MEED Since its launch in 1957, MEED has been tackling news issues head-on with groundbreaking exclusives that shape the Middle East. It is a subscription-based online business intelligence service and has a weekly magazine. It is based in Dubai and owned by the UK’s Top Right Group.

MEED Projects This subscription-only service offers in-depth project tracking through its database, which monitors projects from inception and feasibility through to financial close, the awarding of engineering, procurement and construction contracts and completion. Its data is used to track the market with the Gulf Projects Index, which is updated weekly.

MEED Events MEED’s portfolio of events has been developed over the past decade to cover all of the region’s key business sectors. From large-scale summits and conferences to breakfast briefings and webinars, MEED’s events are well known for their high-level participation and senior speakers.

MEED Insight MEED’s premium research division, MEED Insight brings together MEED’s data-rich archives and unique relationships with key business decision-makers across the region to produce authoritative reports, such as the Mena Projects Forecast & Review.

MEED Cost Indices This premium service allows subscribers to identify and manage escalation-related risk in the UAE and Qatar construction sectors. It uses exclusive data to show historic pricing developments and future trends to predict the profitability of projects and estimate fluctuations in materials, labour, equipment and fuel costs.

AMEinfo A news and business website dedicated to providing information about the Middle East, AMEinfo.com keeps 2.5 million readers in 150 countries up-to-date with news, reports, analysis and video broadcasting from major Middle East events.

Kuwait News Agency (Kuna)
Established in 1979, Kuna is Kuwait’s official news agency. It issues releases in both Arabic and English, and has offices in most Arab countries and several international capitals. During Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, Kuna moved its headquarters to London and continued to operate. As well as issuing official news statements, the agency offers news and picture services on a fee basis.

Television
Until 2003, the government held a monopoly on television broadcasting. Al-Rai TV, the country’s first privately-owned television station, began airing shows in October 2004. Numerous independent channels now broadcast from the country to both a domestic audience and a pan-Arab viewership, with programming ranging from religious sermons to films. Kuwait TV is the national broadcaster. It operates three domestic channels, as well as satellite channels targeting audiences in the Arab world and further afield. KTV 1 offers a mixture of shows including music, films, news and current affairs; KTV2 shows family programmes in English; and KTV3 broadcasts sport.

Media regulation
In its 2011 report, Washington-based Freedom House classes Kuwait’s media as ‘partly free’, as private ownership of media is allowed and freedom of speech and the press are protected under the constitution. Kuwaiti law prohibits material deemed to be anti-Islamic, critical of the Emir or calling for the overthrow of the regime. Media is licensed by the state, and the Ministry of Information (MOI) can censor all books, films and periodicals it finds morally offensive. However, self-censorship among journalists is more prevalent than state censorship. International news is widely available, although publications from outside Kuwait must be passed by the MOI.