Monday, February 25, 2013

Dubai's 'Al Ghad' Takes on Al-Jazeera

"... Al-Ghad, whose slogan is “Today’s News with Tomorrow’s Vision,” is the media wing of the United Arab Emirates’ war against the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that has received much support from Qatar’s al-Jazeera.Set to launch officially in March, the channel’s primary backers are UAE Deputy Prime Minister Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, along with four other investors from the Gulf and one from Egypt.The project is the brainchild of figures such as Dubai police chief Dhahi Khalfan; Palestinian politician Mohammed Dahlan, who now lives in Abu Dhabi; and the losing candidate in the Egyptian presidential elections Ahmed Shafik, who has been in exile in Dubai since last summer.
A source close to Shafik denied to Al-Akhbar that he had a role in financing the channel....So far, al-Ghad’s initial, experimental broadcast has been from Cairo and its London headquarters, located in the same Hammersmith district building as daily newspaper al-Hayat.
The Saudi-owned al-Hayat suffered from a financial crisis that resulted in a consolidation of its staff to one floor, allowing it to rent out its other floors. The studio once used by the al-Hayat-LBC (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation) channel before the cancellation of its merger is now being leased by al-Ghad."

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