SAUDI AND UK PRESS 1

Saudi and UK Press

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Differences between Press Media in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom 

In Saudi Arabia (SA), although private companies or individuals own the majority of

newspapers, they are subject to government supervision. All newspapers are broadsheets and

categorised according to publication; thus, they are regional newspapers (Alzahrani, 2016).

The majority are published in Arabic, including  Al-Bilad, Al Eqtisadiah, Al Hayat, Al

Jazirah, Al Madina, and Al Nadwa. In contrast, some, such as the Arab News, the Saudi

Gazette, and Aseer News, are published in English (Jones et al., 2020). British newspapers,

on the other hand, are classified based on the political stance (conservative versus liberal), the

style (broadsheet versus tabloid), and coverage (national versus regional). The differences in

political view, techniques, scope, language, and culture may affect the contents of the news

and the way of framing the images of Saudi women. 

Another notable difference between the UK and the Saudi newspapers is on their

focus. The Saudi newspapers are closely tied to political ideologies. Since most activities of

the press are controlled by the government, it determines what is published. With party

newspapers also existed in the country, they seek to promote their political parties with

significant influence from the government in place (Zayani, 2012). However, many of these

newspapers are highly fragmented, whereby most of its readership is mostly confined within

a smaller and specialized audiences. Notably, most of the newspapers are published and

circulated in either one or two cities, particularly due the small literate population in most

places of the country. On the other hand, the British newspapers are focused on various topics

with extensive focus of the public, business, politics, and people’s lifestyle. Either, the

coverage and distribution is wide across all parts of the country. There is no particular

limitation for distribution of the newspapers, mainly because the larger population in the UK

is highly educated and able to read newspapers with ease.

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When covering news stories, newspapers have different ways of framing their stories

and is highly influenced by other cultures and perspectives. Women are one social issue that

has attracted considerable attention globally on the media platforms. A notable difference has

been noted in the framing of women between the British and Saudi print media over the

years. With Saudi Arabia women having a long history of being prohibited from various

fundamental human rights, print media in those areas has often been conservative on the

status of Saudi women. The content of their papers is highly controlled and monitored by the

government, making freedom of expression on women matters limited in these papers. Based

on a study by Bashatah (2017), there was always a deliberate absence of women pages in

Saudi newspapers, with considerable statistics showing many of them still avoid mentioning

women. Several studies have established British newspapers as often portraying Saudi

women as victims looking for freedom from the Western countries. One example of how

Saudi women have been drawn in British newspapers is given by Aquil (2011). He noted that

Saudi women are portrayed as wrapped in a black veil with only a small opening for their

eyes and are surrounded by children. According to Reyaee and Ahmed (2015), this portrayal

by the British newspapers of Saudi women with hijab has often been taken to represent their

oppression and weak voice in their culture. 

Tabloids is another crucial difference between Saudi newspapers and British

newspapers. A tabloid refers to a newspaper with short articles, many photographs, and

smaller pages than daily newspapers. These newspapers are popular in the UK and vary

considerably in their political alignment, target market, circulation, and editorial styles. There

are two significant tabloid newspapers in Britain right now- compact and red-top tabloids.

These two vary majorly in the political focus and width of political direction. Red top

tabloids are written in a straightforward and straightforward vocabulary with greater

prominence on sensational crime stories, gossip about personal lives, particularly celebrities,
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and astrology (Johanssen & Garrisi, 2019). On the other hand, compact tabloids use

traditional editorial styles and are closely related to ordinary broadsheet newspapers. Its

primary focus is on the political spectrum, with both conservative and progressive often

making headlines. There are no such forms of newspapers in the Saudi print media, making

this research analysis limited to only the average newspaper differences during the

comparative analysis. If there were tabloids in Saudi newspapers, it could have given a

broader focus, particularly in analysing the political spectrum based on how they would differ

in their presentation. 

Censorship in the Saudi press

The Saudi press has been on transformation since its inception. Before the country's

unification, some parts were still under the control of the Ottoman Empire, where there were

already newspapers in existence such as "Hijaz" and "Shams Al Haqiqa" in the Western

region of the country (El Gody, 2007). Although the press has undergone multiple

transformations of its regulations and practices, the Saudi government has remained a key

player in issuing and influencing its printing laws and content. And although they carried

modest changes in their foreign investment laws for foreigners, no foreigner is allowed to

invest in the media sector. The press remains under the exclusive control of the Ministry of

Culture and Information. 

Although the government in Saudi claim that censorship (riqaba) is a legitimate action

protecting any public from foreign cultures and ideas, journalists in these areas have often

been arrested, abused, and suspended after expressing their opinions in the press (Martin et

al., 2016). Despite the press media getting private ownership, the government remains the

central controlling entity for any national press. Based on Rugh, "governments in Arab

countries have certain rights and powers that they can use to influence the press even though

it is in private hands" (2004, p. 71). Therefore, press freedom in Saudi has remained a "tug-
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of-war" between the external and internal forces, rendering Saudi journalists unable to write

or express themselves freely because of fear instilled in them by the government. 

The recent developments have seen Saudi newspapers begin to criticise the government,

although their criticism is often rendered uncommon. This development caught the attention

of Rugh, who has classified the Saudi newspapers into four categories:

1. The classical conservative

2. The moderate and semi-moderate

3. The liberal stream

4. The conservative Islamic newspapers

However, the exercise of censorship has solely remained with the ministry, which owns all

the national press, including the television and radio stations (Kraidy, 2006). 

The Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information has the power to appoint or dismiss

Editor-in-Chief in the national newspapers, which has remained the primary reason why the

government keeps its position in controlling the press in the country. According to Kheraigi

(1991), "The government has been able to create a "loyalist press" largely by influencing the

selection of editors and capitalising on the homogeneity of Saudi society. For example, the

Ministry of Culture and Information is capable, by law, of rejecting any candidate for the

board of directors of a news establishment and can also veto any nomination for chief

editorship. Journalists who venture in the netherworld of journalism risk the ultimate

punishment of expulsion, which is quite often done secretly in order to generate a minimum

of friction" (1990, p.178- 179). As a result, some editors loyal to the government, such as

Hashim Abdu Hashim and Turki Al Sedeiri, remained as heads of the press for more than 25

years. At the same time, others who criticised the government, such as Jamal Khashogji, were

dismissed indefinitely after a short time. Overall, reports on Saudi press censorship have

often highlighted that Saudi authorities dismiss or pressure Editors-in-Chief to suspend

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particular articles from various writers or columnists. As a result, an annual report by

Reporters Without Boundaries in 2008 described Saudi as a country with strict censorship

where journalists are suspended whenever they overstep their governments' limits. 
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References

Aquil, R. (2011). Change and Muslim women. International journal of humanities and social

science, 1(21), 21-30.

Alzahrani, A. A. (2016). Newsroom Convergence in Saudi Press organisations: A qualitative

study into four newsrooms of traditional newspapers (Doctoral dissertation,

University of Sheffield).

Bashatah, N. S. (2017). Framing analysis of British newspaper representation of Saudi

women from 2005-2013 (Doctoral dissertation, University of Salford).

El Gody, A. (2007). New media, new audience, new topics, and new forms of censorship in

the Middle East. In New media and the new Middle East (pp. 213-234). Palgrave

Macmillan, New York.

Johanssen, J., & Garrisi, D. (2019). “I Am Burning, I Am Burning” Affect, acid attacks and

British tabloid newspapers. Journalism Studies, 20(4), 463-479.

Jones, R. H., Jaworska, S., & Aslan, E. (2020). Language and media: a resource book for

students. Routledge.

Kheraigi, A. S. A. (1991). Press freedom in a Muslim state: A critique with reference to

freedom of expression in Islam.

Martin, J. D., Martins, R. J., & Wood, R. (2016). Desire for cultural preservation as a

predictor of support for entertainment media censorship in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and

the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Communication, 10, 23.

Kraidy, M. M. (2006). Hypermedia and governance in Saudi Arabia. First Monday.

Rugh, W. A. (2004). Arab mass media: Newspapers, radio, and television in Arab politics.

Greenwood publishing group.

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Zayani, M. (2012). Transnational media, regional politics and state security: Saudi Arabia

between tradition and modernity. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 39(3),

307-327.