A new pan-Arab news channel, Alarab, launched on Sunday with deep pockets and high journalistic hopes. The 24-hour news network, backed by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, appeared well equipped to make a mark. Along with deep pockets, and permission to broadcast from Bahrain, the network sprang to life on Sunday committed to being an independent arbiter of the news, and not simply a mouthpiece for the regimes in the region. “We are going to be neutral; we are not going to take sides,” Alarab general manager, Jamal Khashoggi, told the New York Times before the network’s launch. “We are going to bring in all sides in any conflict because right now we have a conflict in almost every Arab country.”