AFAIK The National is completely owned by the UAE state, although on matters where the the UAE is not deeply invested the National appears to have a certain amount of editorial independence (provided that they don't overuse that independence, of course).
Maybe a little less freedom of action than the South China Morning Post has these day…
AFAIK The National is completely owned by the UAE state, although on matters where the the UAE is not deeply invested the National appears to have a certain amount of editorial independence (provided that they don't overuse that independence, of course).
Maybe a little less freedom of action than the South China Morning Post has these days?
I just took at look at the editorial pages of the Gulf News (largest circulation newspaper in the UAE - owned by the private Al Tayer Group whose chairman just happens to be the current Finance Minister of the UAE), and certainly there is nothing critical of either the UAE or Saudi governments there, and a tremendous amount of content about the just-concluded Indian elections.
On further thinking, I am doubling down :) on my hypothesis that the publication in the National should be interpreted in the context of of the UAE/KSA cold war (highly contentious frenemies?) with Qatar. Maybe it was something of a trial balloon to see how much daylight UAE could get from Hamas without dangerous blowback?
AFAIK The National is completely owned by the UAE state, although on matters where the the UAE is not deeply invested the National appears to have a certain amount of editorial independence (provided that they don't overuse that independence, of course).
Maybe a little less freedom of action than the South China Morning Post has these days?
I just took at look at the editorial pages of the Gulf News (largest circulation newspaper in the UAE - owned by the private Al Tayer Group whose chairman just happens to be the current Finance Minister of the UAE), and certainly there is nothing critical of either the UAE or Saudi governments there, and a tremendous amount of content about the just-concluded Indian elections.
That seems about right. I was really surprised to see the al-Khatib piece in a magazine like that.
On further thinking, I am doubling down :) on my hypothesis that the publication in the National should be interpreted in the context of of the UAE/KSA cold war (highly contentious frenemies?) with Qatar. Maybe it was something of a trial balloon to see how much daylight UAE could get from Hamas without dangerous blowback?