Al Mayadeen

History, ownership, and network

The network was established Beirut in 2012 by former staff of Al Jazeera Arabic who were dissatisfied with Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Syrian civil war.

The channel is part of the Al Mayadeen satellite media network, which includes a production company, a radio station, a website in Arabic, English, and Spanish, an advertising company, and other media-related projects. Along with the original headquarters in Beirut, Al Mayadeen maintains news networks and three major regional offices, one in Tunisia, another in Cairo, and a third in Tehran.

When it was launched, the channel said its owners were anonymous Arab businessmen.

In 2019, a report by the London School of Economics Middle East Centre said the channel was "mooted to be backed by Iranian money". The President of the Authority announced that a police investigation was launched.

On 25 October 2024, three journalists were killed in an Israeli bombing in Lebanon during the Israel–Hezbollah conflict. Among them were two staffers from Al Mayadeen. Tunisian journalist and director of the channel Ghassan bin Jiddo, stated that the attack was intentional.

Staff

Ghassan bin Jiddo heads Al Mayadeen as the chair of the board of directors and program director of the channel. He resigned from the Qatar-based Al Jazeera in 2011, criticizing its reporting of the Syrian civil war. Jiddo seemingly accused Al Jazeera of deviating from "professional broadcasting standards", emphasizing that Al Mayadeen would remain objective and unbiased. Nayef Krayem, the owner of the Lebanon-based Al Ittihad TV and former director of the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar,{{cite book

The staff of the channel include Lebanese journalists such as Sami Kulaib,{{cite news|title=Ex-Al Jazeera anchor to be ministry spokesperson|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ex-Al+Jazeera+anchor+to+be+ministry+spokesperson.-a0311481173|access-date=26 March 2013 |archive-date=5 October 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005020325/http://al-shorfa.com/en_GB/articles/meii/features/entertainment/2012/06/02/feature-02}} Lina Zahreddine, Lana Mudawwar, Muhammad Alloush, Ahmad Abu Ali and Dina Zarkat. Two Syrian journalists, Ramia Ibrahim and Futoun Abbasi, and two Palestinian journalists Kamal Khalaf and Ahmad Sobh as well as Yemeni Mona Safwan are also among its staff.

George Galloway, a former British MP, was a presenter for the channel. He was paid £18,000 for the first four months of 2014, for hosting two programmes a month in Beirut. He continued to present for the station in 2016 and 2017.{{cite news

The channel has a network of reporters in the State of Palestine (specifically, in Gaza and Ramallah) and also, in Jerusalem. Their task is reported to provide the channel with a daily news section in the news broadcast entitled "A Window into Palestine". In addition, there are reporters of the channel in Amman, Tripoli, Rabat, Khartoum, Mauritania and Comoros. The correspondent of the channel in Damascus was withdrawn in April 2014.

Omar Abdel Qader, a Syrian cameraman working for Al Mayadeen, was killed by a sniper during clashes in Deir Ezzor, Syria, on 8 March 2014.

Al Mayadeen correspondent Farah Omar and camera operator Rabih Me’mari were killed in Israeli strikes in Southern Lebanon in November 2023. The channel accused Israel of deliberately targeting its journalists because of the channel's pro-Palestinian and pro-Iranian stance. Hezbollah said it had retaliated against Israel's killing of the journalists by firing across the border at an Israeli base.

Programming

Al Mayadeen is on air for 24 hours daily.{{cite news|title=Al Mayadeen TV: An Alternative against the Mass Media Power

In 2022, it broadcast a three-hour interview with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to mark the 40th anniversary of the group.

Political alignment

The name of the channel, Al Mayadeen, means "the squares" in English, indicating its objective "to provide coverage for the Arab popular actions on the squares of change in the context of the Arab spring revolutions".{{cite news|author=Husam Itani|title="Mayadeen," the End

When the channel was launched in 2012, Asharq Al-Awsat and France 24 reported that it was the latest expansion of Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in the field of media. The channel's alignment with Iran, Assad and Hezbollah was also expressed in a 2019 London School of Economics report and a 2021 academic publication by Israeli scholar Barak Bouks.{{cite journal|author=Barak Bouks |title=Conflict Coverage by Terror Movements' use of Mass Media and New Media – the case of Irani Proxies: Hamas, Hezboallah and the Hutis |journal=National Security and the Future|year=2021

According to The Daily Telegraph, Al Mayadeen's head of news is married to a former adviser to Assad. It refers to the rebels in Syria as "terrorists", and to the actions of the Syrian government against the rebels as "cleansing" when reporting the Syrian civil war.

On 6 November 2015, the Saudi-controlled Arabsat satellite TV organization suspended and banned Al Mayadeen from broadcasting on its satellite system.

The network has been accused of antisemitism in pieces by The Jewish Chronicle and Jewish Journal. According to Media Matters for America in 2021, Al Mayadeen used antisemitic conspiracy theories about George Soros in its coverage of the Pandora Papers "to sow doubt about whistleblowers and leaks".

The network stated that the Palestinian cause is the channel's centerpiece.

In September 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Al Mayadeen spoke to Russian sources about setbacks in eastern Ukraine. It has referred to the Government of Ukraine as a "Nazi regime" and promoted the discredited Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory. British politician Jeremy Corbyn was criticised by Joan Ryan and the Simon Wiesenthal Center for appearing on the network during the war because of its perceived closeness to Iran and Hezbollah.

Writing in Al Mayadeen in October 2022, Janna Al Kadri said that the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran was used by the West as an "opportunity to fuel Iran-phobia and Islamophobia". She described the hijab as "a symbol of the working class in its struggle for autonomy against the ongoing and impending assaults of imperialism".

References

Notes

References

1. "Discover Al Mayadeen TV and all of its programmes on Sat.tv.".
2. "Online voters select best photo in Andrei Stenin tilt".
3. (11 June 2012). "New pan-Arab TV satellite channel goes on air". US News.
4. Zeina Karam. (11 June 2012). "New pan-Arab satellite channel goes on air". [[The San Diego Union-Tribune]].
5. Shane Farrell. (6 June 2012). "Al Mayadeen: Political pandering or objective media". [[Now Lebanon]].
6. (11 June 2012). "New pan-Arab TV satellite channel goes on air". [[The Denver Post]].
7. Crone, Christine. (12 July 2017). "The Al Mayadeen news network gives voice to left-wing Arabs".
8. "Al Mayadeen Satellite Channel to be launched". ArabAD.
9. (3 May 2013). "The curious CV of a former BBC Arabic journalist". BBC Watch.
10. (12 June 2012). "'Anti-Al Jazeera' channel Al Mayadeen goes on air". [[France 24]].
11. (13 December 2023). "Press release. Al Mayadeen TV on Eutelsat satellites".
12. (16 December 2023). "French satellite giant accused of broadcasting 'mouthpiece of Hezbollah'". The Telegraph.
13. (15 December 2023). "Nega la Shoah e plaude al terrore: inchiesta su Al Mayadeen, tv che opera dall'Italia". [[La Repubblica]].
14. "Israeli strikes kill 38 people in Gaza's Khan Younis and 3 journalists in southern Lebanon".
15. Patrick Kingsley. (28 August 2012). "The TV stations where George Galloway and Julian Assange are stars". [[The Guardian]].
16. (11 July 2014). "Galloway Doubles Pay Packet With Appearances On Russia, Arab Channels".
17. Kaleem Aftab. (27 July 2016). "George Galloway on his documentary film The Killing$ of Tony Blair: 'It's a considered narrative, not an angry tirade'". [[The Independent]].
18. (9 March 2014). "Syrian journalist killed covering fighting - Al Mayadeen TV". [[Reuters]].
19. (21 November 2023). "Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill eight including journalists and Hamas official". [[The Guardian]].
20. Jonathan Sacerdoti. (4 August 2022). "Jeremy Corbyn 'must be expelled from Labour' for appearing on extremist TV channel say campaigners". The Jewish Chronicle.
21. (4 June 2012). "Al Mayadeen TV: New Kid on the Block". [[Al Akhbar (Lebanon).
22. Kevin Collier. (25 September 2013). "Syrian Electronic Army to make first TV appearance Thursday".
23. Mohammed Al Jazairy. (14 June 2012). "Al Mayadeen: The last attempt to revive pro-Assad media". Asharq Alawsat.
24. Tim Walker. (1 September 2013). "What George Galloway neglected to mention in Syria debate". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
25. (25 November 2012). "Executive Summary". Syria Cyber Watch.
26. Jessica Watkins. (2019). "Satellite Sectarianisation or Plain Old Partisanship? Inciting Violence in the Arab Mainstream Media". LSE Middle East Centre.
27. (2 November 2021). "Fringe right-wing media and conspiracy theorists spread antisemitic disinformation about the Pandora Papers".
28. Nicholas Noe. (28 September 2012). "Is a New Boss a New Line for Al Jazeera?". Bloomberg L.P..
29. (15 September 2022). "Russia defeat in Ukraine may influence Iran proxies war on Israel". The Jerusalem Post.
30. Chris York. (3 August 2022). "What Ukrainians Think About Jeremy Corbyn's Ukraine Interview".
31. Aaron Bandler. (5 August 2022). "Corbyn Appears on Pro-Hezbollah Channel, Decries "Powerful Forces" Against Him".
32. Al Kadri, Janna. (7 October 2022). "Iranian Hijab: Working-class symbol in an anti-imperialist class war". Al Mayadeen.