That’s because Fox is partnering with Saudi Arabian Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal to create a network in the Middle East. Though I guess just because it’ll have News Corp. backing doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be friendly to the Western interests, if only because the network won’t be incredibly profitable if it’s all pro-West, all the time.  But I’ll take a bet that it will be less biased against the West than, say, Al-Jazeera.

Perhaps the part of this story with the most interest to me will be who is going to helm the network.  Apparently, Jamal Khashoggi, a reformist journalist, who most recently was Editor-in-Chief of the Al-Watan newspaper before resigning after an article was published critical of Saudi Arabia’s state religion, was hired by the prince to take lead.

It’s not difficult to see what an interesting combination this will make.  A reformist journalist as head of a network funded in part by a Western media organization, operated apparently on the Murdoch model of news, and operated out of one of the most socially conservative countries in the world?  Presuming that some form of reform will be its editorial goal, I think it could be a force for good inside Saudi Arabia, and in other parts of the Middle East that are also socially conservative, but I wonder how long it’ll be allowed to operate if the censors there think it’s crossing the line?

I’ll guess we’ll see.