Al-Arabiya TV Chief Withdraws Resignation

posted on: Sep 17, 2010

The head of Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television, known for his liberal views, said on Thursday he has withdrawn his resignation after the chairman of the channel’s parent group MBC refused to accept it.

“I confirm that I will remain with MBC group … I am postponing my resignation for the time being, to have more time to think, ponder and work,” Abdul Rahman al-Rashed said in a statement.

Middle East Broadcasting Corp (MBC) chairman Sheikh Waleed al-Ibrahim informed him that his resignation, which he submitted on Wednesday, had been rejected, the statement said.

Ibrahim said in a statement late on Wednesday that Rashed had submitted his resignation “based on his desire to take upon himself the full responsibility for some on-screen errors that appeared recently.”

“We jointly bear the responsibility for all that appeared on screen, including unintentional errors, which we do not accept under any circumstances,” Ibrahim said.

Any mistakes that have appeared on Al-Arabiya are “our mutual responsibility,” he added, stressing that he has personally confirmed this to Rashed.

Ibrahim’s statement did not say to what errors he was referring and, when contacted, an MBC spokesman declined to give any further information.

However, media sources have linked the resignation to a series of documentaries aired on Al-Arabiya during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on relations between Islam and the West.

The series included criticism of the ultra-conservative Saudi form of Islam known as Wahhabism.

Dubai-based Al-Arabiya is a prominent Arabic language news channel and the main rival of Qatar’s Al-Jazeera. Launched in 2003, it stole some of the limelight from Al-Jazeera, which was established in 1996.

Both channels are backed by wealthy Gulf monarchies and are engaged in a fierce battle over Arab audiences, in a region marked by numerous conflicts and a rise in Islamic fundamentalism.

AFP