World | USA
Arab websites plastered with US poll coverage
The US presidential election has dominated the Arab media since last week, but on Tuesday coverage was especially heavy as many Arab news websites and newspapers filled their pages with stories, comment and analysis.
- By Duraid Al Baik, Associate Editor
- Published: 23:43 November 4, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- US presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama is shown on the cover of The Economist magazine, on display at a kiosk in the Hamra district, Beirut.
Dubai: The US presidential election has dominated the Arab media since last week, but on Tuesday coverage was especially heavy as many Arab news websites and newspapers filled their pages with stories, comment and analysis.
Aljazeera.net, the official website of Al Jazeera satellite TV, the most visited Arab website, along with alarabiya.net, dedicated its main web page to the US election, profiling both candidates.
The reader survey on the page asked: Who do you think will win the US presidential election tomorrow: Barack Obama or John McCain?
Obama received an overwhelming 90 per cent of the votes while McCain received only 10 per cent, which was remarkably similar to the percentage of the two tiny towns in the state of New Hampshire which began voting early in the day.
The channel promised its viewers around the world to focus its coverage of the election till the results were announced.
Alarabiya.net's main page was also about the US election and the time difference between the US and the Arab world in order to alert viewers to prepare themselves for a long night.
The website gave coverage of the event a little regional twist with a statement by a Lebanese Shiite leader, Hassan Al Ameen, denying the election of Obama would bring about the resurgence of the Al Mahdi, who is the 'hidden 12th Imam' according to many Shiites.
His denial came presumably after many Shiites recalled a book published by Mohammad Baqir Al Majlisi in the 17th century that predicted the Mahdi would return when 'a tall black man will rule the West'.
Elaph.com, a popular Arab electronic newspaper, highlighted the campaign in the US, which is calling for fair elections regardless of the two candidates' ethnicity and background and gender of a vice-presidential candidate.
A shocking altered picture of Obama with white skin and blonde hair was displayed next to a picture of McCain whose skin was altered to be dark and his hair curly and short.
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