Euronews has recruited a dedicated team of 17 Arabic-speaking journalists for the launch of the Arabic language service on 12th July, 2008.
"Euronews in Arabic will be an integral part of our efforts to bring Europe and the Mediterranean region closer together and to increase our knowledge of each other," said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy.
The team, which has been preparing since mid-June for this moment, will join the seven other teams (English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish) in fulfilling the Euronews mission to provide international and European news from a European perspective.
"Euronews in Arabic will contribute to the exchange of cultures between the European Union and the peoples of other parts of the world, in particular from the other side of the Mediterranean and the Middle East," said Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament.
The new team is headed by Mohamed Abdel Azim, who participated in the original launch of Euronews in 1993, and is made up of journalists from eight different countries: Algeria (6), Bahrain (1), Egypt (1 + the head of the Arabic team), Lebanon (3), Morocco (1), Palestinian Territories (1), Syria (1) and Tunisia (2).
Euronews Arabic will be launched on the existing global distribution network globally.
The channel has been carried on two new satellites of the Arabsat fleet since 1 July 2008, via digital transmission on BADR-4 and analogue transmission on BADR-6, to extend its reach to a potential audience of nearly 32 million households in the Middle East.
"Our Arabic version will enable us to increase our viewership amongst Arabic-speaking people in Europe and the Mediterranean basin and will help Arabic-speakers to better understand the framework and issues around European policies," said Philippe Cayla, Chairman & CEO of Euronews.
With these two satellites in the Euronews stable, the channel is now available in 248 million households in 135 countries worldwide.
Source: Middle East Online (English)
1 comment:
I think this could be a good idea, but I fear unless it's like the taqiyya Aljazeera, which says one thing in English and something completely different in Arabic, these countries will reject it like they do CNN, which is incredibly pro-Islamist and pro-Palestinian. CNN World is even worse than in CNN in the States, where it's just shamelessly apologist.
Post a Comment