Alhurra

Dear Colleagues, MBN cannot cede the field to Al Jazeera. “On-the-ground detail” with “academic credibility” and “global visibility.” That’s how leading AI chatbots now describe reporting from the Qatari-funded media company, notes Eliana Johnson of the Washington Free Beacon. MBN cannot yield to the competitors, the rivals, and full-on adversaries. We’re up against Al Jazeera,…

Dear Colleagues, Advised by his doctor to get out of damp, cold England, composer Gustav Holst went to Algeria for time off in April 1908. Oil was struck that year in the Middle East, in Persia. In America, the term “Melting Pot” came into proper usage, popularized by a play of the same name. This…

Dear Colleagues, Syria is in the news. Following an August agreement, Turkey has started training Syrian forces. Russia had a large delegation led by its top energy official in Damascus last Tuesday. Saudi Arabia just announced that it will supply Syria with 1.65 million barrels of crude oil to assist the country in rebuilding its…

Dear Colleagues, Iran’s deeply unpopular clerical regime apparently wants to improve the relationship between rulers and the Iranian people. Last week, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Tasnim News Agency suggested that the country’s citizens be seen as strategic assets. Iranians can be doing more, the news outlet argued — in neighborhoods and through grassroots…

Dear Colleagues, The first Labor Day holiday in the United States was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City. Things started with a sparsely attended, chaotic parade, but by afternoon some 25,000 union members and their families had gathered at Wendel’s Elm Park at 92nd Street and Ninth Avenue (now Columbus Avenue) for…

Dear Colleagues, While we fight for MBN’s future, you continue to adapt with admirable energy and determination. My tip of hat and respect. Our industry continues to go through wrenching change. We’re revamping and building a digital media company for the 21st-century — agile, entrepreneurial, impactful— that can compete and beat American rivals and adversaries.…

Dear Colleagues, The MBN program for early career professionals just hosted Boston College’s Martha Bayles on America’s free speech debate. She has a book in the works. You can read Martha’s film reviews in National Review. We’ll have her back soon on press freedom issues. Next in the series: Peter Skerry on immigration (August 22),…

Dear Colleagues, Our region keeps reeling. In Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are clashing with government forces in the northern province of Aleppo. In Lebanon yesterday, Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem threatened Israel directly for the first time in months during a televised address. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he plans to…

Dear Colleagues, In 1933, British novelist H. G. Wells became president of PEN — originally P.E.N., an acronym for Poets, Essayists, and Novelists — the international writers group founded in London in 1922. What started as a dinner club for authors evolved into an international organization focused on free expression and human rights. In 1933,…

Dear Colleagues, This spring, IShowSpeed, aka Speed, did the Chinese Communist Party an enormous favor. The 20-year-old YouTuber from Cincinnati, Ohio — whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins, Jr. — live-streamed tours of Chinese cities over two weeks to his nearly 40 million viewers. The result? Large numbers of young Americans and followers around…