Frank Melloul: Running a News Channel that Speaks to Arabs and Jews

Eleven years ago, Frank Melloul, a former diplomat, was working at France 24, a state-owned international news network based in Paris. He received a call from Patrick Drahi, the founder of Altice, the second largest telecommunications company in France, who told Melloul he was fed up with the biased way the media covered Israel. He saw what France 24 was doing, and he wanted to create something similar in Israel. He asked Melloul: Are you on board? 

Melloul, who had faced antisemitism living in France, was intrigued by the idea. Just two months after talking with Drahi, he made Aliyah with his family, and worked with Drahi to start what is now i24NEWS, a 24/7 news channel that broadcasts in Israel and the Middle East. 

“When I arrived in Israel and said I want to launch an international news channel to change the perception of Israel, everyone was laughing in my face,” Melloul said. “They told me that in one year, it’d be dead. Now, it’s 10 years later.”

Over the past decade, Melloul, now CEO, and his team have gained international recognition for their channel, which is the only place Israelis can go for news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The channel broadcasts in Hebrew, English, Arabic, French and Spanish, and is shown not only in Israel, but also throughout the Middle East and Arab countries. It has bureaus in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, the United Arab Emirates and Rabat and Casablanca in Morocco. 

Unlike others news stations – especially those in Arab countries – i24NEWS is totally independent from the government. It also doesn’t take any political positions, instead inviting commentators of all different backgrounds to state their views. The channel is known for hosting debates between Israelis and Palestinians. 

“Other networks don’t have these debates,” Melloul, a Swiss native whose father was from Morocco, said. “When you have a Palestinian and an Israeli, you can see the reality of what’s happening on the ground. That’s why Arabic countries have started to watch us, because on those channels you don’t see these debates either.” 

The CEO knows he is doing something right, because people accuse him of belonging to various political parties all the time.

“For the rightists, I’m a leftist, and for the leftists, I’m a rightist. I don’t care if you’re a liberal or a conservative, because we have both.“

“For the rightists, I’m a leftist, and for the leftists, I’m a rightist,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re a liberal or a conservative, because we have both. Doing Shabbat is a disaster for some families in Israel who are for or against Bibi. I presume it’s the exact same situation in the U.S. If I have to explain i24NEWS, it’s the channel you can watch with your family and see the points of view of your brother, your sister and yourself. There is no journalist telling you what to think.”

“When you’re looking at any news, you’ll see headlines that Israel is bombing Gaza,” he said. “When you watch us, you’ll see that Israel is bombing Gaza, but we don’t start the story with the bombing of Gaza. We start it in the morning, when Hamas is launching rockets against Israel. The headline is that Israel is under attack and retaliating in Gaza.”

i24NEWS airs in the Palestinian territories, and Melloul describes his network as the alternative to Al Jazeera.

“We have screen-shots of Al Jazeera broadcasting i24NEWS many times. They are stealing my feed, even though they are our enemies, because we are a credible network.”

“We have screenshots of Al Jazeera broadcasting i24NEWS many times,” he said. “They are stealing my feed, even though they are our enemies, because we are a credible network. After 10 years, we’re an alternative to Al Jazeera for the Arabic countries themselves.”

The channel has also reached non-Jews who know nothing about the conflict in Israel. 

“Colleagues who aren’t Jewish are telling me they’re watching it,” Melloul said. “They tell me they didn’t know Israel was like this. They didn’t know about our tech or how we coordinate projects between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

Along with approving story ideas at the channel, Melloul travels to Europe, the Gulf States, the U.S. and Africa for his work; he recently gave a speech to a pro-Israel group in Los Angeles.

“I’m managing i24NEWS as a diplomat,” he said. “When you’re a journalist, you’re always looking for a scoop, and when you’re a diplomat, you’re always looking for an impact.” 

When he’s at home in Israel, he goes over story ideas with his team and often is at the office very late into the night because he’s collaborating with people in the U.S.  

“Hopefully, we won’t open an office in China as well,” he said. “Because then, I would not sleep.”

Being able to show a more complete truth about Israel to countries that normally only receive negative propaganda has been at the heart of Melloul’s work. But he also believes that bringing together Jews and Muslims in the newsroom has been an important part of i24NEWS’ mission. 

“In the media, coexistence and peace are possible,” he said. “When Jews and Muslims are covering the same news, that’s the beginning of peace. It shows we are able to build something together. Religious Jews in the settlements are working together with Palestinians in East Jerusalem. They are meeting for the first time and working together.”