman and Husam al-Sukkari, head of the BBC Arabic service, said that the BBC benefited from a previous attempt to launch an Arabic television channel, which ended in failure in 1996 following editorial differences with the Saudi partner. Al-Jazeera was created in 1996 following the collapse of the BBC Arabic service, which was a joint venture between the BBC World Service and the Saudi-owned Orbit television network. Al-Jazeera employed several of the employees of the BBC's collapsed Arabic service and was soon leading the 10 satellite channels in the Arab world due to its wide margin of freedom and discussion of issues that were always viewed as taboo. The British channel will be called the "BBC Arabic Channel" and will be publicly financed.

Chapman said that the channel would observe "the standards of independence, neutrality and honesty, and will provide accurate and trusted coverage of world events." He went on to say that the BBC would be the only media group that provides Arabic radio, television, and Internet services.

Chapman vowed to build on the BBC's legacy as "the most successful, trusted, and respected voice in the Middle East". However, Arab observers feel that if the BBC wishes to succeed, it will have to learn from "Al-Hurrah's" experience and not turn into an advocate or tool of British policy.

The channel will cost 19m pounds (336m dollars) to launch and will create 148 jobs. The Arab channel is to be launched within the framework of the complete restructuring in which 218 jobs will be cancelled due to the closure of 10 language services to Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech, Greece, Austria, Kazakhstan, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Thailand.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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