Saudi Arabia: Well-funded Saudi spin pushes MBS

Saud Abdullah Al-Qahtani, spin doctor for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), has been increasingly active during the GCC-3’s campaign against Qatar. Al-Qahtani officially heads the Royal Court-based Center for Studies and Media Affairs (CSMA – sometimes written the Center for Media Monitoring and Analysis). According to GSN’s analysis of its published output, the CSMA appears to exist to push good news relating to MBS’ endeavours.According to one source familiar with the CSMA, “its remit includes the Vision [2030 – MBS’s ambitious economic reform programme], but is not limited to that.