The BBC Arabic Service: Changing Political Mediascapes. E-JOURNAL

Launched in 1938 as the BBC's first foreign language radio service, 80 years later, in 2008, the BBC Arabic Service also became the first tri-media platform at the World Service offering news and current affairs not only on radio and on online, but also via a fully fledged TV Channel in Arabic. This article traces the intervening transformations by exploring two critical moments in detail and e…