JAMMR 8 (2) pp. 99–115 Intellect Limited 2015
Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research
Volume 8 Number 2
© 2015 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/jammr.8.2.99_1
noureddine miladi
Qatar University
transformative pan-arab
tV: national and cultural
expression on reality tV
programmes
abStraCt
KeywordS
This article analyses season two of the Arab reality TV programme titled Arab Idol,
a TV series broadcast on the Saudi satellite channel MBC between 8 March and 22
June 2013. Through analysing this case study of Arab Idol, this article explores the
rapid success of this genre on pan-Arab TV and attempts to decipher its audience’s
interaction both online and on TV. It also seeks to unpack issues relating to the way
identity, culture and nationalism are represented and debated. These programmes
have been critically analysed following Fowler’s (1991) and Fairclough’s (2003)
seminal texts. Results of this study reveal that the development of such a genre of
TV programming in the region has opened up a new era not only for unusual entertainment but also for audience participation and engagement. As much as it can be
perceived as a space for virtual democratic practice and free debates on nationalism and identity, this programme can also be considered as a unifying sphere that
consolidates not only the feeling of national belonging but also the pan-Arab collective sense of the Ummah (global community).
Arab Idol
Arab media
identity expressions
reality TV
satellite TV
TV entertainment
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introduCtion
The rapid developments in satellite technology and electronic media have led
to the mushrooming of television channels across the Arab world. The growth
of reality TV genre is one such development resulting from this. Across the
Arab region, reality programmes like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Star
Academy, Super Star, Star Academy Maghreb, Najm Alkhaleej, Al-Wady and
Arabs Got Talent have been popular among audiences from different age
groups, especially the youth. Although it came late to the Arab world, reality TV has finally managed to become a hit with the rise of Rotana (an Arab
music video channel), The Middle East Broadcasting Channel (MBC) and
various Lebanese private channels. An often-quoted figure is that Super Star
(broadcast on the Lebanese Future TV), for instance, received 80 million calls
in its second season. Some would think that reality TV programmes deliver
mere content that serves segments of the public. A closer look reveals that
such programmes have resulted in complex reactions and debates about politics, religion, culture and identity in the Arab region.
Quoting Friedman (2002), one may agree with his contention that reality
TV in the Arab world has not received much attention from scholars due to the
difficulty in recognizing its ideological, political or cultural influences. Many of
the shows broadcast on Arab TV are marketed as pure entertainment, but a
closer look at various examples testifies to their powerful influences and to the
subtle messages that are culturally and politically loaded. Can we here speak
about the Arab Idol effect in the same way that some researchers referred to
the American music series American Idol as American Idol Effect? (Koehler
2006). In 2002 when American Idol debuted, the show was not expected to
make a sweeping success. However, ratings from the first season finale scored
the highest FOX had received, after its sports programmes. The show attracted
more than 23 million viewers that year and continued subsequently to grow in
2004 when it reached 34 million viewership in its third season (Bignell 2005).
A significant interest as a result was given to studying the genre given its
impact on popular culture. American Idol continued to dominate television
ratings and soon the format got adopted by various TV channels from around
the world. The show became a platform for stardom creation as contestants
and judges got invited in major TV and radio channels in the United States.
Another tremendous success for reality shows has been noted in the United
Kingdom over the last couple of decades. Annette Hill (2005), found out in a
study on Big Brother that high, that viewers have preference for watching reality TV programmes on serious genre like news or current affairs. The phenomenal success of Big Brother, Pop Idol and other shows is a case in point.
Alluding to the earlier discussion, this article attempts to unpack issues
emerging from this type of popular programmes on Arab TV. Through its
focus on Arab Idol, this research seeks to fill the gap in the literature about
the genre in the Arab world. It analyses the reasons behind the popularity of
such a genre among Arab audiences. By employing ‘Conversation Analysis
as an approach to discourse analysis’ developed by Norman Fairclough
(2003: 16) and Harvey Sacks (David 1998), the study explores aspects of
culture, nationalism and identity and how they are being negotiated; it also
looks at debates relating to democracy, gender roles, surveillance, portrayal of
routine and control as they emerge in the various episodes.
However, before delving into the analysis of the example of Arab Idol, it
is worth discussing the development of the Arab reality TV genre through
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discussing some of the popular programmes that have made clear impact on
the Arab TV market during the last decade.
Big Brother’S Cultural ShoCK
In 2003 a TV series in Bahrain introduced the first version of Big Brother.
Al-Rais (title of the programme), which stands for the ‘boss’, chose a remote
island where it placed six males and six females in an Arab type of Big Brother
House. Since the housemates included a Christian, the experience for some
of them was very revealing given the cultural differences and the religious
discrepancies and practices between Muslims and Christians. Although a
prayer place was set and the call to prayer takes place regularly which is in
tune with the conservative cultural practices of the Arab regions, the show
was condemned from the outset and was deemed outraging to the cultural
norms of the Gulf region. It was, for instance, criticized as part of ‘an American
strategy to take over the Middle East by infiltrating the hearts and minds of
Arab youths’ (WND 2004). No wonder then that after only three episodes
‘Al-Ra’is’ was axed, and as a result, this version of reality TV never succeeded
in the Arab region. It is worth mentioning here that the planning process for
the genre did not carefully consider the cultural sensitivity of the region. The
programme was not probably perceived by the production company and the
channel which broadcast it that it might provoke the religious sentiments of
its audiences for the controversial setting. The end result was a backfire effect
and total failure of the programme.
Stars of Science
Stars of Science, broadcast on the Saudi TV channel MBC4, is considered
innovative and different from the usual entertaining reality shows on Arab
TV. Nujoom Al-Uloom (Stars of Science) brings together innovators from various Arab countries whose main task is to invent a technological gadget that
is eventually marketable. The total prize awarded to the winning team is
$600,000 in cash, which is shared between the team members. The show,
which is sponsored and backed by Qatar Foundation and takes place in Qatar,
opens the appetite for Arab geniuses to showcase their talent and pitch for
a project that can potentially attract investors from within and outside the
region. So far the show has brought to light numerous talents from various
Arab countries, most of whom have been unknown until their appearance on
the programme.
As a result, and since its inception, Stars of Science has become a significant
spate for showcasing talents. One of the winners (who had appeared in the
first season in 2008) from Algeria described the fulfilling experience because
of her participation in the programme, saying
There’s no other opportunity that has shown me more about myself
than the show. At first, I wondered if people would be interested in
watching a bunch of geeks in a lab. But I was immediately humbled by
the amount of talent on the show, and we were all determined to do
our best work […]. It was like suddenly, we had permission to innovate
according to our passion by people who actually wanted to hear about
our ideas.
(Fantz 2012)
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Scores of the likeness of those talented youth tend over the years to find their
way to western universities where they can pursue their postgraduate studies
and undertake career opportunities in prestigious companies and institutions,
mainly in the United States and Europe. The programme reminds probably
about an ongoing phenomenon that has been taking place in the Arab region
during the last 50 years known as the ‘Arab brain drain’. This one-way traffic
has been growing over the years both in quality and in quantity. Thousands of
postgraduate students and experts travel to western universities to study for
a doctorate and end up settling in western universities and research centres.
Attracted by competitive salaries, high standard of living, freedom of expression, thriving research and work environment, they end up in most of the cases
seeking citizenship in the host countries and carve long career opportunities.
hawa Sawa
Hawa Sawa, which can be translated into ‘Love on Air’, is probably one of
the most controversial programmes from among the Arab reality shows.
The main mission of the programme is matchmaking by bringing a group of
women in an apartment in a Lebanese setting. Eight selected women would
live under camera supervision for about three months where the audience can
see how they behave and respond to a caller asking them questions or giving
them certain instructions from time to time. During the course of the first
month various grooms will be presented to the viewers, who will vote on the
ideal bride for each male. The climax is reached when couples are formed and
the channel makes arrangements for a wedding broadcast live on TV, which
millions of viewers eagerly follow.
Similar to other reality TV programmes, Hawa Sawa raised various
concerns among Arab audiences and religious leaders. Criticism relating to
the abuse of Arab/Islamic cultural norms surfaced on popular newspapers and
TV/radio discussion shows. Debates also flared up in social media networks
about the unmarried males and females living together in one place and sharing daily activities like cooking, eating, cleaning and singing. Such situations
are normally viewed only on soap opera and not in programmes featuring
‘real-life’ situations.
popularity of reality tV ShowS
The wave of liberalization in the Arab TV market and the speedy developments related to satellite TV supply and viewership have led many channels
in the Arab TV industry to recognize the need for offering ratings-driven
content. Reality TV’s attraction lies in its relative novelty to audiences as well
as its lower costs of production as participants are mainly regular people and
not highly paid movie and TV stars. In its report titled ‘Arabic Reality TV
Shows’, the Arab Advisory Group revealed that reality TV programmes have
been growing in number and audience attraction. For instance, ‘Out of the
18 reality TV shows aired in 2012/2013, 12 were original shows rather than
licensed formats from global companies’ (claims the report). Ms. Hiba Rabadi,
Arab Advisors Research Analyst, also wrote in the report that ‘channels are
increasingly employing social media as a tool for increased interactivity with
their audience’ (Arab Advisors Group 2013). Online presence on social media
networks has become a necessary tool to engage the audiences. Viewers find
in YouTube channels and Facebook pages great spaces of virtual interactivity about the various episodes. The growing number of viewership for songs
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posted on YouTube, for instance, is a testimony on the scale of followers of
such popular programmes like Arab Idol and Arab Got Talent.
Cultural ControVerSieS
As suggested earlier, the reality TV genre has faced numerous challenges
when it was first introduced on Arab TV. This was partly because of its western-oriented origin and partly because of the cultural values attached to these
programmes which are unusual to the norms of the Arab and Islamic culture.
No wonder then that as early as 2000, reality TV programmes led to a cultural
clash and a near public relations war among few broadcasters, religious leaders, civil society organizations, as well as other members of the public, namely
in the Gulf region. The well-known religious preacher Dr Mohamed Al-Arifi,
for instance, heavily criticized MBC channel for trivializing Arab concerns and
keeping Arab viewers busy singing and dancing instead of following what is
happening to the Syrian people. In his Twitter account, Al-Arifi stated,
1. ‘Al-Arifi criticizes MBC
for distracting viewers
with Arab Idol’, www.
burnews.com/newsaction-show-id-52288.
htm. Accessed
19 October 2013.
MBC channel belongs to my country, which hosts Islam’s most holy
sites, has now distracted Muslims with singing while the blood of our
people in Syria is being spilt, our women there are being raped and our
children there are being slaughtered. Shame on you oh my country.1
Sheikh Al-Arifi further called on parents not to allow their sons and daughters
to watch MBC3 (the children channel) and vowed that he would boycott the
products of all advertisers on the MBC channel. Subsequently, he received
overwhelming support for his call from tens of thousands of his followers. His
messages were re-tweeted and widely circulated on Facebook and YouTube
in a matter of hours.
Reality TV has spurred controversies in the Arab region since its appearance. It has triggered street riots in the case of Al-Rai’s (the Arabic version of
Big Brother shut down in Bahrain in 2004). Clerics were compelled to issue
fatwas in the case of Star Academy in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Influential
Islamic scholars such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi warned that such programmes
are nothing but ‘instruments of cultural and intellectual invasion of the
Ummah’ (Taha 2004). Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudais, a prominent Imam of
the Al-Haram (Grand mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia), called some of these
shows ‘weapons of mass destruction that kill values and virtue’ (Taha 2004)).
Other critics argue that reality TV protagonists are not media professionals
and that the content of such programmes is superficial and distracts viewers
from serious day-to-day issues. Such genre has also been received with scepticism about claims of the reality they represent. They are seen as arranged,
unprofessional and, to some extent, manufactured reality appealing mainly to
the senses.
reSearCh findingS
Case study: Arab idol (Mahboub Al-Arab)
This article focuses on the study of season two of the Arab reality TV
programme titled Arab Idol, a series broadcast on the Saudi satellite channel MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Company) between 8 March 2013 and 22
June 2013. Judges for the show included popular Arab singers: Ragheb Alama,
Ahlam, Hassan ElShafei and Nancy Ajram. The programme was created by
Simon Fuller, a British entrepreneur and television producer, also creator of
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Noureddine Miladi
2. ‘MBC refutes
attempting to spread
the idol concept: Arab
beloved is the true
meaning of Arab Idol’,
http://www.al-tagheer.
com/news37328.html.
Accessed 15 October
2013.
the Idol Franchise whose first success in the United Kingdom was with Pop
Idol and then American Idol shows in the United States. The Arab Idol series
provides ‘the Arabic public with the songs of Umm Kolthoum, the poetry
of Ahmed Shawqi, and the voice of Abdel Halim Hafez – more so than any
programs’, as stated by Ali Jaber, director general of MBC (Haddad 2013).
Following the same format of American Idol and Pop Idol, contestants
from all over the Arab world get selected after various stages of auditions.
Contenders then perform live in a televised contest to millions of people
watching them on satellite TV and the Internet in addition to the studio audience. The presence of the judges (Ragheb Alama, Ahlam, Hassan El Shafei
and Nancy Ajram) makes the show even more serious, especially at times
of voting out. Viewers then cast their vote using SMS after which the least
popular leaves the contest.
terminology and Cultural ControVerSieS
Since its launch the series received bad publicity campaigns from Saudi activists. MBC1, the Saudi TV channel hosting the series, faced a war of words in
order to defame its image. Its main accusation was spreading idolatry, a practice abhorred in the Arab culture and which contradicts the teachings of the
Islamic monotheism (Aqeeda) based on the oneness of God. The ‘Idol’-loving
concept in Arab Idol has been viewed by many activists as a deviation from
the true belief to human idol following/worshipping away from worshipping
the true God (Allah). As a result, the MBC group had to swiftly deal with this
storm of criticism to protect its image to the extent that it employed linguistic
experts to illustrate the origins of the word and contextualize its root in the
Arab culture. At a certain point the channel declared in a press release that
Arab Idol signifies the one to be ‘Arab beloved’ (Mahboob Al-Arab) and not a
human idol (a star) to be worshipped. The channel had officially confirmed
that
in all cases, ‘Arab Idol’ denotes a musical journey through which contestants are engaged from an early experience to professionalism practice, in sharpening their talents, until it makes him/her reach stardom
and excellence. After which they deserve to be called the Arab public
beloved; those viewers who helped choose the winners by constantly
following and voting throughout the various episodes.2
However, this was not the first controversy for the show. Shortly after producers announced the name of the series, they launched a region-wide campaign
to assure viewers that the ’Idol’ should not be understood as ’idolatry’ and
therefore was not in conflict with the Qur’an. To avoid any possible misinterpretation of the brand title Arab Idol, which may signify glamorizing idolatry,
the producers opted to name the show in Arabic as ‘Mahboob Al-Arab’ (The
Arabs Beloved).
audienCe interaCtion
The preceding analysis points to the popularity of the programme among Arab
audiences given the responses it received from religious, political and other
interested groups in the Arab world. This section attempts to examine audience interaction with the programme focusing on the second season (broadcast during spring 2013). Social media networks provided a vibrant platform
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for interaction with the programme. Online rivalry, for instance, got heated
up during the voting out of the contestants. What goes behind the scenes is
certainly a complex networking activism. But some aspects of that interaction find its way to social media networks like Twitter feeds and Facebook
discussions. Also looking at the comments that accompany video clips of
various episodes on YouTube speaks volumes about people’s interest in the
whole process of choosing the one to be Arab idol. For instance, social media
networks flared up with criticism and anger sometimes as a response to what
many viewers see as manipulation of the voting system. Many voters accused
the channel of diverting all votes coming to Mohamed Assaf to Ahmed Jamal.
Audiences reported that when people, for instance, vote for Assaf, a ‘thank
you’ message comes back in the name of Ahmed Jamal appreciating their
support, whereas the same message is meant to come signed by Mohamed
Assaf. The channel also received further accusations via Facebook and Twitter
activists with fraud and rigging. It was also accused of money ‘rip off’. For
instance, the stepping down of the Moroccan candidate, Salma Rasheed,
seemed to have infuriated scores of Moroccan viewers. They considered the
winning of Ziad Khouri came as a courtesy to the Lebanese president, who
voiced his support to him during the episode of 7 June 2013.
3. ‘Arab Idol’, MBC,
20 April 2013, http://
www.youtube.com/
watch?v=6d
mcDRW4SgM.
Accessed
20 June 2013.
4. ‘Arab Idol’, MBC,
17 May 2013, http://
www.youtube.com/
watch?v=tTvm
LkUWbvM. Accessed
20 June 2013.
5. ‘Arab Idol’, MBC, 10
May 2013, http://
www.youtube.com/
watch?v=zZ
LbHJhivd4.
Accessed 20 June 2013.
6. ‘Arab Idol’, MBC, 13
April 2013, http://
www.youtube.com/
watch?v=bHws
WWK5dJQ. Accessed
29 June 2013.
youtube ViewerShip
The availability of scores of video clips from various episodes gave an extra
dimension to viewership and added to the programme’s popularity. Unlike
the old days when such programmes used to be broadcast live and unlikely to
be repeated more than once, the viewer could hardly have the chance to view
the show again unless he or she manages to record it on a VCR. Nowadays all
broadcast material is potentially available on the Internet 24/7 free of charge.
Various platforms can provide this unlimited access: YouTube, Facebook and
other Internet homepages, all potentially constitute libraries with open access
and constant content retrieval. The significance of being able to retrieve any
episode, watch it at a convenient time, download it and save it adds to the
programme’s popularity and impact. As of 20 June 2013, only few days after
they were broadcast, episodes from Arab Idol reached almost 2.5 million in
viewership. Salma Rasheed’s song ‘Ya Naseeni’,3 for instance, had 2,476,015
viewership by 20 June 2013, while her song ‘Zai El-Asal’4 had 1,558,442 by 20
June 2013. Her song ‘Lis-sabr hudood’5 had 1,931,629 viewership by 20 June
2013. The highest Ziad Khouri had in terms of viewership was 501,3926 for his
song ‘Khatarna ala-Balek’. MBC, the broadcaster of Arab Idol, estimated that
in its finale Arab Idol received 100 million viewers, which exceeded Turkish TV
soap opera series Nour reportedly acquiring 85 million viewers on 29 August
2008.
Alluding to the preceding analysis, one may infer that Arab Idol’s popularity is partly due to its power in engaging audiences both online and offline.
Ali Jaber, director general of MBC, argued at the time that Arab Idol proved
successful because it serves the audience’s needs. He also added:
I believe the secret to success is that we can put our finger on the pulse
of the Arab and Gulf public. In particular, we have more experience
than others in assessing the changing public desires. The public is like a
school of fish; changing its direction for no reason. We have been able
to keep up with these changing trends in a professional manner […].
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Noureddine Miladi
7. ‘MBC: “Arab Idol”
finale watched by
100 million’, Asharq
Al-Awsat, Monday
1 July 2013.
We have also seen a change in the viewers’ choices, especially after the
events of the Arab Spring. The audience, which had accepted American
films and escaped to the cinema, began to prefer public programmes
that it could effectively participate in.7
8. Ibid.
9. ‘Arab Idol’, MBC, http://
www.mbc.net/ar/
programs/arab-idol-s2.
html. Accessed
19 October 2013.
Moreover, the programme served as a platform of interaction as well as for
pan-Arab connectivity. Audiences from across the Arab world and beyond
have found in it a space of free expression, as well as reflection of their
concerns and dreams. The MBC Group PR manager, Mazen Hayek, calls it
‘one of the main sources of the great Arab dream’. He further attributes the
success of the second season to the fact that it
forms a connection between Arab nationalities, without distinguishing
between countries. The majority [of countries] are suffering acute political crises […]. When Abdel Karim Hamdan performed Mawwal Halab,
we knew that it would touch the feelings of people from Syria and elsewhere, because of the Syrian crisis and what was being sung. People
were crying, and the western media took note. CNN, the BBC, Le Figaro,
the New Zealand Herald and other media outlets were talking about it
at length.8
identity politiCS on reality tV
A close look at the interactions among contestants, jury and the audience
reveals a complex picture of how identity and nationalism are deliberated.
In the course of the various episodes contestants brought issues of national
identity and their countries’ struggle for freedom to the centre stage. It was
not hard, for instance, to spot support for the Palestinian cause when Assaf
performed or as Farah Youssef (from Syria) made people cry when she sang
to the audience. Although the judges themselves are known not to get
involved in politics, Arab Idol seems to have crossed boundaries between politics and entertainment. In an episode dating 7 June 2013 the Lebanese president Michelle Sulaiman contacted the programme to support his country’s
candidate in the contest ‘Ziad Khouri’. In the tweet sent to Raghib Alama (a
member of the jury) the president also did not hide the fact that he follows
the programme and the candidate is the pride of Lebanon. On Saturday 15
June 2013, the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was also reported to
have contacted the programme to voice his full support for the Palestinian
candidate (Assaf).
The appearance of Iraqi Kurdish contestant (Parwaz Hussein) sparked an
identity debate between the judges and viewers both in the Arab region and in
Kurdistan (north of Iraq). Because she is not a native Arabic speaker, Parwaz
who was introduced as coming from ‘Iraqi Kurdistan’ had initially an interpreter to communicate with the judges. Pop star Ahlam from the United Arab
Emirates, and member of the jury, suggested that Parwaz should introduce
herself as being from Iraq rather than Iraqi Kurdistan. ‘I am in total disagreement of your reference to your country as Kurdistan. Kurdistan is in fact part
and parcel of Iraq’,9 commented Ahlam. Such intervention, which was viewed
by millions live on TV, went viral on Twitter and Facebook and provoked
angry responses from Kurds in Kurdistan and beyond. Extensive exchanges on
social media networks referred to Ahlam’s remark as old ‘Arab racism’. ‘Tell
Ahlam we are not Arabs,’ said Ako Aljaff on Parwaz’s Facebook page. Others
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Transformative pan-Arab TV
said that as a Kurd she should not have entered a competition called Arab Idol
in the first place. This flared further debates among Arab viewers and Kurds
to the extent that an angry respondent (named Moteb Saud) commented on
Facebook: ’If the Kurds didn’t like what Ahlam said, let them go to India or
Pakistan or the Soviet Union or Armenia and establish their state far away
from us’.10
Back in Kurdistan, the streets of Irbil were adorned with colourful images
of the Kurdish Arab Idol contestant, Berwaz Hussein, wearing a pendant in
the shape of ’greater Kurdistan’. In the eyes of her people she was perceived
as a representative of the Kurdish nation and its music heritage. Street billboards displayed large pictures of her in a Kurdish traditional dress bearing
the caption ‘Vote for Berwaz: Code 6’. The Kurdish journalist Aveen Asu
expressed her pride with the singer:
Berwaz Hussein represents the Kurdish people in this programme […]
[She wrote] I am proud of the beauty of your soul and proud of you
because you have been brave enough to take part in this contest. You
managed to go through all these phases. The judges expressed their
admiration to you and to Kurdistan […] whether you win or not, you
are for us the first. What is most important, you should continue in this
path after the contest.11
10. ‘Kurdish singer sparks
identity debate on Arab
talent show’, Assyrian
International News
Agency, 25 April 2013.
11. ‘Berwaz, the talented
girl of Arab Idol
becomes a national
issue’, Shafaaq News,
14 April 2013.
12. Ibid
13. Ibid.
14. ‘Arab Idol’, MBC, http://
www.mbc.net/ar/
programs/arab-idol-s2.
html. Accessed
19 October 2013.
On Facebook threads, numerous Kurdish writers and artists considered voting
for this ‘young women’ is a vote for Kurdistan. For instance, the Kurdish
writer Abdulwahab Talibani writes from Australia: ‘A beautiful Kurdish
butterfly warble with the most melodious sound, and she builds a bridge of
authentic Kurdish melody and tone via the airwaves in picture and in sound’.12
Abulhassan alSafiri says about Berwaz that she has
unified Iraqis after the failure of politicians to do so […]. She has proved
to be capable of bringing Iraqis together and demonstrated to everyone
that the bond between the Kurds and Iraqis is beyond political friction
and enmity. Berwaz, a thousand mabrouk (congratulations) from the
heart of every faithful Iraqi who genuinely loves Iraq […] Berwaz, the
voice of all Iraqis, let us be proud of her because she has united all Iraqis
through noble art.13
To contribute to the on-going debate, Raghib Alama (member of the panel
of judges) argued that ‘Berwaz managed to connect cultures together and
combined the Arab arts with Kurdish art’.14
In addition to the identity and politics debate, Arab Idol provoked heated
religious discussions on the moral compass of reality TV programmes. Islamic
scholars as well as members of the public engaged in non-ending exchanges
about the negative impact such programmes may have on people’s character
and morality. Many saw them as morally corrupting and a total waste of air
time. Sheikh Mohamed Al-Arifi, for instance, among the various preachers
who criticized Arab Idol, called upon the Emirati singer Ahlam (member of
the Arab Idol jury) to abandon singing and direct her effort to dawah (Islamic
preaching). The well-known Saudi religious scholar advised Ahlam via his
Facebook page that she is a woman of good morals and excellent qualities
who should invest her time in calling people to God. ‘My dear sister Ahlam
(he said) you are a believer, who loves God, why don’t you make this day a
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Noureddine Miladi
15. ‘Sheikh Al-Arifi calls
upon the singer Ahlam
to abandon singing
and direct her effort
to dawah’ (Islamic
preaching) (in Arabic).
AlQuds Newspaper, 11
June 2013. Accessed
15 June 2013.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
turning point in your life. You should embrace this coming Ramadhan (fasting month) as Ahlam the preacher instead of Ahlam the singer’.15 The singer
responded and was apparently touched by his comments: ‘May God reward
you in abundance, please sheikh Mohamed Al-Arifi make duaas (supplications)
for me. May God accept from me and you the best of our deeds’.16
aSSaf: ambaSSador for the paleStinianS
An apparently symbolic dimension of Arab Idol is its seemingly unifying factor
among Palestinians and other Arab people. It has been a rare occurrence for a
TV programme to play the role of a unifying tool among Arab audiences from
across the world. The final winner of the contest, Mohammed Assaf, seems
to have made Palestinians and other Arab nationals feel as one people; their
geographic split and ideological differences melted down for a moment. In
the case of the Palestinians, there was suddenly a cause that unified everyone
from the Gaza strip to the West bank, Ramallah and Jerusalem; all Palestinians
shared the same hope: someone who can represent them wins the contest. A
wedding singer from a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Assaf became the first
Palestinian to win Arab Idol, in a contest that has captivated millions of viewers, including President Mahmoud Abbas. The president had earlier spoken to
Assaf by phone and instructed Palestinian embassies abroad to urge expatriates to vote for him, calling the singer ‘the pride of the Palestinian and Arab
nation’.17 Across Gaza, people gathered around TV screens at home, in coffee
shops and in seaside cafes to watch Assaf perform for the last time. The Bank
of Palestine threw money into the campaign to see him win, promising to
match up to 350,000 texted votes – each one costs 40 cents – for Assaf. It
placed billboards with his picture at major intersections in Gaza and the West
Bank. Some cafes in the West Bank city of Ramallah offered to text a vote for
every cup of coffee that customers order.
In this finale, Mohammed Assaf managed to beat finalists Egyptian
Ahmed Jamal and a Syrian woman, Farah Youssef. Soon after the declaration
of the winner, the streets of Gaza thronged with jubilant Palestinians tooting their cars or bikes. Scenes of those carrying the Palestinian flag chanting
‘Palestine, Palestine’ reminds of a national historical victory for the country.
The young singer saluted the people of Palestine, ‘who have been suffering
under occupation for decades’ (Al-Jazeera English 2013). President Abbas
did not miss the opportunity again to connect with the Palestinian public by
showing his support. He noted, ‘I congratulate the talented singer Mohammed
Assaf [...] who conveyed the message of the Palestinian people to the Arab
nation through his art’ (CBC 2013a). Subsequently, Assaf was named Youth
Ambassador for UNRWA, the United Nation’s agency for Palestinian refugees, and named Palestinian goodwill ambassador by President Abbas, who
reportedly gave him a diplomatic passport. Among the people of Gaza, Assaf
was hailed as a hero, a speaker for Palestinians and their sufferings. In his
inauguration he did not forget to mention the refugees and the prisoners in
the Israeli jails. ‘This young man [...] is expressing the feelings of all of us, he is
expressing our suffering, our pain, but also our love of life’, Abu Ali said (CBC
2013b). In a sign of a shift, a Hamas lawmaker in Gaza, Yehiyeh Moussa,
praised Assaf as the ‘ambassador for Palestinian art’.
The MBC Group PR manager Mazen Hayek said:
For Mohammed Assaf to win was the best example for young Arabs
to overcome their sufferings. They can have faith for the possibility of
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Transformative pan-Arab TV
achieving their dreams, even though their political surroundings and
other problems have prevented them from doing so for many years.
Even when it was announced that Mohammed Assaf had won, I felt
that this humble and affable young Palestinian was surprised and
shocked. He had not dared to dream. Because of the tragedies, wars,
abuses, and occupation that he had experienced and suffered from, he
did not believe that he had won.18
18. ‘MBC: “Arab Idol”
finale watched by
100 million’, Asharq
Al-Awsat, Monday 1 July
2013.
CritiCiSm of the genre
Reality TV has been subject to growing criticism during the last two decades.
In spite of its significant popularity among Arab audiences, there remains
substantial resistance to the programmes that come under this category.
‘Opposite Direction’ (a political talk show on Al-Jazeera Channel), which was
viewed by some as spreading friction and enmity between Arab countries, is
one such programme that falls in this category; some see that reality TV shows
are in actual fact attempts by some wealthy Arab governments to destroy
Arab unity. They are viewed as a trend to tabloidize Arab media content,
a phenomenon heavily criticized in the West during the last two decades
(Sparks and Tulloch 2000). But part of the popularity of such programmes
is that they are not costly to produce compared to current affairs and documentary programmes, for instance. On average, a reality TV programme in
the United States costs about $750,000, whereas a soap opera TV series will
be over $2.8 million in production costs (Makhaldi 2012). The same goes to
Arab realty programmes, which have become the digest of many private TV
channels.
Song contests like Arab Idol and Arab Got Talent, or ‘real’ life’s struggles
involving film stars and other celebrities like the series Al-Wadi (the valley),
tend to receive ample negative comments from religious leaders, commentators, academics, community groups and even policy-makers. One key criticism directed at Arab Idol in its second season (spring 2013) was its potential
power of distracting the Arab street from serious issues and trivializing public
opinion concerns. For instance, while season two of Arab Idol attracts millions
on Arab TV, neighbouring Syria was being engulfed more and more in its
civil war. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to Lebanon, Turkey,
Jordon and other neighbouring countries. The regime of Bashar Al-Assad has
become more ruthless in dealing with the Syrian opposition. But while TV
screens across the Arab world were busy reporting live bloody scenes of the
war including the destruction of total towns and villages, MBC kept its viewers glued to the Arab Idol songs contest. The programme then was seen as an
attempt to take audiences away from this harsh reality, probably an attempt
to help them escape, even for few hours per week, the often depressing news
of the Syrian crisis.
Beyond the Arab region, similar concerns were expressed by policy-makers
when in China an imitation of the American Pop Idol drew millions of viewers’ attention in 2005. ‘Super Girl’, a singing competition show, was criticized
for its negative cultural impact and subsequently banned in the same year and
again in 2011. The show, which became a hit and drew over 400 million youth,
was considered by the Chinese government as a danger and contradicting the
Chinese cultural values. Policy-makers questioned the programme’s intentions on democratization and for the programme’s attempt to create what
was seen as ‘unrealistic ideals’ for the Chinese youth (Macartney 2005). In
a separate case, the French TV channel Canal+ argued in one of its reports
109
Noureddine Miladi
19. Le Figaro, 5 September
2012. http://www.
lefigaro.fr/. Accessed
15 October 2013.
(in 2012) that reality TV is accused of the suicide of at least 20 participants in
various countries because they did not make it to the finale. The report aired
on Canal+ points to the production companies that amass huge income from
these programmes without follow-up of the psychological condition of the
losing participants after any contest.19
reality tV and politiCS
Looking beyond the religious and cultural debates Arab Idol provoked, the
programme was not void of politically significant instances. During the spring
2013 season, a continuous practice of outvoting the candidate(s) to leave the
contest goes each time in each episode. Heated communication from audiences and fans from various countries typically takes place. A glimpse of such
occurrences is sometimes witnessed live in the studio where audiences from
various Arab nationalities are present to support their countries’ contestants.
What seems to have happened then during that season was an attempt of
Arab nations to outvote each other. As it happened with previous episodes of
Arab Idol, international rivalries surface at various stages of the contest, especially nearing the finale. In the 2012 season it was reported, for instance, that
King Abdullah of Jordan had encouraged Jordanians to support the Jordanian
candidate, with the government promising to pay the bill. The winner was
ultimately given a hero welcome back in Amman.
This time, scenes of supporters waving flags remind us about international rivalries in football competitions such as the World Cup or the Olympic
Games. Patriotic messages from Palestinians in Gaza in support of Assaf
or others from Morocco and Lebanon became recurrent scenes on MBC
during the singing competitions. When he returned back to Gaza, Assaf was
welcomed as hero, as noted earlier. And before that he was given a hero’s
welcome when he landed in Jordan on 30 June 2013 on his way back home.
Thousands of supporters celebrated his victory like no other icon, although
very few thought in the beginning that the young man from a poor district
in the Gaza Strip will make it to the finale. However, the support to the
Palestinian cause seems to have played a crucial role in the overwhelming
support Assaf received from Arab viewers across the Arab world. Now he has
become a national champion, whose popularity exceeds scholars, politicians
and other men and women of long-standing in serving their societies.
In the aftermath of this situation, Assaf emerged as a unifying force among
Palestinians torn between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Assaf
phenomenon, one may call it, seemed to be able to play the role politics failed
to do, which is bringing Palestinians together for the common good. The
significance of this show, as maybe elsewhere, is that it is able to create stardom. Ordinary people like Assaf who were totally unknown before became
famous among almost every Palestinian and to millions in the Arab world.
This effect is beyond political influence or the making of political parties. But
thanks to the burgeoning of satellite TV and social media networks, such starmaking phenomenon can take place in a region where stardom either is associated with political influence or created through business enterprises.
SpaCeS for demoCratiC praCtiCe
Can reality TV programmes promote freedom of expression and respect of the
opposite viewpoint. Will it be feasible to consider Arab audiences’ engagement with such programmes as signs of the emergence of a democratic culture
110
Transformative pan-Arab TV
even though in virtual spaces? Some hailed the discussion taking place in the
cyberspace to be probably the closest to the Habermasian notion of a public
sphere, or a liberal democracy the Arabs have been yearning for. Also the
opportunity to cast vote in support of a contestant is a unique experience in
some parts of the world. During the first democratic elections that took place
in Tunisia on 23 October 2011, scores of voters expressed their excitement on
TV channels that it was the first time in their lives they have managed to take
part in free elections. The experience of the Arab Spring countries has proven
so far that democracy is not the mere privilege of casting one’s vote freely,
but democracy is an extensive learning process that comes to fruition after
sustainable education. It is mostly a home-grown, bottom-up progression and
cannot succeed if it is a mandatory top-down initiative by either internal or
external forces. Reality TV thus gives the impression of democratic participation, the illusion of the power of choice by voting out someone. But this
does not in fact amount to attaining any significance through the voting process. Supporters called this phenomenon the new thriving public sphere in the
Arab world. Others argue that it was the closest experience of a democracy
the Arab countries have witnessed, a first real taste of democracy among Arab
viewers before the Arab Spring revolution.
Regardless of the criticism or praise it has received so far, the significance of reality TV is partly in the potential blending of satellite technology
with audience participatory programmes. People’s power is obvious in some
aspects of what is going on behind the scenes. Viewers have the power to
rally each other via social networks in support of a candidate. As a journalist from Enigma magazine put it, ‘As people got frustrated with the lack of
political change, they got more excited at the prospect of an interactive talent
show. You could kick people off the air, with your mobile phone. Now that’s
power’.20 The development of such a new genre of TV programming seems
therefore to have opened up a new area not only for unusual entertainment
but also for audience participation and engagement. Participation in such
programmes in addition to debates about the content and issues that surface
from time to time has become the digest of scores of Arab youth in faceto-face discussions as well as social media networks. But while hundreds of
thousands voted in reality TV shows, election results in various Arab countries
recurrently reveal the apathy to take part in municipal or general elections.
20. ‘Carmen Sulaiman:
The first Arab Idol’,
Enigma Magazine,
www.enigma-mag.com.
Accessed 19 October
2013.
ConCluSionS
One may argue that the blessings as well as downsides of globalization have
affected the whole world, even remote areas of the five continents. Reality TV
has been phenomenal in terms of its impact on audiences and the TV industry
in western countries. Not least, this genre has been dominating TV entertainment since the beginning of the 1990s. The Arab TV industry is not immune
from this impact. But after airing reality programme from the United States
and Europe for the last few decades, Arab TV industries started during the last
ten years to produce their own shows, something that is normal process for
the industry in terms of its development to sustain audience attraction.
Regardless of the criticism or praise it has received so far, the significance
of reality TV in the Arab world is partly in the potential blending of satellite technology with audience participatory programmes. Thanks to satellite TV, the proliferation of reality programmes reached large audiences in
the Arab countries and the Middle East. Such genre have come a long way
111
Noureddine Miladi
21. Ibid.
since the year 2000 involving heated discussions on gender, politics, religion and culture. These new platforms have pushed the boundaries of these
social issues beyond the reach of any other means. People’s power is obvious
in some aspects of what is going on behind the scenes. Viewers gained the
power to rally each other via social networks in support of a candidate. As
a journalist from Enigma magazine put it, ‘As people got frustrated with the
lack of political change, they got more excited at the prospect of an interactive
talent show. You could kick people off the air, with your mobile phone. Now
that’s power’.21
But the real breakthrough with regard to participation and the increasing
interaction with Arab Idol, for instance, came with the social media networks,
which made it possible for such shows to multiply in circulation and access on
Facebook pages, Twitter and Internet homepages. Now viewers can instantly
take part in voting not only via SMS but freely via social media networks. One
may argue that the power of change in the Arab Spring revolution is probably
one of the cumulative impacts of the engagement with reality TV. The effect
of using mobile phones and social media networks to connect activists with
each other and break the barriers of censorship in the case of the Tunisian
and Egyptian revolutions had actually started with audience engagement
with TV shows such as Star Academy, Super Star and Al Wadi. One may argue
that voters on these programmes who used to mobilize each other via SMS
messaging and Internet interaction turned into political activists for freedom
and democracy during the months leading to the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, something that had been alluded to few years ago by Lynch (2006)
who suggested, for instance, that ‘Super Star and Star Academy fandom might
have provided early inspiration and opportunities for these young people to
experiment with online and networked organization. The skills may be more
transferable to the political realm than some realize’.
On a different dimension, one may argue that such programmes may help
revive the unifying spirit of the Ummah (global Muslim community). The type
of dialogue and inter-connectivity taking place is such that it extends communication among groups from all over the Arab world. Interaction of this kind
among pan-Arab audiences is hard to take place in the real world. The only
encounters for similar aspects of communication and real-life engagements
are normally during regional or international sports competitions such as the
African cup, Asian games or World Cup.
Another point worth noting is that reality TV has its obvious impact not
only on street discussions, in coffee shops and in academic institutions but
also on news organizations. Although the former can be understood given
people’s interest in soft news in lieu of serious stories about wars and conflicts,
floods, earthquakes and so forth, one finds it interesting that voting results of
Arab Idol, especially the final episodes, find its way to newsrooms in various
TV channels around the Arab world, including the English-speaking ones. For
instance, the news of Mohammed Assaf winning the contest made its way
even to the United Nations Security Council’s Annual Report of Tuesday 25
June 2013: a summary of the 6986th meeting accounts for the continuous civil
war in Syria and its repercussion in destabilizing the neighbouring countries.
Also it counted for the deteriorating living condition of the people of Gaza
and growing Israeli illegal settlements plans. Moreover, the report states that
against such a concerning backdrop I (the president: Mr Mark Lyall
Grant reads) would nevertheless like to highlight a moment of joy that
112
Transformative pan-Arab TV
lifted the spirits of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza alike, when
on 22 June a young Gazan refugee, Mohammad Assaf, won the ’Arab
Idol’ televised song contest, watched by millions throughout the region
and beyond. Following his victory, Mr. Assaf was named as goodwill
ambassador to the Palestinian diaspora by President Abbas and as the
first Regional Youth Ambassador for Palestine Refugees by the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East.22
A final note relates to the star-making potential of such programmes and the
promising financial gains that the winners may amass eventually. In the light
of the vacuum that Arab youth have been witnessing because of unemployment and marginalization, these reality TV programmes constitute a refuge
for many of them and a substitute for the lack of means to achieve their
dreams for fame, fortune-making. Many participants in the music contests,
for instance, see this opportunity as a fast track towards stardom and amassing wealth without years of hard work in education and professional work.
Al-Arab newspaper claimed that the MBC channels bought Mohammed Assaf
a lavish villa in Dubai worth US$400, including a car and other facilities. This
deal took place after he had signed a ten-year contract with the channel along
with ‘Platinum’ (a media company). Assaf would also embark on a new album
with ‘Platinum’ as part of his contract and a TV series.23 Carmen Sulaiman, the
17-year-old first Arab Idol winner from Egypt, left the singing contest with a
‘Platinum Records contract, a Pepsi endorsement and a Chevrolet Corvette’.24
Carmen Sulaiman argued after returning to Egypt:
22. ‘United Nations
Security Council’s
Annual report of the
6986th meeting’,
New York, 25
June 2013, www.
securitycouncilreport.
org. Accessed 19
October 2013.
23. ‘In picture, the house
of the Arab idol,
Mohammed Assaf, in
Dubai costs MBC $400’,
http://www.alarab.
net/Article/548430.
Accessed 15 October
2013.
24. ‘Carmen Sulaiman:
The first Arab idol’,
Enigma Magazine,
www.enigma-mag.com.
Accessed 19 October
2013.
25. Ibid.
My life is far from normal. It is entirely different. Before Arab Idol, I was
your average teenager; I’d hang out with my friends, spend time with
family, attend school and private lessons for Thanawya Amma (High
School General Certificate) etc. Now I’m doing more shows and press
interviews.25
referenCeS
Al-Jazeera English (2013), ‘Palestinian wins Arab Idol for first time’, Al-Jazeera.
com, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/06/2013622195491
14855.html. Accessed 22 June 2013.
Arab Advisors Group (2013), ‘Amman, Jordan’, www.arabadvisors.com.
Accessed 20 February 2015.
Bignell, J. (2005), Big Brother: Reality TV in the Twenty-First Century, Basingstoke,
UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
CBC (2013a), ‘Arab Idol winner named UNRWA, goodwill ambassador’, CBC
News, http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/arab-idol-winner-named-unrwagoodwill-ambassador-1.1311009. Accessed 24 June 2013.
CBC (2013b), ‘Arab Idol winner named UNRWA, goodwill ambassador’, CBC
News, http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/arab-idol-winner-named-unrwagoodwill-ambassador-1.1311009. Accessed 24 June 2013.
Fairclough, Norman (2003), Discourse and Social Change, Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishing.
Fantz, Ashley (2012), ‘Reality shows revolutionize Arab TV’, CNN.com,
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/17/world/arab-reality-shows/. Accessed
26 October 2013.
113
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Fowler, R. (1991), Language in the News, London and New York: Routledge.
Friedman, James (ed.) (2002), Reality Squared: Televisual Discourse on the Real,
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Haddad, Vivian (2013), ‘MBC: “Arab Idol” finale watched by 100
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22 May 2015.
Hill, Annette (2005), Reality TV Audiences and Popular Factual Television,
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html. Accessed 24 January 2015.
Kraidy, Marwan (2012), Reality Television and Arab Politics, Cambridge:
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Lynch, Marc (2006), ‘Reality is not enough: The politics of Arab reality TV’,
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2015.
Macartney, Jane (2005), ’TV talent contest “too democratic” for China’s
censors’, The Times London, 29 August.
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lines’, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, 4 October.
Silverman, David (1998), Harvey Sacks: Social Science and Conversation Analysis,
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the Ummah and is an instrument of cultural invasion’, Asharq Al-Awsat,
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SuggeSted Citation
Miladi, N. (2015), ‘Transformative pan-Arab TV: National and cultural expression on reality TV programmes, Qatar University’, Journal of Arab & Muslim
Media Research, 8: 2, pp. 99–115, doi: 10.1386/jammr.8.2.99_1
Contributor detailS
Noureddine Miladi obtained an MA and Ph.D. in media and communication from the University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Before
joining Qatar University, he had taught journalism and mass communication since 2001 in various UK universities. His academic experience includes
development of MA and undergraduate programmes in journalism and mass
communication and supervision of numerous MA and Ph.D. students. He is
currently Associate Professor in Mass Communication at Qatar University. Dr
Miladi has published widely in international refereed journals and books. His
research interests include social media and social change, media and democracy, youth, identity and social media networks, media ethics, Al-Jazeera and
the change in the global media flow and media and public opinion.
114
Transformative pan-Arab TV
Contact: Department of Mass Communication, College of Arts and Science,
Qatar University, PO Box 2713, Doha, Qatar.
E-mail: noureddine.miladi@qu.edu.qa; noureddinemiladi@yahoo.co.uk
Noureddine Miladi has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work in the format that
was submitted to Intellect Ltd.
115
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