Arab Media & Society

Al-Hayat has also undergone changes. The paper made good use of the advantages bestowed by a London location when it re-launched there in 1987, ten years after closing in Beirut.  It was qualitatively a cut above any other Arab daily. It provided original worldwide reporting from an Arab perspective through a network of capable correspondents, while most of the competition relied principally on recycled agency material. And it was independent enough to be subjected to frequent distribution bans in various Arab countries in its early years. Its opinion pages were rich, and contributing writers included some of the Arab world’s leading public intellectuals. Al-Hayat was also a pioneer in the use of modern technology, becoming the first Arab paper to be produced electronically and the first to establish remote printing centers, before satellite technology made that the norm.

Today’s al-Hayat is not so distinctive. It still has strengths. But like Asharq al-Awsat, albeit to a lesser extent, Saudi influence has become more visible. Longstanding readers complain of a more conformist editorial approach and a general erosion of quality.  The London base has ceased to be the asset it was. In 2000 the paper moved the bulk of its editorial operations and administration to Beirut, keeping only the political section and senior editorial and management staff in the UK. At the same time, it greatly expanded its presence in Saudi Arabia, establishing a Saudi edition and farming out some of its functions (such as sports pages) to its Saudi bureau. While growing in the Arab world, al-Hayat’s London presence has been shrinking. Its weekly sister newsmagazine, al-Wasat, struggled to make much impact, and was eventually demoted to a weekly supplement of the main paper and then wound up. Al-Hayat’s ambitious plans to establish a news partnership with Lebanon’s LBC television that would operate jointly out of London and Beirut proved expensive and cumbersome and had to be scaled down, and the on-site London studios set up for the purpose were closed after only 18 months. When al-Hayat’s publishers launched a weekly women’s magazine, they did so from Lebanon.

At the other end of the political spectrum, al-Quds al-Arabi is probably the only one of the major London dailies that really needs its offshore base. As the pan-Arab print media’s anti-establishment standard-bearer, it is reviled by detractors as demagogic and revered by fans for its courage and candor in criticizing Arab regimes and reporting unflattering news about them. As a result it has always been excluded from some Arab countries, faces frequent temporary bans in others, and is starved of commercial advertising. But being the bête noir of so many governments also provides the paper with a market niche: it can carry news and commentary of a kind that its competitors wouldn’t touch (although for all its outspokenness, it does appear to pull punches when reporting on the Arab countries to which it does have access).  Staffers argue that the paper’s true reach is far greater than its actual circulation figures, and that its website is particularly popular in places where it’s banned. As for surviving in London, al-Quds al-Arabi is perennially cash-strapped, but is a considerably more modest operation than its Saudi-owned or -funded rivals.

While it evidently makes good financial and practical sense for many of the Arab media outfits that set up in London to move back “home,” the alternative bases on offer there to both existing and new ventures are not without their problems. Beirut has gone some way towards rehabilitating its role as a media center, but Lebanon’s political instability is bound to inhibit that process, at least for the immediate future. And although Dubai has boomed spectacularly as the new regional media hub, its recent muzzling of the Pakistani Geo Television channel raises questions about the potential constraints on the freedom of any pan-Arab outlet that establishes itself there. This may not be a pressing practical concern for most. For the politically controversial and independent of state patronage, however, official attitudes to the media will have to change markedly within the Arab world before they can do entirely without a base beyond its borders.

Najm Jarrah is a London-based Arab journalist and former head of the Arab Media Unit at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.