Al Jazeera’s staff may have held their breath for a moment on Sunday, as a new competitor briefly jumped into the competition for the pan-Arab news market. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi billionaire who has been listed previously as the richest Arab, launched Alarab TV on Sunday, broadcasting from Bahrain. However, the channel was taken off the air—less than 24 hours after it launched—for unclear reasons.
According to the station’s administration, the channel went down for “technical and administrative reasons” and will be “back soon.” At the same time, several media outlets speculated that the problem might have been due to an interview with a prominent Bahraini opposition figure.
Alarab was to broadcast from Bahrain due to the Saudi ban on private channels . Bahrain comes in ranked as 163 out of 180, as calculated by Reporters Without Borders in its 2014 World Press Freedom Index. Saudi Arabia ranks 164.
And yes, that is out of 180.
Officially the Information Ministry of Bahrain stated that it was working with Alarab to fix the problem and that the channel had temporarily been suspended. However, local Bahraini newspaper Akhbar al-Khaleej reported that the shutdown was due to “not adhering to the norms prevalent in Gulf countries.”
Before launching, the general manager for Alarab told the AFP “We are not going to take sides,” explaining that the channel would present a balanced approach to news stories.
Station owner Alwaleed has long been prominent in both the Middle East and the global business community through his leadership of Kingdom Holding Company. He was also included in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of the year in 2008.
Although the Saudi royal family receives routine criticism for its conservative policies within the Kingdom, Alwaleed notably hired the first female pilot to work within the Kingdom. The Saudi woman, Hanadi Al Hindi, flies his personal jet. He has also been reported to employ many women to work for KHC in the companies headquarters located in Jeddah.
As KHC has numerous investments in various regional and international media outlets, Alwaleed’s venture into pan-Arab news is a logical step. Yet at least for now, it looks like leading pan-Arab channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya can breath easy for a little while longer, at least until Alarab and Bahrain fix the “technical and administrative” issues.