From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Near East Broadcasting Station
Near East Broadcasting Station
Sharq-el-Adna,
The Near East Broadcasting Station (also Sharq-el-Adna The radio station’s association with the British was
Britain)
Voice of Britain started broadcasting in Arabic in 1941/ not a secret to the observant listener, as the British
1942 from Jaffa, Mandate of Palestine. It was fully fi- politician Barbara Castle wrote in 1956 that the station
nanced and run by the British government. The goal of ‘kept in touch with the Foreign Office and had helped to
the broadcasts were to "entice Arabs to join British and “sell” British policy, as well as British exports, in Arab
British-backed military forces, as well as to maintain po- countries – all the more successfully because it was not
litical and economic stability in Palestine". The broad- tied to official directives’.[3] British historian Peter Part-
casts were also started as an answer to similar propagan- ner wrote that, "Few people who listened to the station
da radio stations broadcasting in Arabic set up first by were in much doubt that there was a British hand in
Mussolini, later the German Nazi regime. The British also its control, though no one, naturally, knew what official
looked beyond World War II, as they wanted to remain an body in Britain was responsible."[4]
influence in the Middle East, where oil had been discov-
ered in the early 1930s.
The station first started operation under the name
1956 Suez Crisis
Freedom Broadcasting Station, using Royal Air Force In 1956 the Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, nation-
equipment in Jaffa. It was under the full control of the alized the Suez Canal Company, which operated the Suez
British Special Operations Executive and initially con- Canal. During the ensuing Suez Crisis, France and Britain
cerned itself with broadcasting to the Balkans. However, supported Israel’s invasion of Egypt. Very early in the
from an early point, it also broadcast in Arabic. The mate- Suez Crisis, it was revealed that the Near East Broadcast-
rial broadcast at SOE’s direction sometimes clashed with ing Station was under the control of either British intelli-
material broadcast by more official British stations and gence, the British military, or both. Renamed the "Voice
caused disputes within the British Directorate of Propa- of Britain", it started broadcasting anti-Nasser news and
ganda. In March 1943, the station was handed over to the messages asking civilians to keep clear of military tar-
Political Warfare Executive.[1] After the war, it became a gets. "Voice of the Arabs", broadcasting from Egypt, said
Foreign Office responsibility and, although its legal status that the ‘Near East Broadcasting Station ... was in reality
was changed into that of a commercial broadcaster, the run by the British intelligence service’. Almost all of the
British government kept firm control.[2] Near East Broadcasting Station Arab staff announced on
From the beginning the identify of the station’s own- air that they supported Egypt, and were promptly
er and operator was an official secret. Officially, Britain fired[citation needed]. The station changed name to "Voice of
had nothing to do with the Near East Broadcasting Sta- Britain". The station was turned over to the BBC at the
tion, Britain only acknowledged responsibility for the end of March 1957.
BBC and its widely respected "Arab service". As late as
16 June 1948, in response to a Parliamentary Question,
Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin denied that the station
References
was run by the British Foreign Office Information Depart- [1] Partner, pp50-53.
ment, claiming instead that it was "operated by a group [2] Partner, p54.
of people connected with the Arabs". [3] B. Castle, The Fiasco of Sharq al-Adna, The New
Just before the British left Palestine, in early May Statesman and Nation, 29 Dec (1956), 832; cited by
1948, the station was moved to Cyprus (which still was Boyd.
under British control). In Cyprus the station initially used [4] Partner, p92.
four short-wave transmitters near Limasol.
After the armistice in 1948, the station seemed to Sources
be aiming to make the programs as popular as possible,
thereby attracting advertisers. News and music were • Douglas A. Boyd, Sharq al-Adna/The Voice of Britain,
large ingredients. The station had a staff of about 70 in The UK’s ’Secret’ Arabic Radio Station and Suez War
Cyprus, in addition to many news correspondents around Propaganda Disaster, Gazette: The International Journal
the Arab world. In the early 1950s the potential audience for Communication Studies, Vol 65, No 6 (2003)
size increased greatly, as they also started transmitting 443-445.[1] (Boyd is in the Department of
on a medium-wave transmitter. Communication and the School of Journalism and
Telecommunications, at the University of Kentucky.)
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Near East Broadcasting Station
• Peter Partner, Arab Voices, The BBC Arabic Service
1938-1988 (British Broadcasting Corporation, 1988).
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Near_East_Broadcasting_Station&oldid=416762695"
Categories:
• Defunct radio stations
• Propaganda organisations
• 1941 establishments
• 1957 disestablishments
• Propaganda radio broadcasts
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2