Aden (South24)

Despite the recent exclusive interview conducted by Al-Hadath TV with Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, the President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC),  a new study, backed by statistics and data, revealed the tremendous scale of the media ignoring approach adopted by the Saudi channels  Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath towards the STC which is one the most prominent Yemeni parties that fight along with the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen. 

The research study, published by “South24 Center”, on Monday, analyzed more than 1700 videos from Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath’s YouTube channels. Those pieces included the most prominent general main programs and those dedicated to covering the Yemeni issue, until mid-December 2021. Moreover, they included the discussions around the Yemeni file in the talk shows and the interviews with Yemeni officials in this regard.

Al-Arabiya is the most important among the Saudi Middle East Television Group and the Saudi news channels. It is part and parcel of the Saudi media network. Its headquarters are located in Dubai. It was first broadcast in 2003. Recently, it started to broadcast some of its programs from Riyadh as part of a moving plan which could last two years according to Reuters.

Despite the long hours of daily coverage by Al-Hadath to discuss Yemeni news, the presence of the STC in this coverage is rare and almost absent. If there is a presence, it is often related to the Riyadh Agreement according to the study’s conclusions.

Source: “South24”

According to an illustrated diagram in the study, the STC was not mentioned at all in Al-Arabiya's four main programs. Likewise, its mention is almost non-existent in the coverage of Al-Hadath channel.

The study claimed that the Saudi media policymakers admit the "Muslim Brotherhood's" domination over the internationally-recognized government as the anchor described them as “the dangerous enemy”. The channel is likely to succumb to political pressure in determining the way it addresses the “Muslim Brotherhood's role in Yemen (The Islah Party) after removing 4 questions from the exclusive interview with the STC'S President that included severe criticism against the group. 

The researcher said that the study used Critical Discourse Analysis and Content Analysis. The two methodologies are used by top research centers in Analyzing media discourse and content, a television in particular. This is in addition to the Conversation Analysis methodology which was used by the researcher to analyze Aidarous Al-Zoubaidi interview with Al-Hadath on Jan 20th, 2022. 

The study noted that there is a remarkable openness in the policy of the two channels towards the STC, especially after Al-Zubaidi’s interview. However, it believes that the interview intended also to promote the STC’s stance towards the war against the Houthis at the media level in conjunction with the Coalition’s field endeavors in Yemen. 

As for the nature of some questions to Al-Zubaidi during the interview, the study said: “observers of the political and military developments in South Yemen can understand that the media circle began to be convinced that the STC became a reliable force not only for securing the Southern governorates but in playing an important role in securing the boards of the Southern maritime for Yemen and Bab Al-Mandab.

The researcher reached several conclusions about how the two channels address the STC’s news and the way they present it on their screens.

Main conclusions

● Although Al-Hadath allocates a daily special coverage of the Yemeni file with all its contradictions under the name of "Al-Hadath Al Yemeni" whose YouTube channel include 536 videos till 6:07 pm on 12/12/2021, there are only two episodes including the words "the Transitional" and "the Southern Transitional" which refer to the STC.

● Although the aforementioned two episodes referred to the STC in their titles, they didn’t talk about it except for the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement only.  

● Al-Hadath, in its daily program “Al- Hadath Al Yemeni” hosts Northern guests and ignores the Southern figures to talk about the Riyadh Agreement. This often in some way leads to highlighting the Northern perspective which is not satisfied with the STC. 

● Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath look at the STC from one angle which is the Saudi- sponsored Riyadh Agreement and the mechanism of its implementation. 

● Despite the long hours of daily coverage by Al-Hadath to discuss Yemeni news, the presence of the STC in this coverage is rare and almost absent. If there is a presence, it is often related to the Riyadh Agreement. 

● The name of the STC has been absent from the titles of the news and talk show episodes on Al-Arabiya except for rare cases. 

● The two channels (Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath) have not hosted pundits or political and military figures in exclusive interviews or within the hours that cover the Yemeni file to talk about the STC specifically.   

● The two channels (Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath) have not allocated any of their talk show programs to speak about the STC AS a political and military Yemeni entity.

● The two channels don’t host any political analysts or figures affiliated with the STC as part of its daily coverage of the Yemeni file Except for rarely.

● The three Southern politicians hosted by Al-Arabiya in its political programs (Al-Attas, Bin Mubarak, and Yassin) didn’t talk about the STC as being the most active party in the South. They only spoke about the internationally-recognized government’s point of view.  

● Remarkably, two of the three Southern politicians hosted by Al-Arabiya in exclusive interviews (Al-Attas, Bin Mubarak) differ in many visions and positions with the STC, most notably regarding the position on Yemeni Unity. 

● Al-Arabiya hosted Haider Abu Bakr Al-Attas in its program "The Political Memory"(Al-Zakira Al-Seyaseya) to just talk about his political memories before and after the Unity. This appearance which highlighted some historical crises in the former Southern state came in conjunction with the STC’s launch of what is known as the “Southern Dialogue”. The publication of these interviews dragged a lot of criticism”.

● Al-Arabiya hosted the Yemeni PM, Maeen Abdulmalik, in its program “Soal Mubashir ''(Direct question) to talk only about the Riyadh Agreement from the internationally-recognized government's perspective while the second part of the agreement was ignored. 

● The two channels are interested in the job titles of the political and military hosts who appear in their programs, as all the analysts hosted by the two channels often enjoy a prestigious position in the internationally-recognized government, including (Adviser) for example.  

● Introducing the governmental job titles of the two channels’ guests demonstrates that Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath are not interested in hosting the independent political and military Yemeni pundits who don’t belong to the internationally-recognized government. Thus, the Yemeni political and military analysis remains hovering around the internationally-recognized government's point of view which drastically differs from the STC's and even with the Houthis'.  

● It seems that the main purpose behind conducting the TV interview with the STC’S President was to promote the STC’s stance towards the war against the Houthis at the media level in conjunction with the Coalition’s field endeavors in Yemen. 

● It seems that Al-Hadath has a pre-judgment claiming that the STC plays a negative role in unifying the Yemeni ranks in the face of the Houthis. 

● The Saudi media policymakers admit the "Muslim Brotherhood's" domination over the internationally-recognized government as the anchor described them as "the dangerous enemy". 

● The deletion by Al-Hadath’s YouTube channel of four questions from Al-Zoubaidi interview which addressed the role played by the Muslim Brotherhood raises doubts about the professionalism of the channel and shows it’s possible to succumb to upper political pressure. 

- South24 Center for News and Studies
- To download the full study in PDF format (here)