European coverage has grown consistently

Author: 
SIRAJ WAHAB | ARAB NEWS
Publication Date: 
Wed, 2010-04-21 03:20

This classification was done away with a few years ago. Now all pages are classified as international ones. A cursory look at the Europe pages in our archives reveals the heavy focus on all affairs British. During the Falklands War, there were special pages devoted to the conflict. That was also when Arab News rode a crest of popularity. That was also when there was a huge influx of letters to the editor, and that was also when we had very large space for letters.
However, Britain was not the only country that dominated prime space in Arab News pages. Skimming through the backdated issues, the one event that Arab News was especially enthusiastic about was the fall of the Berlin Wall. Helmut Kohl’s pictures are prominently displayed on all pages leading up to that seminal event in the history of the modern world. Since the Arab world, and especially Saudi Arabia, was on the side of America and Europe, there were natural jubilation and euphoria among the editors, and this seems evident from the number of editorials and the space devoted to the end of the Wall. This was also the time when Arab News entered into collaboration with international publications, such as Newsweek. This lent an added dimension to the paper’s coverage of European affairs.
When Kohl lost to Gerhard Schroeder, there was a sense of unease in Saudi Arabia, and this is well reflected both in the opinion pieces that we ran as in the letters to the editor. The business community seemed particularly upset by Kohl’s defeat. Nobody could believe that Kohl would be defeated because of his unifying Germany, but that is precisely what happened. There were many tears shed for Kohl, and soon he became history. After his electoral defeat, there is barely any mention of him in the Arab News pages.
Then there was the fascination with former French president Francois Mitterand. He was seen as a solid leader and was a regular item on the Europe pages. The 1990s saw much of the European focus on the monetary union. Euro stories went on the business pages but then, more than business, it also had a political angle. For quite some time, it seems there was confusion about whether to capitalize euro or just leave it lower case. So in one particular edition, euro is spelt with a capital E on the front page and with a lower case e on the inside pages. That was perhaps understandable at a time when even European papers were struggling to define it properly. The adoption of the euro too was front page news, with exclusive views and commentaries on the possible impact the euro would have on the European and world economy.
Communism and its fall was a favorite subject in Arab News. All the struggles for freedom and the birth pangs of new European nations were carefully covered in the pages of Arab News. Lech Walesa was a hero to much of the free world and his every action became a lead story in Arab News. What happened in Poland in the run-up to the collapse of the communist regime was tragic but also expected. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauescu and his secret service had made life hell for ordinary and innocent Romanians. When the time came for the people’s revenge, they didn’t bat an eyelid and meted out an exemplary punishment to their cruel ruler. That story that appeared in December 1989 successfully captured the essence of what was happening in much of Europe.
Most of the stories about Europe were business-oriented rather than political, and the business community here was largely focused on what was happening in European countries. The reason was simple: Saudi Arabia was importing most of its heavy equipment and other machinery from European nations.
Russia too figured prominently not only for Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost, but also for the Chechen war, which is still ongoing. The change in the communist regime, the instability that followed and the growth of a new Russia under the current Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin was all recorded in the annals of Arab News.
In the 1990s, the breakup of the former Yugoslavia led to years of war and atrocities against Bosnian Muslims by their Serbian neighbors until the member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization intervened on behalf of the UN.
European and American Forces created a no-fly zone over Bosnia and later retaliated against Serbian and Bosnian Serb forces with a massive bombing campaign that led to the Dayton Peace Accord being signed by the belligerents in 1995. After that, a force of 60,000 troops from NATO as well as other European states, along with troops from Russia, Ukraine, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and New Zealand, enforced the peace. Several Serbian military and political leaders faced indictments in the International Court in The Hague, and Arab News reported the story from beginning to end.
In recent years, the events in Spain like the Madrid bombings and the defeat of Jose Maria Aznar was very prominently featured in Arab News pages. One particular reason for this was that Aznar’s defeat was unexpected. He was far ahead in the opinion polls but just on the eve of polls, terrorists struck Spain with deadly train bombings and overnight, the scenario changed. In other countries, after such an atrocity the incumbent gets the benefit of a sympathy wave. That did not happen in Aznar’s case. He was punished for misleading his people by blaming the attacks on Eta. That cost him the election, and Spain thought it should have nothing to do with the war in Iraq.
With trade and collaborative agreements between European and Saudi companies and universities on the increase, the “Green Truth” will continue its extensive European coverage and likely increase it as the developments of the day dictate.

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