Fergie's Tech Blog

Big Fish Dive into Arab News Stream

Doreen Carvajal writes in International Herald Tribune:

The media battle for hearts and market share in the Middle East is evolving into a teeming crowd of Western news organizations poised to deliver headlines - and geopolitical views - in the language of the Koran.

Backed by government financing, Germany's public international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, is preparing to beam as much as 24 hours daily of news programming in Arabic this autumn. France's yet-to-be-named CNN-style channel is in development for a year-end opening, along with a Web site in Arabic and later in 2007 an Arabic television version.

The state-owned Russia Today has similar plans for a Web site and Arabic television along with a $40 million budget, while the U.S.-based news giant CNN is holding back for now, preferring to watch the development of its Arabic Web site, which currently attracts more than 300,000 unique visitors monthly.

"I'm losing track," said Jerry Timmins, head of the BBC World Service's operations in Africa and the Middle East. "There's pretty much of an announcement a week, and it seems to be part of the fashion industry."

posted by Fergie @ 6/19/2006 06:04:00 PM