Fact Checking the Arab Media

In 2021, after nearly 18 years of translating the Arabic media, Mideastwire.com’s core editorial team - Nicholas Noe, Mirella Dagher, Zeina Rouheib, Mohamed-Dhia Hammami and Ibrahim Jouhari, launched our Value Checking effort. Mideastwire.com's original purpose has therefore expanded: To reliably translate key articles appearing in the Arabic media but also to regularly provide objective, fact-based Value Checks in Arabic and English for some of the pieces that we think our subscribers, as well as the public at large, will benefit from in furthering their own understanding of the Middle East and beyond. Indeed, as in most other parts of the global media-scape, the Arabic media also suffers from misinformation, a lack of context and poor transparency, especially when allowing readers to easily understand the sources for various claims.

Unfortunately, the video was disseminated by some users and media sites as a serious advertisement for the “new treatment.” A search of Pfizer’s website, did not find any mention of it, although Pfizer is working on a new anti-COVID drug, called PAXLOVID™ which is a SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor antiviral therapy, “specifically designed to be administered orally so that it can be prescribed at the first sign of infection or at first awareness of an exposure, potentially helping patients avoid severe illness which can lead to hospitalization and death.”