27 August 2001

Satellite Television Floods the Middle East with Information

By William B. Reinckens
Washington File Staff Writer

"The old rules have changed incontrovertibly" about the ways traditional societies in the Middle East are handling news and information because of satellite television and the use of new media in daily life, said Jon Alterman, a senior scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Satellite television's coverage of the second Intifada since October 2000 has attracted perhaps the largest uncensored audience in the history of the Arabs, Alterman said. Television watchers from Rabat to Riyadh share the news experience from their living rooms or Internet cafes.

Alterman, who traveled to the Gulf this year to speak to Arab news executives, said that the "Al-Jazeera phenomena" of the late 1990s which took control of the airwaves and set the news and informational agenda for the Arab world is still in place but may become muted with stiff competition from other Arab satellite news and entertainment providers.

Al-Jazeera is a 24-hour news and information satellite television channel based in Qatar that is seen throughout the Arab world.

He said that "today, 70 percent of the people living in the Gulf receive their news from satellite television." He also noted that 60 percent of the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank have access to a satellite dish or frequent an Internet Caf��

"There's more programming out there than individuals can consume," said Alterman. "I'm sure that there is going to be a shakeout over the next three years." He noted that the original concept for MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center) was that it would be a London-based, first-class news operation. Today, he said, there is talk about moving production facilities to Lebanon and its headquarters to Dubai.

As in any media business, said Alterman, Arab broadcasters today are facing the challenge of not just getting "eyeballs" to watch television but to find new ways to make television commercially profitable. "They can't rely on (government) subsidies forever," he commented.

"The capability to produce satellite television today is far greater than the ability to commercially support satellite television" in the Arab broadcasting market, said Alterman. "Nobody is making money from the advertising market," he said.

Alterman said that Al Jazeera's original subsidy from the government of Qatar was to last only five years and is to due to end in November. Despite this fast approaching deadline, Alterman said, "they are putting a lot of money into new infrastructure and building commercial studios now."

He believes that the subsidies, either direct or indirect, will continue even after the fall because "the government of Qatar has decided that it's in their interest to do this."

Al Jazeera TV, said Alterman, makes "Qatar a regional power." He sees this situation changing if the government "sees serious political costs associated with broadcasting. "As soon as there are significant costs the subsidies will end," he said.

"As a news organization, Al-Jazeera is very impressive" with its bureaus located all over the world, said Alterman. "They pride themselves, like MBC before them, on reporting Arab news from the Arab world better than other international stations," he said.

The news scene in the Middle East has changed dramatically since 1991, said Alterman. He noted that it took three days before the invasion of Kuwait was announced in Saudi Arabia. "This could never happen again," said Alterman, "because Arab satellite television has found audiences from Morocco to Iran."

Abu Dhabi Television's news channel and MBC variety programming are challenging al-Jazeera Television, which pioneered around-the clock Arab news coverage. LBC (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation) provides basic entertainment to its audiences and is now finding a share of the television market in the Arab world.

"Arab TV is struggling with different kinds of formats," said Alterman. He noted that audience levels for talk show programs are starting to flatten out. When Arab satellite television came on the scene this kind of show was quite a sensation and had high ratings.

Alterman said that the news executives he talked to said that talk and the sensational debate programs are now being challenged by other kinds of programming. He cited as an example the competition that is being felt from a Tuesday night MBC show entitled "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire." This Arabic-language program is a version of a popular U.S. program with the same name. Instead of questions about the United States and its history and culture, the Arabic version asks questions in Arabic and poses questions about the Arab world.

"There's a perception that satellite television is uncensored and satellite television gives you a huge range of choices," he noted.

ARAB MEDIA'S DIVERSITY OF OPINION

One of the strengths of Arab media today is its presentation of a broad array of views, according to Alterman. Arab television stations are having secularists debating Islamists, Iraqis debating Kuwaitis and Israelis debating Palestinians, he said. Alterman also noted that he was stunned during the Israeli elections to see the number of Israeli political leaders who appeared on Arab satellite television debating in Arabic. When one station aired an interview with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, one of its competitors went one better and aired an interview with Barak's successor, Ariel Sharon.

When asked about who in Arab broadcasting is supplying the "vision" to guide the future development of the industry, Alterman pointed to "mid-level" news managers who have been trained either by the BBC or VOA. "Now finally they have been given the chance to do something innovative. These are serious news people who care about getting the story right and doing it right."

Beside competition coming from other Arab broadcasting organizations, Alterman said that there is competition coming from "the religious folks who are all over the new media." He noted that their activities extend beyond satellite television and include the Internet, faxes, photocopiers, and videocassettes.

In contrast, Alterman said, the "moderates" are being caught by surprise by the fervor of the religious groups. "The religious people are the ones with the flashy web sites and orchestrated campaigns," he said.

One of the major problems in the Arab-broadcasting world is that "no one knows how many Moroccans, Syrians are watching. It's not commercially important enough to develop that information," he said.

When asked about how Arab governments are reacting to the new information technology, he said, "surely part of the challenge facing governments in the developing world is to ensure that the benefits of technological change accrue to societies and not to merely to individuals. But part of the challenge, as well, is adjusting to the new domestic political environment in which those governments will have to operate."

"The new information revolution," said Alterman, "is creating new political realities and offering new political tools to people."