The New Arab
Qatari-funded, pan-Arab left-of-center
Background
The New Arab (Arabic: Al-Araby Al-Jadeed) launched in March 2014 as an Arabic-language news website, followed by an Arabic daily print edition in September 2014 and an English-language online edition under the same name. It is owned by Fadaat Media Group, a private Qatari media company founded in 2012 with its London entity registered in May 2013. The outlet was shaped from the start by Azmi Bishara — a Palestinian-Israeli intellectual and former member of Israel's Knesset who left Israel in 2007 amid security investigations and relocated to Doha — who served as its founding intellectual architect and remains closely associated with the publication. The launch was backed by Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, partly as a complement to and counterweight against Al Jazeera amid internal tensions in Qatar's media landscape. In 2015, Fadaat expanded by launching Al Araby Television Network, extending the brand's reach across the Arab world. Saudi Arabia and the UAE demanded the outlet's closure during the 2017 Gulf blockade of Qatar, and critics have accused it of pro-Qatar editorial bias, particularly in how it framed that diplomatic standoff. Media Bias/Fact Check rates it left-center in political orientation and mostly factual, noting limited ownership transparency and emotionally loaded framing on issues such as Palestine. The outlet consistently advocates for Palestinian political rights and takes a critical view of Israeli and U.S. policies in the region.
Sources
- The New Arab – Wikipedia
- Fadaat Media – Wikipedia
- The New Arab – Media Bias/Fact Check
- Media-State Parallelism in Qatar – Election Coverage Study
- The New Arab About Us
Profile compiled 2026-06-26; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.