Articles
Another channel attempts to infiltrate the Arab world
- Details
- Last Updated on Thursday, 19 April 2012 10:56
- Hits: 2581
Fadi Abu Sada - Euro News has just begun to join many channels who have done the same before: add another channel in Arabic to the existing English. They have created the Euro News Arabic service. The political climate in the region and specifically the European role in the Middle East is what led to the launching of this channel, however it should have learned from the mistakes of others. The Europeans are trying to enter the Arab world through the media. It does not work.
Al Hurra channel, the official US Arabic channel, did not fool any one of us. We know how the shells fall since the blast began. The Arab world does not accept what it is fed; it questions. The US channel was launched to convince the Arab world of its foreign policy, particularly in Iraq and Palestine. This project fell flat and empty. No one was taken in.
Al Hurra was not the only attempt.
We cannot forget to mention the German television Deutsche Welle DW, and the BBC, but it is with respect to the DW that it is an informative channel only, and even the BBC has a long and steady career, but it will never truly compete with other the existing Arabic channels, particularly Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya!
Russia Today news station, which tried after the death of the former Soviet Union to get back into the Arab world, did not succeed in doing so. It now does not believe it will succeed in light of media globalization, and the emergence of Arab channels that create a great deal competition professionally.
"France 24," despite its recent appearance which came not long after French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is already requesting the closure of the Arabic section. They said that if CNN speaks English and Al Jazeera only speaks Arabic, France 24 must speak French only. That was a strange move, particularly considering the current French political climate and its aspirations.
And consequently it is no secret to anyone that opportunities available are scarce to news stations. The new European Euro News does not know what they want from accessing Arab viewers. Europe does not even play enough of a direct role in the Middle East for this to make sense, although France is attempting to gain some admiration by working on the Syrian – Lebanese side, and its success in the Mediterranean Union. It is also after taking a larger role between Palestinians and Israelis.
I do not think the media arena, especially in the Arab world, will be able to have any more news channels, which seem to me to be in vogue at this time. It’s fashionable to have a news channel and broadcast in other languages. This exerts influence on a new audience. But it’s not working in the Middle East. No more, no less, I do not think that the vision of the Euro News, whatever their vision is, will be able to reach a large part of the Arab world. It cannot compete, nor can it expect to succeed in marketing the foreign policy of the European Union because everyone here already knows very well what it is. Nevertheless... Good luck to them!
