It was revealed that several years ago, a member of the Qatari royal family made a substantial investment in Newsmax, a conservative media outlet siding with Trump, leading to a pro-government tone in its articles. This move, which came to light only recently, was reportedly made to secure the protection of U.S. media following escalating tensions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia in 2017. While Qatar acknowledged the investment, it denied such intentions.
According to the Washington Post on the 26th (local time), this was revealed as the WP examined the documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). These documents are a part of some 100,000 files leaked from Genesis Trust in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven.
At the time, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imposed diplomatic and economic blockades on Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorist groups in the Middle East. Qatar wanted the U.S. to take its side, but Donald Trump, President at the time, criticized Qatar.
In response, Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani, a former Qatari government official and owner of London-based investment fund Heritage Advisors, invested $50 million (approximately 675 billion won) in Newsmax in 2019 and 2020. This investment is substantial for Newsmax, whose value is estimated at between $100 million and $200 million.
Sultan is a member of the Al Thani royal family of Qatar. At the time, Newsmax also needed capital to compete with Fox News. According to current and former employees, senior executives in the Newsmax newsroom urged staff to soften their reporting on Qatar around the time of the investment.
Heritage said Sultan bought the shares of Newsmax because he “saw the potential for investment returns,” and he was not acting on behalf of the Qatari government. A Newsmax spokesperson emphatically denied instructing the staff not to criticize Qatar, stating, “We never dictate what our hosts or correspondents should say on air.” They added that they did not write articles for Qatar but rather wrote countless critical articles.
However, an anonymous source reported that before and after Sultan’s investment, the Newsmax director urged staff to soften their reporting on Qatar, avoiding discussions on Qatar’s human rights record and treatment of migrant workers ahead of the 2022 World Cup. The source also claimed that in 2018, a presenter was reprimanded verbally for comments made during a broadcast about Qatar, indicating that there was control over the reporting.