the media landscape in the arab gulf countries
TRANSCRIPT
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The Media Landscape in the Arab Gulf Countries
Dr. Adnan Jasim BuMetea
University of Bahrain - kingdom of Bahrain
Introduction:
Since modern media emergraed in t he Arabian Gulf st ates at t he st artof t he twent iet h cent ury, rapid development in the media t ook place
in what can now be seen as two dist inct stages. The changes that
t hat t ook place during t he first stage were related to independence
f rom Britain and t he boom in oil prices, while t he second stage of
changes t ook place in response t o advances in communicat ion
t echnology during the 199 0s.
This paper will describe the basic media sect ors in t he Gulf, wit h
part icular emphasis on print media. While t he st ruct ure and funct ion
of t he media in t he Gulf are no diff erent f rom t hat of ot her count ries,
actual media content is highly dist inct ive since it is t he product
of t he Gulf s polit ical, economic social and cult ural elements, as
described above. We will also show here how media policy put in
place by the different governments in the region regulates the
st ruct ure and performance of dif ferent media sect ors. Mediaownership in t he Gulf is also highlight ed in order t o demonst rat e
how governments can influence t he media t hrough ownership and
financial support . While t he majorit y of t he print media in t he Gulf are
privat ely owned, t he elect ronic media are st ill owned and regulat ed
by the state governments, with some little freedom for privet
investment in satellit e channels. We will show t hat t he majorit y of
t he print media are loyal t o t heir governments, even when t hey are
privately-owned.
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Hist orical Background :
Communicat ion in the Arabian Gulf st ates has t radit ionally been
seen as part of Arab cult ure it self , which is well-known as being
orally orientated and widely expressed by means of poet ry. The
people of t he region have been used t o t ransferring and exchanging
informat ion through t heir f amily and t ribal relat ionships, by means
of religious fest ivals and observances, and t hrough commercial
act ivit ies (Al-Rumaihi, 2002: 56 ) . Oral communicat ion is widespread
and is regarded as just as import ant as mass media in t he Arab world(Rugh, 2004 : 12) .
The development of t he press in Arab count ries in general is linked
t o t he involvement of West ern powers, argues Alt erman (1 998 :
5) who point s out t hat press act ivit ies developed at t he start of
the 19th century with the coming of western missionaries, and
t hat local government s throughout t he Middle East used t he press
t o promulgate official news and ent ert ainment . The hist ory of t he
print ing press in the Gulf st ates is comparat ively recent , however,
when compared to count ries such as Brit ain, where t he first daily
newspaper was founded in 1704. The Arabian Gulf countries
witnessed the emergence of print media only at t he start of t he 20 t h
cent ury. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain were among t he pioneers
in t he field, while Oman, Qatar, and t he UAE had t heir fi rst newspapers
only in t he 1960s and 19 70s. Saudi Arabia>s first newspaper(Hijaz) appeared in 19 08 during t he reign of t he Ot t oman Empire. It
was not unt il t he 19 50s that Saudi dailies first appeared in modern
formats focusing more on news and current affairs (Al Shobaily,
2000 : 10 6). The same is t rue of t he Kuwait i press, which st art ed to
emerge in 1928 when it produced t he first newspaper (Al-Kuwait )
(Azzat , 19 83: 1 7; Al-Rubiaan, 1995: 1 3), and developed into a
modern indust ry during t he 19 60s. The first Bahraini newspaper
(Al-Bahrain) was established in 1939, but modern print media
emerged only at t he beginning of t he 1970s following independence.
1 According to Al-Magushi (1 99 4) , «There is disagreement among historians about t hefirst newspaper in the area and some claim that the first publication dates back to 1883,because t he first print shop commenced operat ions in 188 2, publishing Hijaz WilayatiSilnamah Se in Turkish as well as certain profiles of Ottoman rulers written in Arabic.» Al-Magushi added t hat «Hizas was t he first weekly of ficial paper of t he stat e published in 19 08 .»
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The first daily newspaper in t he UAE was Akhbar Dubai (Dubai News)
produced in 196 6 ( Azzat , 1983 : 203; Redha, 1988 : 12) . Oman’s
first newspaper (Al-Wat an), on the other hand, saw the light of day
only in 1970 at t he t ime of independence. Similarly in Qatar, t he first
daily newspaper (Al-Raya) was set up in 1972 (Mohamed, 19 84:
12) .
Radio broadcast ing services became more est ablished with t he
development of technology during the late 1950s and 1960s.
This development was followed by t he adopt ion of t elevision bycount ries in t he Gulf during the 1970 s and 1980s. With the 199 0s
and t he t echnological advant ages t hat became responsible for
int roducing sat ellit e channels and a growt h in compet it ion, t he
region also wit nessed the appearance of privat ely owned and semi-
government al sat ellit e channels.
In t he elect ronic media field, Saudi Arabia was t he first t o set up a radio
net work in 19 32, t he main purpose of which was st at ed to be that of
informing t he King and his officials about event s in t he region. Public
broadcast ing start ed only in 1948, however, and the first t elevision
t ransmissions in t he Kingdom t ook place in 1965. Bahrain and
Kuwait radio launched t ransmissions as the first public broadcast ing
stat ions in the Arabian Gulf region when it went on air in 19 41 during
t he Second World War. These Arabic language stat ions were set up
by t he Brit ish t o count er Nazi broadcasts. The first official Bahrainibroadcast ing stat ion however had t o wait for it s inaugurat ion unt il
195 5, and the offi cial Kuwait i radio stat ion dat es t o only 196 1, the
year Kuwait became independent (Bold, 1993: 130) .
In Kuwait , a privat e t elevision stat ion owned by businessmen st art ed
it s movie programming in 1957 (Kuwait : Facts and Figures, 1999:
206) . Officially, t elevision services in Kuwait start ed only in 19 61
and colour t elevision was launched in 19 74, t he year in which official
t elevision broadcast ing started in Bahrain.
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In Qatar, t he UAE and Oman, radio t ransmission started later t han in
t he ot her count ries, in 1968, 1969 , and 1970 , respect ively (Boyd,
1993: 17 8; Oman 99: 13 5; Redha, 19 88) while in Bahrain, official
colour t elevision broadcast ing began in 1974.
Two factors have been part icularly significant in influencing
t he recent development of t he Gulf media in general and t hat of
print media in particular: firstly, the establishment of political
independence, and secondly t he increase in oil revenues during t he
1970s. In Bahrain, for example, in t he wake of a cent ury of mediasuppression by t he Brit ish, growt h in t he press media was observed
only following independence (Hamod and Parsigian,1994:28).
Cont inuing t his t rend, the launching of radio and t elevision
broadcast ing in Qatar, Oman, t he UAE and Kuwait occurred as an
expression of t he newly found sovereignt y of t hese count ries af t er
independence, and t heir f elt need t o announce the advent of a new
voice in t he region. Media development in t he Gulf region came
subsequent to the implementation of government policy (now
made possible by enormous increases in oil revenues) direct ed
at est ablishing st rong infrast ruct ure provisions, as evidenced
by t he const ruct ion of radio and t elevision service infrast ruct ure
and Internet services. Kazan (1993) points out that the rise in
oil revenues led t o economic expansion in t he Gulf count ries,
and t hereby t o t he expansion of inf rast ruct ure, including mass
communicat ion. This, in t urn, result ed in increasing urbanisat ionand an improvement in lit eracy rat es as bot h religious and secular
educat ion expanded. These unprecedent ed and dramat ic changes
bot h required and t hemselves engineered t he development of
modern mass media in t he Arabian Gulf count ries.
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Print Media:
Where t he number of daily newspapers and magazines published in
each of t he Gulf count ries is concerned, by 2002 Saudi Arabia had
a tot al of 1 76, Kuwait 80, t he UAE 72, and Oman 25 , and Bahrain
and Qatar each had 22 (Gulf Media and Press Direct ory, 20 02) (see
Table 3.3 for det ails of daily newspapers in the Gulf region). In each
of t he Arabian Gulf count ries, while the main daily newspapers are
published in Arabic, t he formal language of t he region, a number of
dailies are also published in ot her languages, especially English, duet o t he sizeable populat ion of expat riat es in t he region’s workforce.
In Saudi Arabia, leading Arabic dailies include Al-Hayat (Life) , Asharq
Al-Awsat (Middle East ) , Al Riyadh, Al Jazirah (Peninsula) and Okaz.
Al-Hayat (Life) and Asharq Al-Awsat are however based in London,
and are regarded as t he most popular privat e pan-Arab newspapers
(Amin, 2001: 27) . The English language dailies are Saudi Gazet t e,
Arab News, and Riyadh Daily (Table 3.3). There are a number of
magazines and periodicals, including Al Yamama and Igraa (Read).
Um-Al Qura is t he official weekly newspaper issued by t he Saudi
government . Today, t here are over 7 0 Saudi magazines published
on a wide range of t opics.
Kuwait has five Arabic dailies; Al-Rai Al-Aam (Public Opinion) , Al
Wat an (The Homeland) , Al Qabas (Firebrand) , Al Anba (News) and
Al Siyasa (Polit ics) (Table 3.3 ) . In addit ion to t he Arabic dailies, thereare t wo English newspapers, Arab Times and Kuwait Times. The
lat t er is also published in Malayalam and Urdu. In addit ion, t here are
a number of magazines published eit her weekly, like Iqra’a (polit ical
weekly) , Al-Dostoor, Al-Yaqaza, Almouasher and Azzamen
Magazine, or mont hly such as Al-Arabi and New Arabia. A furt her 50
or more weekly magazines and mont hly periodicals are published by
privat e and semi-government al organisat ions.
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Six daily newspapers are current ly published in Bahrain: four in
Arabic, and t wo in English . The count ry’s current principal daily
newspapers in Arabic are Akhbar Al Khaleej (Gulf News) and Al Ayam
(The Days). Three new Arabic newspapers were set up concurrent
wit h t he new polit ical changes in t he count ry, and t hese are Al-
Wasat (The Medium) , Al Met haqe, and Al Ahd (The Era) , a weekly
newspaper established in 20 03. English-language dailies include
t he Bahrain Tribune and Gulf Daily News (Table 3.3 ) .
Oman’s first daily newspaper, a privat e sect or init iat ive, wasAl-Watan (The Count ry) , and it cont inues t o enjoy t he highest
circulat ion (Benn’s Media Direct ory, 2 002) . The ot her dailies
published in Arabic include t he government -owned newspapers
Oman and Al-Shabiba (The Yout h) . Government -owned English
language dailies include Oman Daily Observer and Independent
Times of Oman (Table 3.3) . Apart f rom t hese daily papers, Oman
t oday has 24 diff erent periodicals and magazines.
The privately-owned press in Qatar consist s of t he Arabic dailies
Al-Rayah (The Banner) , Al-Wat an (The Count ry) , and Al-Sharq
(The East ) . The English language newspapers are Gulf Times and
The Peninsula (Table 3.3) . Twelve or more magazines on diff erent
t opics are also published.
The main daily Arabic newspapers in t he UAE include Al-It t ihad(The Unit y) Al-Bayan (The Manifest ) , Al-Khaleej (The Gulf) ,
Al-Fajr (The Dawn) and Alwehdah (The Union), t he latest addit ion
t o t he list being Akhbar Al-Arab (Arab News). English dailies
include Dubai News, UAE Today, Gulf News, Gulf News Tabloid,
Gulf News Classified, and Khaleej Times (Table 1). A number of
weeklies are also published, including Al-Reyadha wa Al-Shabab
(Sport and Yout h) , Al-Sada Magazine (The Echo) and Emirat es
Today. Several publicat ions covering diff erent t opics also appear in
Arabic and English.
2 In Bahrain, t wo more newspapers were published Al-Watan (Home) inDecember 200 5, and Al-Waqt (Time) in February 200 6.
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Table 1: Daily Newspapers in Arabian Gulf St ates
CountryName of
PaperSince
Circulat ion
(2002-
2003)
Language Publisher
Bahrain
Al Bahrain1939-
1945Arabic
Abdullah al
Zayed
Akhbar Al
Khaleej
1976 42,000 ArabicDar Akhbar Al
Akhaleej
Al Ayam 1989 17,000 Arabic Al Ayam Press
Gulf Daily
News1978 22,000 English
Dar Akhbar Al
Khaleej
Bahrain
Tribune1997 5,000 English Al Ayam Press
Al Wasat 2002 12,000 Arabic
Dar Alwasat for
Publishing and
Distribution
Al-
Meethaq2003 5,000 Arabic
Dar Al-Meethaq
for Publishing
and Dist ribut ion
Al Wat an 2005 10,000 Arabic
Al Wat an for
Publishing &
Dist ribut ion Co.
Al Waqt 2006 10,000 ArabicDar Al Waqt for
Media
Al Bilad 2008 N/ A ArabicAl Bilad for
Publishing
Circulation Total 12 3,000
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Kuwait
Kuwait
Magazine
1928-
1945Arabic
Abdul Aziz Al
Rasheed
Arab Times 1977 23,000 English Dar Al Siyasah
Al Anbaa 1976 85,000 Arabic Kuwait Press House
Al Qabas 1972 87,000 Arabic Al Qabas Ltd
Al Watan 1974 91,000 Arabic Dar Al Watan KSC
Al Rai Al
Aam1961 101,500 Arabic Dar Al Rai Al Aam
Al Siyasa 1965 50,000 Arabic Dar Al Siyasah
Kuwait Times 1961 32,000
English,
Malayalam
and Urdu
Dar Al Siyasah
The Daily Star 2003 18,000 English Dar al Watan Press
Al Jareeda 2007 30,000 ArabicAl Jareeda for
Printing & Publishing
Al Wasat 2007 50,000 Arabic Dar al Khabar
Al alam Al
Yaom2007 50,000 Arabic National Media Group
Annahar 2007 65,000 ArabicAnnahar Publishing &
Printing
Circulation Total 683,000
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Oman
Al Watan 1971 40,000 Arabic
Omani Etablishment
for Press, Printing and
Publishing
Oman 1972 20,000 ArabicOman Newspaper
House
Al Shabibah 1993 12,000 Arabic Dar Al Shabibah
Oman
Observer 1981 7,000 English
Oman Newspaper
House
Times of Oman
1975 21,000 English Al Essa Printing andPublishing
Azzamn 2007 25,000 Arabic Azzmn Establishment
Circulation Total 125.000
Qatar
Al Jareedah
Al Rasmeyah1961 Arabic
Information
Department- Doha
Al Arab 1972 20,000 Arabic
Dar Al- Ouruba
Priting and
Publishing
Al Watan 1995 25,000 Arabic Dar Al Watan Printing
Al Sharq 1987 22,000 Arabic Dar Al Sharq Printing
Al Rayyah 1979 18,000 ArabicGulf Publishing and
Printing Co.
Gulf Times 1978 25,000 EnglishGulf Publishing and
Printing Co.
The Peninsula 1996 10,000 English Dar Al Sharq Printing
Qatar Tribune 2006 15,000 EnglishQatar Information &
Marketing
Circulation Total 135,000
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Saudia
Arabia
Hijaz Wilayati
Silnamah
1883-
1884
Arabic +
TurkishOttomani Welayah
Al Yaum 1965 42,000 Arabic Dar Al Yaum Pulishing
Al Madinah 1936 39,000 ArabicAl Madina Publishing
House
Al Nadwa 1958 50,000 ArabicMecca Printing and
Information Est
Al Bilad 1934 14,000 Arabic Dar Al Bilad Printing
Al Jazeera 1960 120,000 ArabicDar Al Jazeera
Publishing
Okaz 100,000 ArabicOkaz Organisation for
Press and Publication
Saudi Gazette 1976 67,000 EnglishOkaz Organisation for
Press and Publication
Al Riyadh 1965 120,000 ArabicAl Yamama Press
Establishment
Riyadh Daily 1985 15,000 EnglishAl Yamama Press
Establishment
Arab News 1975 21,000 English
Saudi Research and
Marketing Group
(SRMG)
Al Watan 1999 150,000 ArabicDar Aseer for Pressand Publishing
Al Hayat
(based in
London)
1946 270,000 ArabicDar Al Hayat Printing
and Publishing
A Sharq Al
Awsat
(based in
London)
1978 236,000 Arabic
Saudi Research and
Marketing Group
(SRMG)
Al Massaia 1981 21,000
Arabic
(Evening
Daily)
Dar Al JazeeraPublishing
Al Eqtisadiah 1992 80,000 ArabicSaudi Research &
Publishing Co.
Al Rreyadi 1994 55,000 Arabic Sab INTL Holding co.
Al Malaeb 2003 65,000 Arabic Al Madina Press Grp
Shms 2005 120,000 Arabic SH.M.S Co. Limited
Circulation Total 1,585,000
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UAE
Akhbar
Dubai
1966-
1967Arabic
Local Dubai
Government
Emirates
News1975 21,150 English
Al Ittihad Press and
Publishing Corp
Al Fajr 1975 20,000 ArabicDar al Fajr Press and
Publishing
Gulf News 1978 75,000 English Al Nisr Publishing
Al Bayan 1980 45,000 Arabic Al Bayan Press
Al Ittihad 1972 75,000 ArabicAl Ittihad Press and
Publishing Corp
Al Khaleej 1970 65,000 ArabicDar Al Khaleej
Publishing
Al Wehda 1973 20,000 Arabic Dar Al Wehda
Khaleej
Times1978 70,000 English
Galadari Printing and
Publishing
The Gulf
Today1996 70,000 English
Dar Al Khaleej
Publishing
Akhbar Al
Arab2001 33,500 Arabic
Al Wathba
Establishment
Printing and
Publishing
7 Days 2003 67,000 English Al Sidra Media
Emarat Al
Youm 2005 70,000 Arabic Awraq Publishing
Emirates
Today2005 85,000 English Awraq Publishing
Arab News 2006 2,000 EnglishSaudi research
Publishing
Circulation Total 719,000
Gulf National Daily Newspapers Circulation 3,30,000
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Elect ronic Media:
Each of t he Arabian Gulf count ries now operates a wide range
of radio and t elevision channels. Kuwait , for example, has
four television channels: KTV1 (Arabic), KTV2 (English),
KTV3 (Sport s Channel) and KTV4 (overnight entert ainment )
(ht t p:/ / www.media.gov.kw/ accessed 25 20 02 / 3/ ). Wit h
the introduction of satellite, all countries in the region now
broadcast t elevision and radio services 24 hours a day. The radio
and t elevision syst ems’ reach enabled the broadcast of Arabiclanguage as the first programme and an English-language service
as a secondary programme, given the fact t hat English is widely
spoken in these countries (Amin, 2001: 2341-). The primary
radio and t elevision programmes are aimed at t he indigenous
populat ion of t he count ry and also t owards audiences scat t ered
across the Arabian Gulf . The secondary programmes are aimed
at expat riat es living in t he count ry and in the Gulf region. A
development over recent years is t hat some of t he Gulf count ries
now also broadcast in ot her languages. Saudi Arabia, for inst ance,
broadcasts in Bembari, Bengali, French, Indonesian, Farsi, Somali,
Swahili, Turkistan, Turkish and Urdu ( Kareem, 1982: 13; Boyd,
1993: 14 3) . Radio and t elevision services off er a wide variet y of
programmes covering polit ics, social and cult ural mat t ers, sport ,
drama, comedy, t alks, educat ional, children and family mat t ers,
ent ert ainment and religion, as well as providing a commercialservice t o local businesses and int ernat ional advert isers
(www.moi.gov.bh/ brtc/ radio.html, accessed 11 20 02 / 1/ ;
www.oman-t v.gov.om/ ,accessed 252 002/ 3/ ).
In t he case of t he UAE, each of t he emirat es has it s own radio and
t elevision st at ions. The Ras Al-Khaimah broadcast ing stat ion, for
example, has t wo channels in Arabic. The Sharjah broadcast ing
st at ion beams out programmes in Arabic and French, and t he
Umm Al-Qaiwain broadcast ing st at ion broadcast s in Arabic, while
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Abu Dhabi television programmes also incorporates informat ion,
entertainment , religion, cult ure, news and polit ics (Redha, 1988:
51) .
Table 2:Radio, TV and Int ernet in t he Arabian Gulf Count ries
Country
Radio Television Internet
Est.Date
No. of
Stations
(1998)
No. of
Receiversand No per
1000 (1997)
Est.Date
No. of
Stations
(1998)
No. of
Receivers
and No.
per 1000
(1997)
StartDate
No. of
Users
(1997)
Bahrain 1941
2 AM
3 FM
338,000
580/1000
1974 4
275,000
472/1000
Dec
199553,000
Kuwait 1961
6 AM
11 FM
1 SW
1,175,000
678/1000
1961 13
875,000
505/1000
Sep
199755,000
Oman 1970
3 AM
9 FM
2 SW
1,400,000
607/1000
1974 13
1,600,000
694/1000
Jan
199728,000
Qatar 1968
6 AM
5 FM
1 SW
256,000
450/1000
1970 3
230,000
404/1000
May
1996
25,000
Saudi
Arabia1932
43 AM
31 FM
2 SW
6,250,000
321/1000
1965 117
5,100,000
262/1000
Jan
1999190,000
UAE 1969
13 AM
7 FM
2 SW
820,000
355/1000
1969 15
310,000
134/1000
Aug
1995
220,000
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The Int ernet :
The int roduct ion and subsequent development of Int ernet
services in t he Gulf region was brought about t hanks to st rong
oil-dependent financial provisions, and t he availabilit y of a high
standard t elecommunicat ions inf rast ruct ure (see Table 2 f or
figures). All t he Gulf daily newspapers and most of t he magazines
are now available on t he Int ernet . The Int ernet has provided t hese
newspapers wit h wider dist ribut ion and direct interact ion wit h
t heir readers (Kirchner, 2001:13 7158-) . What is more, all radioand t elevision services t hroughout t he Gulf now have elect ronic
pages (Al-Shehri, 20 00) . Ot her web pages are also available apart
f rom t he elect ronic edit ions of newspapers, and t hese provide
audiences with a wide variety of updated news features. The
services in quest ion include: www.nassej.com, www.elaph.com,
and www.moheet .com ( www.mideast web.org/ mewnewslinks,
accessed 16 04 -05-).
While governments were keen to promote the use of the
Int ernet , its advent in the region saw measures put in place by
t he aut horit ies t o prohibit certain web pages, in order t o prot ect
t he minds of children and t o cont rol Internet content put out
by polit ical opposit ion groups by means of fi lt ering syst ems.
All the Gulf countries justify restriction of Internet access
for the purpose of ‘cultural identity protection’ (Kirchner,2001:137158-). The Internet, for example, is the arena in
which a bat t le t akes place bet ween two conflict ing object ives
current ly held by t he Bahraini government : its bid to become
<the telecommunications hub of the Gulf> (www.batelco.
com.bh/ GENERAL/ PROFILE.ASP, accessed 1304-05-) and it s
det erminat ion to suppress informat ion crit ical of t he Al-Khalifa
ruling family. On the one hand, the aut horit ies have promot ed
use of t he Int ernet , making access available ever since 19 95,
and easy t o obt ain. No permission is required t o launch a website.
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Several Int ernet cafés serve t he public (www.bat elco.com.bh/
GENERAL/ PROFILE.ASP accessed 1304-05-) .
In Kuwait , t he Int ernet is managed by t he Minist ry of
Communicat ions, which ent ered int o a cont ract wit h GulfNet
Kuwait Comput er Company (now Gulfnet Int ernat ional
Company) in 1994 t o of fer Int ernet connect ions on an exclusive
basis t o public and government agencies. A new Int ernet service
provider, ZakSat was set up in Kuwait in 19 97, and st art ed
of fering public Int ernet access in the very same year. Omanopened Internet service t o t he public in 19 97 (www.gt o.net .om,
accessed 25200 4/ 4/ ).
Public Internet access has been made available in Qatar since
1996, while Saudi Arabia started allowing the public in that
count ry access t o t he Int ernet t o local service providers in 1999.
Saudi Arabia it self has been connected t o t he Int ernet since
1994, but had rest ricted it s use t o state academic, medical and
research inst it ut ions. Saudi cit izens and resident s were however
f ree to purchase comput ers and modems, and could connect t o
t he Int ernet t hrough dial-up services of fered by f oreign ISPs, and
even place websites on foreign servers. It was not unt il January
1999, however, t hat local ISPs began connect ing ordinary
cit izens. This delay was due in large part t o t he self-proclaimed
determination of the authorities to establish a system forcontrolling the flow of information online (www.hrw.org/
advocacy/ internet / mena/ saudi, accessed 12 004/ 4/ ).
Nat ional News Agencies:
Each of t he Arabian Gulf count ries has an of ficial nat ional news
agency, t he main purpose of which is t o gat her and disseminate
news about it s own count ry. These news agencies are regardedas t he official sources for t he nat ional mass media and for t he
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foreign media (Jamal, 2001: 90 ) . They funct ion as affiliat es of
t he Minist ry of Informat ion in all of t he count ries except Qat ar,
where t he nat ional news agency is at t ached t o t he Qatar General
Broadcast ing and Television Corporat ion. There are no privat e
news agencies operat ing in the region. All t he nat ional news
agencies have Int ernet websites f rom which informat ion can be
obt ained. The first and t he largest nat ional news agency in t he
Gulf is t he Saudi Press Agency (SPA) , set up in 1971. SPA has a
staf f of nearly 50 0 employees, t ransmit t ing a comprehensive
Arabic news bullet in 24 hours a day t hat feat ures bot h nat ionaland internat ional news. It also broadcasts news bullet ins in English
and French, and dist ribut es a special bullet in and phot ographs.
Locally, SPA has set up main offices in major Saudi cit ies, and
appointed a number of correspondent s in governorat es and small
t owns. Abroad, SPA has t o date set up seven offi ces in the capital
cit ies of major count ries, (ht t p:/ / www.spa.gov.sa/ html/ spa,
accessed 23200 2/ 1/ ).
The ot her nat ional news agencies in t he region were est ablished
lat er, wit h smaller capabilit ies and resources. Kuwait News
Agency (KUNA) was founded in 1976 and t wo years lat er, t he Gulf
News Agency ( GNA) was est ablished as an official regional news
agency f or Gulf count ries. GNA lat er became t he Bahrain News
Agency in 20 01. The Emirates News Agency, WAM, was set up
in 19 76 ( ht t p:/ / www.wam.org.ae/ accessed 72 00 2/ 4/ ). TheQat ar News Agency (QNA) was founded in 1975, (ht t p:/ / www.
qnaol.com/ accessed 16 20 05 / 3/ ).
Media Policy and Regulat ion :
There are t wo main precondit ions for t he development of media
policy in t he Gulf st at es. The first of t hese is t hat media policy
must have been developed by individual st ate government s andt he second is t hat it must have t he approval of t he GCC, which
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out lines t he elements of common media policy for t he region,
as well as a charter for media in t he Gulf st ates t hat establishes
t elevision programming st andards.
Kazan (1993: 93) summarises the main principles of Gulf
communicat ion policies as follows:
1.The media should promot e and deepen t he idea of obedience
t o Allah, as defined by t he ruling elit e and t he Prophet .
2.The media should ref rain f rom crit icising t he ruler, and should
urge people t o respect and preserve t he established order.
3.The media should prot ect Islamic values.
4.The media should pay special at t ent ion to t he youth in a way
t hat would avoid their deviat ion f rom t he right pat h.
5.The media should not be allowed to publish any mat erial t hat
implies t he defamat ion of any Arab or Muslim head of stat e
or t he head of any ot her st at e considered friendly t o t he Gulf
count ries, and Gulf t elevision services should st rive t o
preserve local cult ural t radit ions and should adhere in their
programme t o t he goals of preserving spirit ual values and t o
behavioural pat t erns derived f rom Islamic ideology.
Media policy in each of t he Gulf count ries is regulat ed by publishing
law t hat regulat es licensing and ownership, and provides general
out lines on what is prohibit ed from being published (Hindi,
1999) . In all the Gulf count ries apart f rom Kuwait , publishing
law explicit ly forbids the publicat ion of any t opics crit icising
nat ional securit y, st abilit y, t he Islamic religion, and t he head of
state or royal family members. No law current ly on the st at ut ebook in Kuwait , however, prohibit s crit icism of t he head of stat e
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(Abu Zaid 1986: 113; Hindi 1999: 331) . Publishing law in t he
Gulf st ates generally, wit h the except ion of Kuwait and Oman,
stat es t hat heads of ot her f riendly count ries and t heir diplomat ic
represent at ives should be respect ed and not crit icised. Under
Omani publishing law, no crit icism is allowed of t he Sultan, but
not hing is said about t he heads of ot her count ries (Al-Abd,
1995:192, Rugh, 20 04: 6 7). Kuwait i publishing law, by cont rast ,
cont ains no such prohibit ions. The Kuwait i press is complet ely
different from that of the other Gulf countries. According to
Kuwait ’ s 19 91 const it ut ion, «f reedom of opinion is guarant eedt o everyone . . . within t he limit s of t he law.» The 1961 Press and
Publishing Law est ablished fines and prison t erms for publicat ion
of banned mat erials, which include report s crit ical of t he
government . Before t he Iraqi invasion in 1990, Kuwait had t he
reput at ion of having t he most liberal press in the Gulf region. Pre-
publicat ion censorship was non-exist ent , and t he government
it self of t en used «leaks» t o t he press t o t est public responses t o
it s policies. Kuwait has managed t o maint ain it s reput at ion for
relat ively uncensored press coverage.
In Saudi Arabia, censorship is st rict and crit icism of t he
government is censored aut omat ically. There is a censorship
committee with representatives from different ministries to
monitor all local and foreign publications (Amin, 2001: 27).
The Kingdom>s press code, in force since 1964, gives thegovernment considerable powers t o int ervene in t he media as it
judges necessary ( Al- Magushi, 1994) . In 1994, t he Saudi Arabian
government banned satellit e t elevision receiving equipment .
The government promised t o implement a recept ion scheme
for f oreign satellit e broadcasts and deliver t hese t elevision
programmes t hrough a cable system, allowing t he government
t o cont rol programme content (Boyd, 1993: 147; www.saudi-
t v.org/ accessed on 22 002/ 3/ ) . No crit icism of Islam, t he rulingfamily or t he government is allowed (Rampal, 1994:254) . This
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notwithstanding, the government has permitted criticism of
specific government members and crit icism related t o social
issues, since 1990. This relaxat ion of t he ban on crit icism aimed
at individuals engaged in government and in respect t o social
issues is regarded as a consequence of t he impact made by t he
first and second Gulf Wars (Rugh, 2004: 71 ) .
Qatar has no official censorship. The government formally lif t ed
censorship of t he media in 1995 and government interference
since t hen has remained significant ly limit ed. Newspapers inQatar, however, recognise the need for self-censorship in not
publishing mat erial crit ical of t he ruling f amily, t he government
or religious issues (Rugh, 2004: 69) . The St at e of Qat ar’s Radio
and TV Corporat ion (RTC) operat es the Qatar News Agency, t he
Qatar Broadcast ing Service, and t he Qatar Television Service.
In Bahrain, although publishing law appears on t he surface t o be
ext remely st rict , commencement of t he present King’s reign in
1996 was accompanied by major changes favouring f reedom of
speech. The press was for t he first t ime allowed t o quest ion the
government about it s policies and plans, and in pract ical t erms,
many crit ical issues ant it het ical t o t he government have been
raised in t hese newspapers since t hat t ime. Following this t rend,
t he UAE government began t o allow greater press freedom,
permit t ing some newspapers t o raise cont roversial issues inways that would have not been allowed in t he previous years.
(Rugh, 200 4: 74 ).
Radio and t elevision are cont rolled more t ight ly t han the print
media and are direct ly supervised by t he government , given the
fact t hat broadcast media are able to bypass obst acles t o lit eracy
and reach a wider audience (Amin, 2002) . Government s have
set t he media agenda for radio and television in order t o promot et heir polit ical, religious, cultural and economic programmes
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(Kamalipour and Mowlana, 19 94) . The elect ronic media in the
Gulf are managed by t he government s in the region t hrough a
Minist ry of Informat ion in all of t he count ries, except in Qatar,
which abolished it in 1996 when t he Qatar Television and Radio
Corporat ion was est ablished (Amin, 2001:23 41-; Rugh, 2004:
204) . All t he government s in t he region supervise and monit or
radio and t elevision programmes in one way or t he ot her in order t o
guarant ee t hat t hey comply wit h t heir communicat ion and policy
guidelines. Kazan (1993) explained t he reason for t his sit uat ion
as being on account of t he elect ronic media’s import ance as asymbol of sovereignt y and independence and as a t ool of polit ical
and social significance. According to Rugh (2004: 181191-),
elect ronic media channels in t he Gulf are used as inst rument s of
propaganda and as symbols of power, rather t han inst rument s of
t wo-way communicat ion. They are cert ainly not t o be regarded
as agent s of social change. Amin (1 996: 102) argues that t he
primary goals of developing satellit e television in t he Arab world
were t wofold: present ing a favourable pict ure t o t he rest of t he
world, and broadcast ing Arabic language programmes t o Arabs
living abroad.
It would seem from t he basic media policies of t he administ rat ions
in the Gulf t hat much of t he media has been direct ed to creat e
‘of ficial’ media in which media cont ent consist s of ‘of ficial’ news,
especially news about t he decisions and act ivit ies of seniorgovernment of ficials. According t o Amin (1996: 10 3) «The
official funct ion of t he media in the Arab world can be underst ood
in terms of f ollowing sequence of priorit ies: conveying news and
informat ion, interpret ing and comment ing on events, reinforcing
social norms and cult ural awareness, providing specialized dat a
for commercial promot ion, and ent ert ainment .»
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Media Ownership and Financial Support Pat t erns:
In general, media policy in t he Gulf advocates private ownership
of the print media, but reserves ongoing ownership of the
elect ronic media by t he dif ferent government s. The press
in t hese count ries is owned by private individuals, families or
groups. The press in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar is
ent irely privately owned. Despite t his, t he print media receive
financial support f rom t heir respect ive government s in t he form
of payment s for advert isement s, subscript ions for governmentemployees, and even direct subsidies (Rugh, 20 04: 75 ) . Bahraini
newspapers are generally «commercially savvy» and derive much
of t heir income from sales and advert ising (Hamod and Parsigian,
1994: 40 ) . Despit e t his, t hey cont inue to depend subst ant ially
on government funding, the government itself owning
approximat ely 4 0% of Al Ayam, for inst ance (Rugh, 20 04: 69 ) .
Media policy in Saudi Arabia ensures that all newspapers cont inue
t o be owned by press establishment s (Al-Shobaily, 20 00: 128;
Rampal, 1994: 246). Despite this favoured position, these
est ablishment s receive financial support f rom t he government
by various means: through loans and financial cont ribut ions,
through subsidies for government advertisements, through
free transportation of newspapers to outlying parts of the
Kingdom on Saudi Airlines, t hrough t he provision of loans and
financial cont ribut ion, through subsidies for government aladvertisements, not to mention the fact that such press
est ablishment s are exempt f rom government t axes (Al-Shobaily,
2000: 135) . In Kuwait , t he press is basically a privat e inst it ut ion,
owned by Kuwait i families as family businesses. The profit abilit y
of newspapers, however, depends subst ant ially on government
advert ising and direct governmental subsidies (Rugh, 2004:
99) . The print media sect or in Qat ar is openly subsidised by t he
government , despite being ent irely privat ely owned (Arafa,
1994: 240).
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Some newspapers in Oman and the UAE are st ill owned by t he
government . In Oman, a number of newspapers are owned by
t he government or government agencies; these include Oman
and Oman Daily Observer (Noor A l-Deen, 1994: 194) . The UAE
government cont inues to own a small number of newspapers,
but the trend is towards complete privatisation. Among the
nine dailies current ly published, t hree are sponsored by t he
government : Al-It t ihad, Al-Wahda and Al-Bayan (Babbili and
Hussain, 1994: 307; Rugh 2004: 64) . In dist inct cont rast t o t he
print media in the Gulf, t he elect ronic media, including the Int ernetare owned, t ight ly cont rolled and managed by Gulf government s
through the Ministry of Information in each of the countries,
apart f rom Qatar, which abolished it s minist ry of informat ion
in 1996 and set up t he Qat ar t elevision and radio corporat ion
(Qatar General Broadcast ing and Television Corporat ion) (Amin,
20 01 :23 41 -; Rugh, 20 04 : 20 4) .
The Bahraini government made radio and t elevision an
administ rat ively and financially independent public corporat ion
in 1993. Despite this, it remained under government cont rol.
Qatar creat ed a General Associat ion for Radio and Television
t o supervise government -owned terrest rial broadcast ing
facilit ies. The government current ly owns all t he radio and
t elevision st at ions except Al Jazeera, which has an independent
administ rat ive and financial body. In 1995, t he government oft he UAE set up t he Emirat es Broadcast ing Corporat ion (EBC)
wit h t he aim of improving t he performance of nat ional radio
and t elevision services. A few years lat er in 1999, however, t he
government re-organised radio and t elevision services, creat ing
an autonomous organisation attached to the Information
Minist ry, the Emirat es Media Incorporat ion (EMI) , charact erised
by an independent administrative and editorial body which
was given freedom and autonomy, but remained financiallydependent on t he government . While the EMI represent s the
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federal government , each of t he emirat es like Dubai, Sharjah and
Ajman have t heir own separate t elevision channel, cont rolled by
t heir local government s (Rugh, 2004: 181191-).
Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait have seen a few changes in t he
st ruct ure of radio and t elevision services when compared t o
ot her count ries in the region. In Saudi Arabia, t he broadcast ing
services depart ment of t he Minist ry of Informat ion cont inues t o
have a monopoly over all public broadcast ing. Kuwait and Oman
have maintained their terrestrial television stations with littlechange and t hese cont inue to be under government cont rol
(Rugh, 20 04 : 18119 1-).
Gulf Media in Transit ion:
Af t er t he discovery of oil in t he t hirt ies and t he boom in oil prices
lat er in the sevent ies, t he Arabian Gulf st ates have come rapidly
into t he global market . Nevertheless, much of t heir t radit ional
social st ruct ure has been preserved. As explained above, t he
most important elements that shape the traditional social
st ruct ure in the Arabian Gulf st ates are religion as Islam and t he
Arabian culture. Fox et al. (2006: 3) argue t hat in t he Arabian
Gulf st at es, t radit ional familial st ruct ure direct s t he process of
globalisat ion. They st at ed t hat “ t he Gulf societ ies are recept ive
to material benefits of globalisation, on the other hand theydeliberately cushion themselves from t he negat ive aspect s
of market penet rat ion int o social life and ideology.’’ It seems
t hat globalizat ion in the Gulf meshes with Gulf t radit ions rat her
t han being an imported t ot al package of lifest yle and values.
In t heir view, ideology and kinship are overarching dimensions
channeling t he day-t o-day events creat ing globalisat ion. On the
ot her hand, they have benefit ed from t he informat ion technology
such as comput erizat ion, modernizat ion, sat ellisat ion, andInt ernet isat ion. The UAE most probably has done much more even
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in terms of infrast ruct ure by allocat ing necessary invest ments
promot ing it s potent ialit ies and t aking serious init iat ives in the
e-commerce market (Abdulla, 2006: 183) . The est ablishment
of Dubai f ree zone for t echnology and media would determine
t he future of t he region not only f or t he UAE.
In general, t he majorit y including t he leadership in t he Arabian
Gulf seems t o accept globalisat ion by mainly incorporat ing new
t echnology and show t hat Islam as a religion is very t olerant .
Nevert heless, some do antagonise globalisat ion and declare t hatit is against t he values of Islam (Fox et al., 20 06: 9) .
These conservat ive oil rich st at es appear t o be more comf ort able
t o deal with economic and t echnical t han with polit ical aspect s
of globalisat ion. They seem t o be t hreat ened by polit ical
globalisat ion through dif ferent aspect s. Abdulla (2006: 18 4)
summarises t he threat s as follows:
1. Trusting the market and its invisible forces to regulated
relat ionships bet ween people and count ries, so t hat local
government s cede cont rol t o outside forces.
2. Gradually losing t heir power t o govern and eventually
surrendering t heir nat ural sovereignt y t o t he people as
consumers who become responsible for t he way t heir owncommunit y is governed, so t hat people’s sovereignt y replaces
stat e sovereignt y.
3. The breakdown of t he st at e t o collect ive decision making of
many st ates in addressing global issues.
4. The failure of t he states t o live up t o t he requirement s of an
open and globalized societ y where cit izens are f reely connected
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t hrough global networks, which replace nat ional st ruct ures and
loyalties.
5. The emergence of larger polit ical unit s, wit h t heir own
supranat ional administ rat ive apparatuses.
6. St ates are forced t o democrat ize and embrace liberal
democracy, which is in conflict wit h t he t radit ional ruling
dynast ies prevailing in the Gulf st ates.
On the contrary, Abdulla (2006: 185) claims that many
opport unit ies may also arise wit h polit ical globalisat ion in the
Arabian Gulf. Most import ant ly are t he democrat ic reforms t hat
t hese count ires have t o accept . In t he Arabian Gulf region over
t he last decade t here have been however, some movement s
t owards democrat isat ion and polit ical reforms and more ease
on cont rol on t he press. Along with t his, there has been growing
number of civil societ y groups demanding part icipat ion in polit ical
decision-making and t he easing of repression and censorship
(Hafez, 2002 ; Vogt, 2002 ).
Alt hough t he government s in t he region have not changed the
writ t en media policies, they have act ually reduced censorship and
allowed some crit icism of t he government , as explained above.
They also encouraged and permit t ed t he establishment of privat ebroadcast ing (Vogt , 2002) , which was in it self a revolut ionary
act in t he history of Gulf media. The privat e broadcast ing was
somehow more independent f rom government al cont rol, such
as Al-Jazeera in Qat ar and Al-Arabiya in Dubai. Even in Saudi
Arabia, where media cont rol is t he st rict est , Al-Akhbariya was
established, allowing Saudi women present ers t o appear on
screen for t he first t ime.
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The int roduct ion of t he private-owned and semi-government al
sat ellit e channels had a significant polit ical impact on t he
polit ical sit uat ion not only in the Gulf, but on all Arab audiences.
Since 1990, af t er the int roduct ion of sat ellit e television, many
profound changes in t he st ruct ure and content of bot h news and
t elevision programmes emerged. The first import ant sat ellit e
channel, Middle East Broadcast Corporat ion (MBC), est ablished
by privat e Saudi businessmen broadcast ing f rom Europe and
seeking a pan-Arab market , influenced t he content and st yle
of programmes of Gulf count ries’ nat ional t elevision channels,which were cont rolled by t heir governments, and encouraged
t hem t o est ablish their own sat ellit e channels (Rugh, 2004:20 1-
248) . The region also entered a new era of communicat ion by
t he establishment of Al-Jazeera in Qatar in 19 96. Lat er on in
February 2003, t he MBC launched Al Arabia as a main 24 hours
news channel f rom Dubai.
Specifically, Al Jazeera and Al Arabia, through t heir informat ion
provision and interpretation of the important Arabic political
issues, such as t he Iraqi and Palest ine-Israeli confl ict s have
had an enormous impact on t he audience views and polit ical
consciousness, present ing informat ion and polit ical analysis in
t he Arabic language t hrough Arabic eyes. Furt hermore, ot her
programmes are also presented on t hese channels like talk
shows, polit ical comment ary and women’s programmes, all ofwhich t ackle social and polit ical issues freely and out spokenly.
Talks shows have part icularly have gained popularit y, since
t hey focus on very sensit ive issues which are never allowed t o
be discussed on government -owned channels. El-Nawawy and
Iskandar (2002) pointed t hat t he channel had emerged as a
polit ical player in t he event s following t he 11 Sept ember at t acks
on t he Unit ed St ates. More t han an agency report ing t he news as it
happens, Al-Jazeera has access t o t he Arab world, is <scooping>t he west ern media conglomerat es, and is considered a powerf ul
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and openly crit ical satellit e pan-Arab news net work in the Arabic
language (Amin, 2001: 2341-). Al-Jazeera has gained wide
acceptance amongst Arab audiences and it s programmes have
creat ed an independent public sphere (Hafez, 2002).
Sharabi (2003) has predicted that t his t rend in media may have
a posit ive impact on people’s polit ical at t it udes. This predict ion
is based on increased polit ical awareness in t he region, people’s
capability t o approve opinions on polit ical issues t hat were not
accepted previously, and t he ef fect ive roles of t he polit icalgroups. Kazan (1994: 177) , in his st udy of t he impact of media
on t he modernity among individuals in the Arabian Gulf st ates,
has commented that exposure to world news content as
disseminat ed by local, regional or f oreign media had resulted in
at t it udinal modernity ( i.e, staying informed about t he world and
t aking an act ive role as cit izens) .
In t he same t rend, t he Gulf media have t ransformed int o a new
form, start ing with t he establishment of Dubai Media Cit y,
located in t he UAE since January 2001, t ransforming Dubai into
an invest ment zone for giant media conglomerat es. The Cit y
provides an advanced inf rast ruct ure and support ive environment
for media-relat ed businesses t o operate globally out of Dubai.
Since it s opening, the Cit y has grown t remendously t o become
a thriving media community wit h over 780 companies and5,00 0 knowledge workers including over 200 f reelance media
professionals. CNN has launched it s Arabic news websit e and
regional news bureau at t he Cit y. Pan-Arabic giant broadcast er
MBC relocat ed it s int ernat ional headquart ers f rom London t o
Dubai and also launched a new Arabic sat ellit e 24-hours news
channel Al-Arabia. CNBC Arabiya, a regional Arabic-language
news channel, has launched operat ions from it s new st udio in
DMC. Showt ime Net work, Reut ers, AFP, Associated Press (AP) ,SRPC, Sony Broadcast and Professional, St ar TV, BMG, Showt ime,
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Bert elsmann and Lowe Worldwide have shift ed t heir regional
headquart ers t here.
These changes in the Gulf media have been t remendous, and
although accompanied by relatively more participation and
democrat isat ion, t here are st ill elements of uncert ainty and
uncont rollability. In Bahrain, for example, in spit e of t he relat ive
polit ical opening-up and securit y relaxat ion, freedom of t he press
st ill suff ers as many journalist s have been quest ioned and several
books have been banned f rom publicat ion (A l-Salehi, 2004) .
Zahlan (2001: 363) claims that the Gulf governments «have
established an enabling environment t o manage t he process of
change, which is demonst rat ed in t heir commit ment t o invest
in human resources. The adopt ion of environment al prot ect ion
policies, the int roduct ion of qualit y t elecommunicat ion services,
and high levels of Int ernet and comput er penet rat ion syst ems
all illust rate Gulf leaders’ quest for excellence.» In t he age of
t he informat ion revolut ion, t he t radit ional set t ings in t he Gulf
count ries of cont rol and rest rict ion will not persist . Kuwait is t he
most democrat ic and liberal count ry among t he Arabian Gulf
count ries, and is get t ing much more open towards democracy.
Bahrain is moving along t he same t rack and has lessened t he
cont rol on press by allowing great er freedom of expression. The
rest of t he Arabian Gulf had some polit ical reforms but are st ill farbehind. Now t he government s of Arabian Gulf stat es have the
decision t o move forward towards great er democrat isat ion.
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Amin, H. (2 001) <Mass Media in Arab St ates bet ween diversificat ion
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