U.S media is reporting that Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has announced plans to partner with the Bloomberg news service to establish a new Arabic language news channel. According to an Associated Press report report:
Associated Press, 09.13.11, 10:46 AM EDT RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says he has teamed up with business news service Bloomberg LP on a new Arabic language satellite news channel. Alwaleed, who heads Kingdom Holding Co., an investment firm with stakes in several Western blue chip companies including Citigroup ( C – news – people ), said Tuesday the new Alarab channel will focus “on the important shifts taking place across the Arab world, with an emphasis on freedom of speech and freedom of press.” He said Bloomberg business reports will be featured on the news channel and that a team of “media specialists” and producers from financial news services would work with Alarab to help in the production of the new channel’s business coverage. The channel is slated to begin operations next year.
Previous posts have discussed Prince Talal’s donations to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), both part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, as well as his support of the Georgetown University Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CCMU), run by long-time Muslim Brotherhood supporter Dr. John Esposito. In 2008, an Arab business publication reported that Prince Talal had also made numerous financial contributions to a pan-Islamic interfaith dialog organization that is closely tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood and which has an antisemitic statement posted on its website. In March, the Kingdom Foundation established by Prince Talal was one of the sponsors of a conference held by the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists (WCMP), a new international Islamic philanthropic organization with strong Muslim Brotherhood representation.