Middle East Eye

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File:Middle East Eye logo.jpg
MEE Logo (cropped).jpg
TypeOnline
Owner(s)Jamal Awn Jamal Bessasso, M.E.E Ltd.[1]
Founder(s)David Hearst "co-founder"[with whom?]
Editor-in-chiefDavid Hearst[2]
FoundedApril 2014; 9 years ago (April 2014)
LanguageEnglish, French
Headquarters1 Sussex Place, London, England, United Kingdom[3]
Websitemiddleeasteye.net

Middle East Eye (MEE) is a London-based online news outlet covering events in the Middle East and North Africa. MEE describes itself as an "independently funded online news organization that was founded in April 2014." MEE seeks to be the primary portal of Middle East news, and describes its target audience as "all those communities of readers living in and around the region that care deeply for its fate".[4]

The governments of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain accuse MEE of pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias and receiving Qatari funding. As a consequence, they demanded MEE to be shut down following the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar. MEE’s response to the accusation is that it is independent of any government or movement and is not funded by Qatar.[5] Middle East Eye has been described as being backed by Qatar.[6][7]

Organisation[edit]

MEE is edited by David Hearst, a former foreign leader writer for the British daily, The Guardian.[8] MEE is owned by Middle East Eye Ltd, a UK company incorporated in 2013 under the sole name of Jamal Awn Jamal Bessasso. It employs about 20 full-time staff in its London office.

Coverage[edit]

Middle East Eye covers a range of topics across the Middle East. According to its website, it reports on events in 22 different countries. Content is separated into different categories on its website including news, opinion and essays.[9]

Since the foundation of the media outlet, it has provided exclusives on a number of major events in the Middle East, which have often been picked up by other media outlets globally. In early June 2017, an anonymous hacker group began distributing emails to multiple news outlets that they had hacked from the inbox of Yousef Otaiba, the UAE's ambassador in Washington D.C..[10] This included providing details from leaked emails of Mohammed bin Salman and US officials.[11] This revelation on 14 August 2017, led to other media outlets to print other material from the leaked emails.[12][13] According to The New York Times, the hacked emails appeared to benefit Qatar and be the work of hackers working for Qatar, a common subject of the distributed emails.[14]

On July 29, 2016, MEE published a story alleging that the government of the United Arab Emirates, aided by Palestinian exile Mohammed Dahlan, had funnelled significant sums of money to conspirators of the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt two weeks earlier.[15] In 2017, Dahlan brought a lawsuit of libel against the MEE in a London court seeking damages of up to £250,000. However, Dahlan abandoned the suit shortly before the case was to begin. In a statement, Dahlan maintained that the story was “fully fabricated” but claimed that he has “achieved his goals in the English courts," and was now planning to sue Facebook in Dublin where the article was “widely published”. However, according to MEE and their lawyers, by dropping the claim, Dahlan will be forced to pay all the legal costs, of both parties, estimated to be in excess of £500,000.[16][17]

In November 2019, the Turkish government officially accused Dahlan of involvement in the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt and is offering $700,000 for information leading to his capture.[18]

Criticism of coverage[edit]

Saudi Arabia accused MEE of being a news outlet funded by Qatar (both directly and indirectly).[19] The Emirati newspaper The National, claimed Middle East Eye coverage to have an anti-Emirati bias and noted several members employed by MEE to be originally part of Al Jazeera.[20][21] The National also accused MEE of being associated with multiple members of the Muslim Brotherhood.[20]

On 22 June 2017, during the Qatar diplomatic crisis, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Bahrain, as part of a list of 13 demands, demanded that Qatar close Middle East Eye, which they saw as sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and a Qatari-funded and aligned outlet. Middle East Eye denied it has ever received Qatari funds.[22][23]

Notable contributors[edit]

Jamal Khashoggi[edit]

Jamal Khashoggi wrote for MEE prior to joining The Washington Post.[38][39]

According to a post on the MEE website, Khashoggi wrote for them over a period of two years. According to MEE, his op-eds were not credited to him at the time due to concerns for his safety because many of his articles for MEE are critical of Saudi Arabia and its policies, and Saudi Arabia's rift with Qatar.[38] Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was assassinated when he entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey on 2 October 2018. After initial denials, Saudi Arabia stated that he was killed by rogue assassins inside the consulate building with "premeditated intention".[40]

Middle East tensions[edit]

Blocking[edit]

In 2016, the United Arab Emirates blocked the Middle East Eye in what was a countrywide ban. MEE says it contacted the UAE embassy in London for an explanation, but never received a response.[41] Saudi Arabia also blocked the website across the country in May 2017. Following protests against the President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in September and October 2019, Egypt also blocked the website.[42]

2017–2018 Qatar diplomatic crisis[edit]

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain ended their diplomatic relationships with Qatar, followed by a list of 13 demands to restore diplomatic relations.[19][22][23] MEE was mentioned in one of the demands to be shut down by Qatar even though the news organisation denies receiving funds from them stating that 'the demand as an attempt to "extinguish any free voice which dares to question what they are doing."'[43] In a statement responding to the demand, the publication's editor-in-chief said "MEE covers the area without fear or favour, and we have carried reports critical of the Qatari authorities, for instance how workers from the subcontinent are treated on building projects for the 2022 World Cup."[44][45]

Cyberattack[edit]

In April 2020, MEE was one of 20 websites targeted by hackers that cybersecurity experts, ESET, have linked to an Israeli surveillance company called Candiru. The website was impacted using a Watering hole attack which serves malicious code to certain visitors allowing the attackers to compromise their PCs.[46]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "M.E.E LIMITED". Companies House. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  2. ↑ "David Hearst". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  3. ↑ "About – Coverage". Middle Easy Eye. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "About Middle East Eye". Middle East Eye.
  5. ↑ "'An attack on free thought': Middle East Eye responds to Saudi demands". Middle East Eye. June 23, 2017.
  6. ↑ Berman, I. (2018). Digital Dictators: Media, Authoritarianism, and America's New Challenge. American Foreign Policy Council. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-5381-1991-4. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
  7. ↑ Dorsey, James M. (2017). "The Gulf Crisis: Small States Battle it Out". SSRN Electronic Journal. Elsevier BV. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3003598. ISSN 1556-5068.
  8. ↑ "David Hearst | The Guardian". the Guardian.
  9. ↑ "News page". Middle East Eye.
  10. ↑ "Someone Is Using These Leaked Emails To Embarrass Washington's Most Powerful Ambassador". HuffPost. June 3, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Saudi crown prince wants out of Yemen war, email leak reveals". Middle East Eye.
  12. ↑ "UAE ambassador says 'whole of Saudi Arabia is cuckoo' in leaked email". The Independent.
  13. ↑ "Yousef al-Otaiba berates Saudi in leaked emails". Al Jazeera. August 19, 2017.
  14. ↑ Kirkpatrick, David D. (1 July 2017). "Journalist Joins His Jailer's Side in a Bizarre Persian Gulf Feud (Published 2017)". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  15. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: UAE 'funnelled money to Turkish coup plotters'". Middle East Eye.
  16. ↑ Tobitt, Charlotte (September 12, 2019). "Middle East Eye journalism 'vindicated' after Palestinian politician drops libel case". Press Gazette.
  17. ↑ "Dahlan drops libel case against MEE over article on Turkey coup". Al Jazeera English. September 12, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Turkey to offer $700,000 bounty for exiled Palestinian strongman Dahlan". The Times of Israel. November 22, 2019.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Wintour, Patrick (14 November 2017). "Qatar given 10 days to meet 13 sweeping demands by Saudi Arabia". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Muslim Brotherhood, its UK connections and media attacks on the UAE". The National. June 19, 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  21. ↑ Langton, James (June 26, 2014). "Al Jazeera executive helped to launch controversial UK website". The National. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Carlstorm, Gregg (24 June 2017). "What's the Problem With Al Jazeera?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Mandhai, Shafik (18 July 2017). "Al Jazeera: 'Business as normal' despite Gulf Crisis". Al-Jazeera. Al Jazeera Media Network. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  24. ↑ "Britain is right to welcome Saudi crown prince and support his reforms". Middle East Eye. March 6, 2018.
  25. ↑ "Ian Cobain bio". Middle East Eye.
  26. ↑ Jonathan Cook, bio, Middle East Eye
  27. ↑ "From Obama to Trump: The lessons, the challenges". Middle East Eye. February 2, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Richard Falk bio". Middle East Eye.
  29. ↑ "Turkey: Why the West should show more support". Middle East Eye. January 26, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Faisal Kutty bio". Middle East Eye.
  31. ↑ "Ali Lmrabet bio". Middle East Eye.
  32. ↑ "Gideon Levy bio". Middle East Eye.
  33. ↑ "Political Islam will go the same way as nationalism and communism". Middle East Eye. June 15, 2016.
  34. ↑ Joseph Massad bio, Middle East Eye
  35. ↑ "Peter Oborne bio". Middle East Eye.
  36. ↑ Madawi al-Rasheed bio, Middle East Eye
  37. ↑ "Sarah Leah Whitson bio". Middle East Eye.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 "Jamal Khashoggi articles". Middle East Eye.
  39. ↑ Mayhew, Freddy (June 29, 2017). "UK-based Middle East news outlet also targeted for closure in Saudi-led demands against Qatar". Press Gazette.
  40. ↑ Smith, Saphora (October 24, 2018). "Saudi Arabia now admits Khashoggi killing was premeditated". NBC News.
  41. ↑ "UAE government blocks access to Middle East Eye". Middle East Eye.
  42. ↑ "BBC Arabic website blocked in Egypt". BBC Monitoring.
  43. ↑ "What's the Problem With Al Jazeera?". The Atlantic.
  44. ↑ "Unacceptable call for Al Jazeera's closure in Gulf crisis". Freedom without Borders. 28 June 2017.
  45. ↑ "'An attack on free thought': Middle East Eye responds to Saudi demands". Middle East Eye.
  46. ↑ Brewster, Thomas. "Blacklisted Israeli Surveillance Company Linked To Middle Eastern Hacks, Denies Knowing Whom Customers Spy On". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-12-22.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.bharatpedia.org/index.php?title=Middle_East_Eye&oldid=285725"