Arabic media’s view of President Obama
Politico, September 16, 2013
By Stephen J. Farnsworth, S. Robert Lichter and Roland Schatz
As President Barack Obama tries to stop the bleeding in Syria, contain the terrorist threats from Al Qaeda in Yemen and restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, he has an unlikely ally: the leading Arabic broadcasters, which provide surprisingly positive coverage of his government.
A detailed content analysis of nightly television reports of five key Arabic language media outlets — Al Jazeera, the region’s dominant broadcaster; Al Arabiya, linked to the Saudi royal family; Nile News, based in Egypt; the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp.; and Al-Manar, linked to Hezbollah — found them more positive about Obama during his first 18 months in office than key European broadcasters and the U.S. television networks.
