Saudi Arabia: Vice Media allegedly resumes covert operations three years after state-sanctioned murder of Jamal Khashoggi stops all work; incl. co. comments
"Vice Media secretly organised $20m Saudi government festival," 1 Feb 2022
What attendees [at Saudi Arabia's Azimuth music festival] did not know was that the pricey music festival was secretly organised by youth media company Vice, as part of the media company’s ongoing push to make money in the Middle Eastern state despite the country’s poor human rights record.
Just three years after Vice publicly announced that it was pausing all work in Saudi Arabia due to the fallout from the state-ordered murder of dissident Jamal Khashoggi, insiders at Vice told the Guardian the company was once again aggressively pursuing business opportunities in Saudi Arabia.
“Vice employees have for years raised concerns over the company’s involvement with Saudi Arabia – and we’ve been fobbed off with empty statements and pathetic excuses,” said one Vice employee...
efforts were taken to keep Vice’s name off the event. Contractors who worked on the music festival – organised through Vice’s creative marketing agency Virtue – were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, while Vice’s did not appear on public marketing material.
"Vice Arabia was set up over four years ago as part of our global expansion – alongside many other media and content businesses who have expanded into the region. Vice has always been about creativity and culture for youth in every corner of the world – and in the Saudi Region, two-thirds of the population are under the age of 35. “We opened a commercial and creative office in Riyadh earlier this year, which was reported and shared publicly. Our editorial voice has and always will report with complete autonomy and independence.”Spokesperson for Vice