Moscow Gets Down to Arabs

Russian authorities work on creating an Arab-speaking satellite channel. RIA Novosti news agency is responsible for the project. English-speaking Russia Today channel has already been created under the guidance of RIA Novosti. The agency will invest $35 million into the new channel. According to Financial Times, this testifies to the fact that Russian authorities are trying to reconstruct Soviet propaganda machine.

USSR invested thousands of dollars into broadcasting in foreign languages, and sponsored Communist newspapers. Yet, larger part of the propaganda system collapsed together with USSR. Foreign language services may signify that Russia is now reconstructing the system.

Observers believe Russia will have hard time trying to conquer Middle East audience, because inter-Arabian market of electronic mass media is already oversaturated. So, even the US-based satellite TV channel Al-Hurra, founded in 2004, cannot compete with two major Arabian news channels—Qatar-based Al Jazeera and United Arab Emirates-based Al Arabiya, financed by Saudi Arabia.

British BBC plans to begin broadcasting in Arabian as well. However, Akram Huzam, former head of Al Jazeera’s Moscow office, and now chief producer of the new Russian channel, believes this new service will find its niche on Arabian market.