Sleazy TV

About 17 years ago a significant, if sad, event happened that ushered the dawn of a new era in the world - the rise of global TV. In August 1990, a horrible episode in the lives of the Arabs took place. Iraq invaded Kuwait.

This incident alone gave birth to an industry that did not exist prior to that point. Global coverage of news events was, until that point, covered in the usual news broadcast of television stations at predicted times. Then the first Gulf war happened.

I doubt you will find a tolerant society without finding social problems that need to be addressed.

This painful episode in Arab history gave birth to the 24-hour news channel when CNN became the first channel to cover the war on a continuous basis. Unbeknown to us as Arabs, it would act as the conduit that sparked a race to be the sleaziest Arabic broadcast to air via satellite.

If we cast a critical eye on the nearly 430-plus Arabic channels that broadcast to the Arab world, we find that only a handful are what one could call in relative clarity proper channels.

However you find that what these channels promote, and yes this is the proper word to use here, is utter garbage and brain-numbing rubbish. Instead these channels became the perfect vehicle to turn a normal, healthy person into a vegetable.

Even more unfortunate is that the only channels that even have a remote chance of becoming financially viable are these. In Arabic slang, these channels, are known as the "hishik bishik", which refers to the uncouth dancing on the streets.

They have only one goal in mind - to make money. The questions that one could legitimately ask: whether making money is bad? Whether they were not providing a service that people are willing to pay for? Whether this is moral or not?

I don't think anyone would argue that making money is bad or wrong. On the contrary, we, as Arabs, have always enjoyed a certain reputation as traders. Thus the idea of making money is a perfectly acceptable one. After all, look at all the companies that exist and show me one that exists for the sake of humanitarian purposes and I will show you one that will not last a long time.

The way most of the Arabic satellite channels make their money is in one or a combination of three ways. They either attract financial sponsors like advertising dollars. They run competitions that would be closer to gambling and lotteries.

Or lastly, they benefit from a recent phenomena in the Arab world - the spread of mobile phones and the gift of the Finns - SMS. The mobile phone service providers allocate a certain number and people text their messages on these channels, usually music channels, in return, the mobile service provider and the channel split the money generated.

Let me end my article by saying that not all Arabic satellite channels are sleazy. In fact, we have a number of very successful and well respected legitimate channels of the likes of Al Jazeera. But one can't help but feel that there is a downgrade of the average Arab viewer.

For once, we cannot blame others for our shortcomings. We have decided that the average Arabic viewer is dumb and thinks below the belt. The financial health of these sleazy channels proves that they are right. Sad.

Mishal Kanoo is the Deputy Chairman of the Kanoo Group. It is one of the largest family owned companies in the Gulf. The Kanoo family is the 11th richest in the Arab world with a fortune of US$6.1bn.

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The writer is right - but so are the viewers
Posted by Eli Shavit, Israel on Wednesday 20 February 2008 at 20:21 UAE time

Unfortunately, as the writer knows very well, there must be a public to consume the merchandise otherwise the shop should close - and in the case of satellite channels it clearly shows that an immature wide public is still keen at watching an unbelievable mass of rubbish every day. These channels will vanish eventually, as the public will mature and move to better ones.It is just a matter of time.
As the writer hints about the quality of programming one should remember, that most "public" channels in the Arab world are not really public in the real sense but rather government horns that have lost much of their popularity and trust. These channels should be transformed into independent broadcasting authorities with no censorship and provide quality programming funded by public funds.

Sight for sore eyes.
Posted by Osama Azab, Cairo, Egypt on Tuesday 19 February 2008 at 20:44 UAE time

That last paragraph, I couldn't have said it any better. It is unfortunate that the reality of the fact this is indeed true. But you have to realize that the reason for it goes back to the society and the way they were raised and brought up. Where certain family groups enforce strict taboos on their children without making them understand why, or teaching them ideologies that cannot be implemented in today's society. I do not wish to compare since each society has its own history, but certain European countries where sexuality is an open issue, one would think that would turn them into pagan ritualistic mongers, yet it is these societies that are considered the most intellectual and humanitarian of them all. I'm not saying that we should copy them, but I am saying that we need to revise how we live as a society and adapt to what we are presented.

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