MIDDLE EAST BROADCASTING NETWORKS
Middle
East Broadcasting Networks
“ MBN is a 24-hour , seven-days-a-week , live news service . We are the only one within the USA and our target market is specifically the MENA region , across 22 countries . And when I say North Africa , I mean the seven African countries in the north of the region , all the way over through Egypt , the northern coast from the ocean over across the Mediterranean ,” explains MBN ’ s Chief Technology Officer , Mike Marno , who ’ s a veteran of the media entertainment industry , having worked in it for around 33 years .
A wholly-owned , not-for-profit service , MBN currently comprises two television networks , a radio station , and several digital news sites , each providing an insight into the reality of Americana and American politics , which are often misrepresented the further afield you go . These media outlets also focus on in-depth analysis of topics otherwise maligned by traditional Arab media outlets , for the purpose of encouraging transparency and democracy .
And the creation of Radio Sawa back in 2002 , followed by the television station Alhurra in 2004 , was nothing short of revolutionary .
Middle East Broadcasting Networks ’ media mission The Millennium arrived with a bang – as did a new technological dawn .
And with this came increasingly sour relations between much of the West and Middle East , which , while fluctuating over the previous two decades , had reached a new low . This culminated in the catastrophic events of September 11th , 2001 , and the consequent US-led coalition ’ s occupation of Afghanistan that same year and Iraq in 2003 , only a decade or so after the Gulf War had liberated Kuwait from Iraq .
As you can imagine , there were simmering tensions on both sides that contributed to fear , lies , and nationalist or religious propaganda via news services and media outlets ; counteracting these narratives was essential .
180 December 2022