This shift happened during CNN’s unprecedented coverage of the Second Gulf War. CNN demonstrated how, through satellite technolo- gy, broadcasters can produce a package of engaging programmes fit for various TV markets throughout the globe. To respond to “the continu- ous production demands of the 24/7 news cycle, CNN developed three new journalistic styles and types of news presentation: breaking news, live coverage and fact journalism” (1) . Just as this phenomenal coverage had an impact on CNN viewers; it played a greater role in alerting Arab governments of the pivotal role of the satellite broadcasting technology that had been available to them since 1985 through Arabsat. Until then, the use of Arabsat was very limited. During the first five years of its launch with Arab funding, Saudi Arabia had more than a quarter of Arabsat’s shares, (2) “was just used in the field of communica- tions, limited exchange of programmes (between members of the Arab Broadcasting Union), and the transmission of pilgrims’ footage far be- yond and to wider corners of the world”. (3) In the field of TV broadcast- ing, Arabsat was used in a limited local scope by the Egyptian Satellite Channel (ESC) starting from December 1990. (4) This was while Saudi Arabia used it to “send editions of the London-edited Asharq Al-Awsat and Al-Hayat newspapers to a number of Arab capitals to be reprinted simultaneously” (5) . The situation, however, took a new turn from Sep- (Kuwait: The National Council for Culture, Arts, and Literature, 2005), p. 406. (1) Tine Ustad Figenschou, Aljazeera and the Global Media Landscape: The South is Talking Back (New York-London: Routledge, 2014), p. 3. (2) The launch of Arabsat required an amount of USD 100 million, of which Saudi Arabia contributed more than quarter (26.1%.) See: Thorayya Jabees, Arab Satellite Televisions: An Advanced Media System (1960-2004) (Beirut: Dar Al-Farabi, 2009), pp. 59-60. (3) Naomi Sakr, Satellite Realms: Transnational Television, Globalization and the Middle East (London- New York: I.B. Tauris, 2001), p. 10. (4) The first TV broadcast on Arabsat was used to provide Egyptian soldiers in Kuwait with a different narrative from the one broadcast by the Iraqi media. This was a USD 2 million deal between the Egyptian Radio and Television Union and Riyadh-based Arabsat’s management. See Sakr, Satellite Realms , p. 31. (5) Hugh Miles, Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel that Is Challenging the West (New York: Grove Press, 2005), p. 26.
135
EN2.indd 135
20/02/2022 4:14 PM
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter