Seen and starting to be heard: women and the Arab media in a decade of change

Social Research, Fall, 2002 by Naomi Sakr

If there was a qualitative breakthrough in the sphere of new cross-border Arab media, it came with the creation, in Qatar in 1996, of Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel. Specializing in news and current affairs, Al-Jazeera broke the mould of the satellite channels set up by governments and by private Saudi and Lebanese entrepreneurs.

Saudi-owned companies like the Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC), Orbit, and Arab Radio and Television (ART) avoided broadcasting news, documentaries, or drama that might offend the political sensitivities of those in power in Saudi Arabia or their allies in the rest of the Arab world. The two leading Lebanese satellite channels, Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) and Future International, were subject to Syrian intervention in editorial decisions when the "need" arose (Kassir, 2000). Al-Jazeera, in contrast, was formally freed from direct censorship and granted a start-up loan that offered it financial and editorial independence. Orbit had experimented to a limited extent with live talk shows, phone-ins, and an Arabic news service supplied by the BBC, but Al-Jazeera was sufficiently free from editorial constraints to carry such experiments forward. By the end of 2001, after five years on the air, Al-Jazeera could claim to have built a large and loyal audience of some 35 million people by showing relevant topical programs and uncensored debates. Although existing stations emulated the lively formats, and new ones were set up to try to dent Al-Jazeera's dominant position, they lacked the freedom and financial incentives to match the candor and clash of opinion that Al-Jazeera deliberately strove for to attract viewers (Sakr, 2001: 119-24). What Al-Jazeera had still to achieve after five years was the launching of a second channel, devoted to documentaries. It had, however, helped to stimulate the spread of satellite access across Arab countries and beyond. Between 1997 and 1999, after Al-Jazeera, LBC, and Future International arrived on the scene, the level of dish and cable access suddenly soared, even among those who already had terrestrial access to the output of the Lebanese channels (Sakr, 2001: 17-20). By the end of the decade, upward of 70 percent of Gulf households were receiving satellite television (Belchi, 2002). The corresponding level of under 10 percent in Egypt remained exceptionally low by regional standards. Access in Jordan and Lebanon was 44 percent and 66 percent, respectively (Belchi), while in Algeria it reached 80 percent (Sakr, 2001: 114). Given that average Internet access in Arab countries at this time was below 2 percent (Mahmoud, 2002), satellite television was clearly the more relevant and accessible new medium for the mass of people.