Covering the birth of a nation: The rise of Saudi Arabia in The London Times, 1927–1937

Abstract

Saudi Arabia is considered as one of the most conservative countries in the world with regards to the role of religion in shaping national politics. We use a history of Saudi Arabia and British imperialist policy to contextualize the framing of religion in news coverage of Saudi Arabia in The London Times between 1927 and 1937 to uncover themes that were available to British readers before and after recognizing Saudi Arabia as a nation on September 23, 1932. We found that religious fundamentalism was part of this coverage, providing one potential media framework for understanding Saudi Arabia that is consistent with current coverage and discussions. We also found instances of favorable framing of events and individuals, which seemed to intensify after Saudi Arabia's recognition as a nation.

Keywords:

• Saudi Arabia
• Britain
• Religion
• Wahhabism
• Media

Notes

1 It should be noted that we are aware that not all newspapers follow The London Times, as reporters for other western newspapers, such as The New York Times, provide alternative framings for Saudi Arabia. Our interest with a major British newspaper is predicated on the fact that Britain has a stronger presence and more at stake with Saudi Arabia at this time.

2 In 1926, Hejaz becomes the western part of Saudi state after Ibn Saud usurps the authority from Sharif Hussein ibn Ali the King of Hejaz.

3 There are various accounts concerning the role of Britain in the founding of modern Saudi Arabia. The sources we use gave this topic little mention, while others are more likely to discuss direct support (e.g., Al-Hassan, 2006; Al-Rasheed, 2010; Bowen, 2008). These latter sources describe Saudi Arabia as a client of the British Empire which is facing the Rasheedi state, a client of the Ottoman Empire. It is also interesting to note that our articles from The London Times rarely mention direct British support to Ibn Saud, while other newspapers do. For example the Washington Post runs a front page story on March 11, 1928 with the headline, “New Arabian Empire Called British Plan: Ibn Saud Would Have Nominal Lordship and Subsidy of $500,000 Yearly,” a clear indication of direct support.

4 The portions of population reported include immigrants who move from other parts of the country to Najd. These individuals and groups have mostly settled in Riyadh, as the capital city hosts the headquarters of all Ministries, most of the largest business firms, and the largest university. Yet, the portion of highest ranks counts only those who are native of Najd. In other words, the privileged group of Najd represents less than 32.2 % of the total Saudi population. For more information, please see http://www.shura.gov.sa/, accessed March 22, 2012.

5 Reviewers of earlier versions of this article pointed out that not all western media are as enamored by Ibn Saud and his followers. New York Times articles over this same time period show this to be the case. For example, on May 3, 1937, an article with a headline stating Ibn Saud is ready to kill in order to bar ‘Western ways’ reports that “[a] warning that ‘Western ways’ were gaining ground in Hejaz brought an angry outburst from King Ibn Saud at a dinner marking the recent departure of Crown Prince Emir Saud to represent his father at the coronation of King George VI in London, it became known today.” While the Crown Prince's trip to London is covered in the London Times, nothing is reported about King Ibn Saud's outburst. A review of New York Times headlines between January 1, 1927 and December 31, 1937 (search on ‘Saudi’) finds 64 headlines with direct relevance to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Of these 64 headlines, 31 are considered unfavorable, 18, favorable, and 15 neutral, showing that there is a higher number of unfavorable headlines regarding this country and region in the US than in Britain.

6 John Bridger Philby (1885–1960) is one of the most influential western players in Ibn Saud's history as he advises the King in foreign policy, especially with Great Britain, in addition to introducing technology to the conservative state. This includes facilitating exploration of the kingdom's oil. He converts to Islam in 1930 (Monroe, 1973).

7 Philiby acknowledges his thanks to Ibn Saud for sponsoring his journey in this article.

8 Mawali is a term used to label people who convert to Islam from non-Arab nations. It is meant to show that they do not enjoy the Arabic tribal rank that plays an important role in Arabic sociopolitical contexts. They were treated as second class citizens in the first Muslim monarchy, Umayyad.

9 Ignoring the details of this conference reveals the intent of categorizing such an event as favorable since Ibn Saud has a good deal of confidence of being the first choice among all Najdi chiefs. The history of Ibn Saud reflects this desire to be the only king in Arabia. At this point, we argue that these reports are establishing Ibn Saud's positive image. To support this claim, we found a report of this conference in The New York Times which describes this conference as a “coup de theatre” (January 20, 1929).

10 An anonymous reviewer noted that things may have changed with the beginning of World War II and as oil become more important to western countries. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to continue the historical account of news coverage of Saudi Arabia, we believe that the importance of the region for oil and geographical positioning during and after the Cold War leads to much more volatile reporting. In essence we argue that one will find reporting to be very favorable when relations are good and very unfavorable when relations are strained. This assumption leads to questions of both framing and coding for media scholars interested in historical comparisons, as an article coded unfavorable and appearing between 1927 and 1937 may be considered less unfavorable than an article coded unfavorable and appearing between 2000 and 2010.