Al Arabiya facts for kids
Logo used since 2020
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| Country | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Worldwide |
| Headquarters | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Arabic |
| Picture format | |
| Ownership | |
| Parent | MBC Group |
| Sister channels |
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| History | |
| Launched | 3 March 2003 |
Al Arabiya (Arabic: العربية, meaning "The Arabic One") is a major news TV channel. It broadcasts in Arabic all around the world. It is owned by Saudi Arabia and is part of a big media company called MBC Group.
Al Arabiya is the main channel of the MBC Group. It is the only channel in the group that uses the simple name "Al Arabiya."
Contents
History of Al Arabiya News
Al Arabiya started broadcasting on March 3, 2003. It was first based in Dubai Media City in the United Arab Emirates. One of its first supporters, Middle East News, wanted Al Arabiya to offer a "balanced" and "less strong" way of reporting news compared to other channels like Al Jazeera.
Al Arabiya is a free-to-air channel, which means you don't have to pay to watch it. It shows news updates every hour, along with talk shows and documentaries. Many people in the Middle East watch it, and it's known as one of the top channels in the region. You can also find its news online in Arabic, English, Urdu, and Persian.
In January 2009, Barack Obama, who was the U.S. President at the time, gave his first official interview to Al Arabiya. He wanted to tell the Muslim world that "Americans are not your enemy." He also said that "Israel is a strong ally of the United States."
In March 2012, Al Arabiya launched a new channel called Al-Hadath. This new channel focuses mainly on political news.
In October 2019, Mamdouh Al-Muhaini became the general manager of the Al Arabiya Network.
On April 24, 2020, Al Arabiya updated its look with new graphics, sounds, and studios. They also changed their logo slightly. This was the first big change to the channel's look since it started in 2003. The next year, the channel moved its main operations from Dubai to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The goal was to create 12 hours of news from Riyadh each day. This move happened because the Saudi government asked international companies to move their main offices to Saudi Arabia by 2024.
What Al Arabiya Shows
Al Arabiya was created in 2002 by relatives of the Saudi royal family. This was partly because they wanted a different kind of news coverage than what Al Jazeera was offering. Al Arabiya became very popular, often being the second most-watched channel in Saudi Arabia after Al Jazeera. In 2008, The New York Times said that Al Arabiya was trying to make Arab television less focused on strong political views and violence.
In 2012, Al Arabiya showed email messages from Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. These messages were found and shared by hackers who were against him.
Popular Programs on Al Arabiya
Al Arabiya has many different programs. Here are some of them:
- Special Mission: This is Al Arabiya's longest-running show. It looks into important topics and current events. It started in 2003 and is still on air. The show explores one topic each week, like politics, money, or religion. In 2023, "Special Mission" won an award for its quality.
- Eda'at (meaning "Spotlights"): Hosted by Turki Al-Dakhil, this show features one-on-one interviews. Guests include important people like journalists, writers, and politicians.
- Rawafed (meaning "Affluents"): This program is about arts and culture. It features documentaries and interviews with famous artists, writers, and musicians from the Arab world.
- From Iraq: This show explores what life is really like inside Iraq. It talks about social, political, and human stories.
- Inside Iran: This series focuses on reporting about political, social, and economic issues happening inside Iran.
- Death Making: This weekly show looks at global terror attacks. It tries to understand why they happen by discussing religious, social, and economic reasons. It also includes interviews with experts.
- Business Profiles: This monthly program gives a detailed look at important business leaders in the region. It follows them to understand how they think and work.
- Point of Order: This weekly show has live interviews with people who have strong opinions on social and political topics.
- Political Memoirs: This program discusses historical events from different viewpoints.
- Diplomatic Avenues: This monthly show focuses on the United Nations. It is broadcast live from Al Arabiya's studios at the UN headquarters. It features interviews with high-level UN officials and talks about global issues.
- Studio Beirut: This is a weekly discussion program. It features important guests from the Arab world.
- The Big Screen: This weekly show is all about the film industry. It covers news about movies, upcoming films, film festivals, and interviews with actors and directors.
Who Owns Al Arabiya?
Al Arabiya was started with money from the Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC). Other investors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Persian Gulf countries also helped. Through MBC, Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd and his uncle Waleed bin Ibrahim al Ibrahim partly own Al Arabiya.
How to Watch Al Arabiya
In March 2022, Al Arabiya became available as its own channel on Freeview in the United Kingdom. Before that, you could watch it on Freeview through a streaming service called Vision TV.
Al Arabiya Online News
Al Arabiya launched its online news website in February 2004. At first, the website was only in Arabic. Later, in 2007, an English version was added, followed by Persian and Urdu versions in 2008. The channel also has a business website that shares financial news and market information from the Middle East in Arabic.
You can watch Al Arabiya live online through services like JumpTV and Livestation. The English website of Al Arabiya was updated in 2013. Now, it has automatic subtitles for the news and programs shown on the TV channel.
The Al Arabiya website had some problems during the Egyptian protests in January 2011. The site went offline because too many people were trying to access it to follow the news about the protests.
Images for kids
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Logo used since 2020
