Call for launching a pan-Arab TV channel

[Analoguesat]

Speakers at a seminar have called for launching a pan-Arab satellite channel which will bring the Arab peoples together and put an end to conflicting views being promoted by different TV channels.
The seminar on ‘The Impact of Satellite TV Channels on Arab Culture’ was organised by the National Council for Culture, Art and Heritage.
“Some Arab countries are launching satellite TV channels just to attack some other Arab countries. One of the fallouts of the US invasion of Iraq was the many TV channels which were launched on a sectarian basis,” they said.
Addressing the seminar, Cairo University professor for information Dr Adli Reda said that the recent surge in the number of Arab satellite TV channels has ended the domination of state-run networks. “It has opened a new era of freedom of speech. Satellite TV channels have made the citizens of Arab countries shun state-run TVs,” he said.
However, Dr Reda condemned some of the Arab TV channels for promoting “pro-Western lifestyles.”
“Some of these channels try to promote the Western way of life at the cost of our Arab traditions. They seek to attract a wide chunk of their audience using cheap means like scenes full of erotic connotations.”
He called for establishing an “Arab media institution” which can launch joint Arab media projects. “I hope we can set up such an entity to overcome our current differences.”
Dubai Satellite TV channel’s popular presenter, Hamdi Qandil, claimed that there was no single Arab channel which can be described as ‘fully free’. “There is no free Arab satellite TV channel, either government-owned or private. If it is private, it would be under the control of those who fund it,” he said, while recalling that Yemen’s Imam Ahmad used to carry the key to the offices of the state-run radio in his pocket and had full control over the timing and content of transmission.
“I was there in Yemen with the Egyptian army that supported the revolution against Imam Ahmad. He was carrying the key of the Yemeni broadcasting company in his own pocket,” he said, while observing that some Arab leaders were still trying to suppress the freedom of speech in their countries by controlling the media.
However, Qandil hailed the Doha-based Al Jazeera Satellite TV Channel as the most significant contribution of the Arab to the world of media. “It made the Arabs, for the first time, to export news rather than being merely recipients,” he said.
Qandil flayed some of the Arab satellite TV channel for broadcasting “silly programmes”.
“According to some recently released statistics, the revenues from the SMS audience sent via these channels generated some $500mn a year in Egypt,” he added.
Al Jazeera presenter Khadija bin Qanna hailed the Arab Satellite TV channels for countering the US domination over the world media. “They have reversed the flow of information. Al Jazeera had exclusive coverage of the US invasion of Afghanistan,” she said.
Qanna criticised some Arab TV channels which, she said, banned women wearing the veil from appearing on their screens. “There is some sort of prejudice against women presenters who put on the veil. They are accused of promoting extremism,” she said, while referring to the case of five women presenters on Egyptian TV who were sacked because of their insistence on appearing with the veil.
Dr Ahmed Abdul Malik, the cultural expert at the National Council of Culture, Arts and Heritage, gave a presentation using some video clips taken from Arab satellite channels. He said these were aimed at promoting the consumer culture and Western lifestyles.
At the discussion session, participants were divided over whether the impact of the TV satellite channels was positive or not.
A Qatari participant criticised the Arab satellite channels for “showing gory pictures” along with their news bulletins.
He has also criticised Al Jazeera for not covering Qatar’s local affairs. “I am not keen on watching Al Jazeera. When I want to follow Qatari affairs, I have to turn to the Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV channel,” he said.
Among those attended were NCCAH chairman HE Sheikh Mishaal bin Jassim al-Thani and NCCAH secretary general Ali bin Mubarak al-Khalifa.

(Gulf Times)