Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy whose media system is among the most tightly state-controlled in the world. The kingdom is ruled by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who has reigned since 2015, while day-to-day power rests with his son, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler since 2017. Mohammed bin Salman has served as Crown Prince since 2017 and Prime Minister since 2022. There is no elected national legislature; the Consultative Council, or Shura Council, is appointed, and political authority is concentrated in the royal court under the Basic Law.

The 2025/26 cycle was shaped by the kingdom’s exposure to the 2026 war involving Iran, including Iran-linked attacks targeting Gulf states, pressure on Saudi and Gulf partners, and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz. It was also shaped by the continued rollout of the Vision 2030 economic and social transformation programme, in which media, entertainment and content production are treated as strategic sectors. Across this period, the state extended its ownership and influence over major media assets while the space for independent journalism narrowed further.

Saudi Arabia’s media environment is one of the most restrictive globally. Reporters Without Borders ranked the kingdom 176th of 180 in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, with a score of 19.11, down fourteen places from 162nd in 2025 and placing it among the five worst-performing countries in the world. RSF attributed the sharp decline to repeated acts of violence against journalists during 2025, including the execution of journalist Turki al-Jasser, and described independent media as effectively nonexistent in a system kept under strict state control.

There is no effective constitutional or statutory guarantee of press freedom or editorial autonomy. Article 39 of the Basic Law requires media and all means of expression to adhere to state laws, contribute to national unity, and avoid material deemed to foster division, undermine state security or damage the state’s public relations. In practice, this framework places media under a restrictive state-security and public-order logic rather than an independent press-freedom guarantee.

Saudi media are supervised through state bodies including the General Authority of Media Regulation, while the 2007 anti-cybercrime law and counter-terrorism legislation are used to prosecute journalists, online critics and dissidents. Criticism of the king, the crown prince, the royal family, Islam and core state policy is effectively prohibited, and pervasive surveillance and self-censorship shape both domestic and diaspora reporting.

SMM maps Saudi Arabia’s principal media as a single-authority system dominated by the state. The Saudi Broadcasting Authority, the official broadcaster, and the Saudi Press Agency, the state news agency, are classified State-Controlled, reflecting direct government ownership or public-authority status, ministerial board chairmanship, state funding and the absence of any independent editorial safeguard.

The kingdom’s two largest commercial media groups, the Middle East Broadcasting Center and the Saudi Research and Media Group, are classified Captured Public/State-Managed. Both are publicly listed or commercially operating companies rather than government departments, but their controlling ownership runs to the state through the Public Investment Fund or state-linked financial institutions, and their editorial lines align closely with official Saudi positions.

The defining structural development of the cycle was the Public Investment Fund’s acquisition of the controlling 54% stake in MBC Group, completed in September 2025, which deepened direct state ownership of the region’s largest broadcaster. SRMG also expanded its state-linked role through new government and PIF-linked partnerships, the contract to operate and manage the Ministry of Culture-linked Al Thaqafeya channel, and the expansion of Thmanyah’s role in Saudi football broadcasting and streaming.

Across both tiers, leadership changes, financial swings and substantial digital and AI investment did not alter the determinants of control. Every mapped outlet therefore remains in its prior classification, and Saudi Arabia’s media system continues to function as an extension of state communication, national image-building and Vision 2030 strategic messaging.

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