Vice Has Been Blocking, Unpublishing Stories To Avoid Offending Saudi Arabia

Vice Media partnered with the MBC Group to save itself from bankruptcy. But with the partnership comes restrictions, ones that involve covering for the Saudi Arabian government.

MBC is a Saudi-controlled venture that must do what its government says. And now under the same umbrella, Vice must acquiesce to the same orders. That includes avoiding stories, no matter how accurately reported, that could offend Saudi officials.

Tuesday, The Guardian uncovered that Vice has blocked several stories to appease those in the Middle East.

Per The Guardian:

John Lubbock, a freelance writer, said that he and two fellow writers were commissioned by Vice’s news division earlier this year to write a piece about young Saudis campaigning for transgender rights. Their reporting claimed the Saudi state is helping families to harass and threaten transgender Saudis based overseas.
Editors in Vice’s news division actively welcomed the piece, Lubbock said, as it fitted with the outlet’s track record of reporting on LGBTQ+ rights, autocratic regimes and the Middle East. However, publication of the article was repeatedly postponed and then cancelled at the last minute. Multiple sources at Vice said it was pulled after a high-level intervention by senior Vice managers, who said its publication could pose a threat to the safety of the company’s staff working in Saudi Arabia.

Lubbock said: “I was told by editors there that the story was delayed because they had a team of people in Saudi Arabia, but it seems that this may not have been true or only part of the story. Bankruptcy has already affected the publication’s reputation, but if they are now seen as shying away from difficult stories due to their ownership, it’s really the final nail in the coffin of their countercultural image.”

Vice also unpublished a film in the Vice world news Investigators series about Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The report says Vice tried to, again, justify scrubbing the video from the internet over concerns about the safety of staff based in Saudi Arabia.

Five years ago, Vice paused its work in Saudi Arabia following the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A subsequent CIA report deemed the crown prince responsible for the 2018 assassination.

Five years later, Vice now answers to Mohammed bin Salman.

"The impact of Vice’s joint venture with the Saudi-backed publisher has already been felt in the company’s London office," adds The Guardian. "For two years a large photograph of the Sarah Everard memorial protest hung on the wall. To the anger of staff, this photograph was taken down by employees working on the Saudi joint venture and replaced by a giant map of Saudi Arabia."

Looking ahead, new coming Vice employees will be based in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital. Of the 29 jobs currently advertised on Vice’s careers page, 20 are based in Riyadh.

Buying, and therefore saving, Vice is part of a larger strategy for the Saudi government.

Earlier this year, the Saudi-backed LIV Golf merged with the PGA Tour. The Saudis also reportedly had interest in purchasing WWE, which instead merged with the UFC and Endeavor Group Holdings.

"The enormous financial power of Saudi Arabia, its attempts to pivot away from oil money and its desire to rebrand as a popular tourist destination have led to rapid change in the country – and the potential for enormous paydays for western companies. While it has relaxed rules on women driving, its human rights record remains dire, especially for LGBTQ+ people," concludes the report.