WASHINGTON, DC – With the media raising a hue and cry about an Arab company managing U.S. ports, Accuracy in Media (AIM) editor Cliff Kincaid today urged a congressional inquiry into how Arabs are buying into major U.S. media companies.

“Shares in Time Warner and News Corporation (parent of Fox News) are being sold to powerful Arab investors without any national controversy,” Kincaid noted. “But with the media being a critical battlefield in the war on terror, Arab financial ties to Western news organizations must be thoroughly examined.”

Kincaid said that he found it strange that the U.S. media have buried the news that Istithmar, an investment company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the same country involved in the port controversy, recently acquired a stake in Time Warner. What’s more, controversial Saudi Prince al-Waleed Bin Talal, one of the world’s richest people, has invested in both Time Warner and News Corporation. At an Arab media conference in December, held in the UAE, al-Waleed openly boasted of altering Fox News Channel’s coverage of the Muslim riots in France by making a telephone call to News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch.

Kincaid said that prominent members of the U.S. media scheduled to attend the Arab media conference in Dubai were from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, CBS News, USA Today, the Public Broadcasting Service, Bloomberg News, and Time magazine.

“Perhaps this helps explain why Arab influence over the U.S. media is a story that doesn’t see the light of day,” he said.

Accuracy In Media (AIM) is a non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that have received slanted coverage.

To schedule an interview with AIM Editor Cliff Kincaid, contact Anne Tyrrell with Shirley & Banister Public Affairs at (703) 739-5920 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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