News - Middle East: All radio and television broadcasts in Bahrain are state-controlled by the Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation (BRTC). The BRTC is owned by the government and operates under the Ministry of Information Affairs. Its Board of Directors is appointed by the Cabinet. 

The BRTC manages and regulates all domestic channels. Private broadcasting licenses are not granted. The government even controls what satellite channels are available inside Bahrain by jamming unwanted signals, like what happened with the opposition Lualua TV in 2011. 

After only four hours of broadcasting from London in July 2011 after it had been denied licensing several times in Bahrain, its satellite signal experienced a disruption. Moreover, its online content has also been continuously blocked for viewers.

The Bahrain News Agency, the major national news broadcaster, is state-owned. Six out of the seven daily newspapers are pro-government and are owned by figures closely associated with the Bahraini government: Akhbar al-Khaleej; al-Ayam; al-Bilad; al-Watan; the Bahrain Tribune; the Gulf Daily News. The only independent daily newspaper, al-Wasat, was indefinitely suspended in 2017. 

The government firmly controls all media outlets and publications through the Ministry of Information Affairs, whose head is appointed by a royal decree.

According to Reporters Without Borders, since 2016, “Bahraini journalists working for international media have had problems renewing their accreditation. For foreign journalists, getting a press visa to visit Bahrain is very complicated.” 

Article 88 of the current press law requires correspondents of foreign media outlets to obtain a one-year renewable license from the Ministry of Information Affairs to work in Bahrain. As the law does not set clear standards for granting these licenses, the Ministry of Information Affairs can block any application without a justification. 

In 2017, the Ministry of Information Affairs refused to grant accreditation to several international media correspondents without justification, including the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, France 24, and Monte Carlo Doualiya. It also initiated judicial procedures against those who continued to work without a license.

The Bahraini government has also resorted to citizenship revocation in retaliation for dissent. Since 2011, at least seven journalists and citizen-journalists have been deprived of their citizenship. 

Since 2011, dozens of journalists, bloggers, photographers, and media workers have been prosecuted and imprisoned for covering demonstrations and anti-government activities or voicing dissent. Currently, at least five press workers remain in prison.

Source: Bahrain Rights