Sudan’s Al-Shuruq TV: Independent voice or ruling-party mouthpiece?
Sudan’s Al-Shuruq TV: Independent voice or ruling-party mouthpiece?
1,008 words
11 October 2007
03:10 pm GMT
BBC Monitoring Media
Al-Shuruq, a Sudanese private satellite TV channel transmitting from Dubai, launches on 15 October. Some commentators say it could be used as a mouthpiece for Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), and reports have linked the TV to businessmen with government connections.
The owners of Qanat al-Shuruq (Sunrise, in Arabic) say the station will be an independent voice.
The 24-hour Arabic-language channel is based at Dubai’s Media City and broadcasts via the Arabsat and Nilesat satellites. Station officials say it intends to use a Eutelsat Hotbird satellite, giving it European coverage. Its motto is: “The Sudanese sun that never sets”.
Ownership
According to the private Al-Sudani newspaper, Al-Shuruq is “the ruling party’s legitimate baby and the pulpit for its voice”.
The report says allies of the NCP set up Al-Shuruq because state TV “had fallen, despite itself, into the orbit of plurality, openness and justice” by giving coverage to former rebel groups – such as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) – under the terms of peace accords.
But Al-Sudani also hints at the involvement of non-Sudanese individuals in the enterprise, urging critics “not to be impatient”. Al-Shuruq is a Sudanese channel “trying to reach out to the world via Arab mindsets that are detached from Sudanese culture, its diversity and dimensions”, it adds.
In comments carried by Qatar’s Al-Jazeera website, Al-Shuruq’s director-general, Mahmud Abd-al-Hadi, denies any NCP ties. He says the “independent” channel will be operated by the Al-Shuruq Media Foundation, based in Dubai.
Abd-al-Hadi, a former head of the Al-Jazeera training centre, says the station “will not represent a political party, ethnic group, or religious denomination, but will represent the Sudanese public”. The station’s 25m-dollar annual running costs will be met by “Sudanese businessmen”.
The identity of Al-Shuruq’s investors is not clear, but their public face is Jamal al-Wali, chairman of its administrative council. BBC Monitoring sources say Al-Wali is a wealthy Sudanese businessman with links to the ruling party. He is also chairman of one of Sudan’s premier football clubs, Al-Merrikh, which has links to the military.
Aims
Director-General Mahmud Abd-al-Hadi says Al-Shuruq seeks to “contribute to the progress of Sudan, strengthen its unity, spread peace on Sudanese territory, enhance Sudan’s stability, bolster Sudan’s reconstruction, develop the people’s cultural identify and bolster Sudan’s relations with the Arab world and Africa”.
Al-Shuruq, he says, “will try to attract the greatest support from the Sudanese public without ignoring the tastes of [other] Arab viewers”. Live reports “will be confined to Sudanese affairs”.
In comments carried by Al-Sudani newspaper, Al-Shuruq’s chairman, Al-Wali, says the station heralds “a new media endeavour, presenting Sudan’s image to the world with a highly professional and objective approach”.
The channel will be the first Arab satellite channel to devote two programmes to African affairs: “News of the Dark Continent” and “African Dialogue”.
Editorial stance
Director-General Abd-al-Hadi says Al-Shuruq will “encourage its staff to adhere to the principles of accuracy, impartiality, balance and fairness”.
He says Al-Shuruq will not tolerate “any form of discrimination on the basis of sex or race or inappropriate statements”. The station will serve the Sudanese “through a media policy that is committed to professional ethics and respect for the rights to knowledge, free opinion and expression”.
Programmes, staff
The director-general says the channel will dedicate 50 per cent of airtime to Sudanese issues and 10 per cent to matters affecting expatriates. The rest of the output will be devoted to Middle Eastern and Islamic topics.
There will be five daily news bulletins, six specialist weekly news programmes, 10 live programmes and nine recorded ones. These will address “development issues, news, entertainment, education and marketing”.
The channel will have 255 staff; 155 of them in Khartoum. The Sudan-based staff will include 23 correspondents, deployed across the country and operating from 15 news bureaux.
Test transmissions
Al-Shuruq has been testing since September 2007. The transmissions suggest a nationalist agenda, and feature messages promoting national unity and peaceful co-existence.
The broadcasts feature traditional dances by Sudan’s ethnic groups: the Nubas (in central Sudan), Darfuri (in the west), Bejas (east), Kababish (north), and southern tribes. Background music includes one of Sudan’s most popular Arabic songs “Ana Sudani” (“I’m Sudanese”). The dances are followed by a message proclaiming: “One Beat, One Happiness.” A white dove in flight bears the messages: “Al-Shuruq: The Sunrise of Unity and Peace”; “Al-Shuruq: One Homeland, One Nation”; “Sudan’s Future Is In Your Hands”; and “Al-Shuruq: From You To You.”
The station’s chairman Al-Wali also appears, pledging that Al-Shuruq will strive to give a “true picture” of Sudan. Similar comments came from presenters, who stress a commitment to accurate, impartial and balanced reporting.
Sudanese media personalities are featured, most of them from the Arab-dominated north. Among them are the general manager of the state-run Sudan Radio and Television Corporation, Dr Amin Hasan Umar, a former state minister for culture and information; Hasan Khawjali, editor of the Islamist Alwan newspaper, and Fadlallah Muhammad, editor-in-chief of the private daily Al-Khartoum.
Significantly, no representatives from southern Sudan media are featured.
Contribution to pan-Arab media
Director-General Abd-al-Hadi is confident that Al-Shuruq will contribute to the wider Arab media scene. He says the founders have studied the problems facing the Arab media and will “try their utmost to avoid these drawbacks, especially in the field of strategic media planning, establishing an integrated institution, developing and rationalizing the media experiment”.
Abd-al-Hadi says he is confident that the channel will become a “model” for other Arab media.
Source: BBC Monitoring research 11 Oct 07