By Natasha Twal Tynes

Publisher and CEO of the Jordanian independent daily AlGhad, Mohammad Alayyan, cited what he referred to as “invisible money” as one of the major obstacles hindering the progress of independent media outlets in the Arab World.

Alayyan who is planning to launch Jordan’s first independent terrestrial and satellite TV station, ALGhad TV, on June 1 made his remarks during a lecture entitled “Developing Media as a Business Model in Jordan” in Washington, D.C., United States, on March 28.

“Historically, investment in media has not been that great because governments have always invested in the media.  People were afraid of opening up media [outlets], so basically it created insufficient funds [for] the development of independent media,” Alayyan told the audience at a talk at the Human Rights Campaign building.

But this has changed since 2001, according to Alayyan, as investments in the media have dramatically increased in the past few years. However, Alayyan argues that investments are not made in a transparent way. “A lot of invisible money is going into the media and I think this is one of the major obstacles facing independent media in the Arab World,” he said.

According to Alayyan, if you own a media outlet that is losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year but it continues to operate normally then you have no right to refer to your organization as “independent”. “You are being subsidized; you are being financed by somebody, and you are going to do what that financier tells you.”

In his talk, Alayyan made a reference to two major pan-Arab satellite channels: Aljazeera and Alarabiya. “Aljazeera keeps losing 100 to 120 million dollars every year, and this is going to jump to 200 million a year with the English [channel]. Alarabiya as well, they keep losing money. This is all invisible money.”

Since its launch in 1996, Alajzeera has relied on funding from the Qatari emirate while Alarabia is part of the ARA Group International, which is owned by Walid Al-Ibrahim, a relative of the Saudi King.

According to Alayyan, the climate of the current broadcast media market in the Arab world is creating an unfriendly arena for competition. Referring to the competition as those with “deep pockets,” he pointed out that independent media institutions find it very hard to compete and survive in such an environment.

Alayyan backed up his argument by quoting a number of figures. According to him, a total of US$16 billion have so far been invested in the Arab television market, while the size of the current market is only US$1.2 billion. “Where is this money going?” He asked.

Alayyan entered the media industry in 1998 when he established Al Waseet weekly classified newspaper in Jordan. Alayyan also established Al Faridah Specialized Printing, which publishes Layalina, JO, Ahlan and Teen World magazines.

Among the other factors that are hindering the development of independent media in the Arab world, according to Alayyan, are government ownership legislation and social factors.

The event was organized by the Internews Network and the Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.