National Broadcasting and State Policy in Arab Countries

T. Guaaybess

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781349349555, 9780230367166
• eBook ISBN: 9781137301932
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Journalism
• Index: Social Sciences

A state-of-the-art analysis of the situation of national television in Arab countries, addressing what Arab national broadcastings today say about public policy and political opening. The essays deal with the reforms of public broadcasting organizations and the evolution, perspectives and issues of national broadcasting.

1

Broadcasting Transitions in the United Arab Emirates

Muhammad I. Ayish

Introduction

The view of media in general and broadcasting in particular as a catalyst for social change has defined the United Arab Emirates’ national development ever since the launch of the Federation on 2 December 1971. For a nation keen on establishing itself as a modern state, it was quite natural to see radio and television being harnessed to promote socio-economic change and to preserve cultural traditions. In the past two decades in particular, the power of broadcasting in the UAE is perceived to have arisen not only from its role in promoting national identity and fostering economic progress, but also from its building bridges with far-flung regional and international audiences. While striving to maintain its leading position as an economic power in the region, the UAE has yet to grapple with challenges related to bolstering its national identity in the context of asymmetrical demographic realities. In addressing those two challenges (cultural and economic), the UAE holds high expectations about what media, especially broadcasting, could contribute. Yet, to enable radio and television operators to effectively deal with these two issues, the UAE, at federal and local levels, has brought about substantive transitions in national broadcasting institutional outlook, technological sophistication and professional development. In parallel, the introduction of media free zones in the UAE since 2001 marks a new development that has not only expanded diversity in the nation’s economic sectors, but has also turned the UAE into a global media centre (Sadiq 2010).

This chapter discusses how institutional, technological and professional transitions in UAE-based broadcasting have served to foster the country’s radio and television’s contributions to national development in its socio-cultural and economic realms. Though broadcasting continues to maintain its traditional role as a government voice on national and international issues, its most defining functions as a guardian of national identity and a catalyst for economic development remain the most conspicuous.¹ Based on an empirical analysis of national identity expressions in UAE broadcast content (National Media Council 2010), we conclude that radio and television in the UAE have come some way in reflecting the nation’s social and cultural traditions. On the economic front, the privatization of formerly state-controlled broadcast operations and the rising diversification of finances for radio and television services suggest how far UAE broadcasters are going in enabling the development of a sustainable media industry.

Historical context: from radio in the 1960s to the media free zones in the 2000s

Though the first start of modern broadcasting in the UAE goes back to the early Federation era, the 1960s had witnessed the rise of numerous broadcasting operations. In 1962, a local radio station operated by the British authorities in Sharjah with the name Sawt Al Ashatie (Voice of the Beach) carried news and music to local communities in Sharjah and Dubai (Boyd 1999). In 1966, Abu Dhabi Radio was launched as the first official broadcast station in the country, to be followed in 1969 by Abu Dhabi Television (Boyd 1999). At that time, UAE-based populations had access to a wide range of regional and international radio broadcasts from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UK and others. Coffee shops in urban centres like Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah used to have big radio receivers tuned into news and music to attract customers and curious listeners. Outside the urban settings, radio listenership was rather low given the nomadic lifestyle of the desert where Bedouins roamed the land for water and grass (Tabour 2000).

The real start of broadcasting in the UAE dates back to the establishment of the seven-emirate Federation on 2 December 1971. All broadcasting outlets carried the title ‘UAE Broadcaster from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah’. At that time, the only pre-Federation broadcast transmissions were coming from Abu Dhabi (one black and white channel and one AM radio station). But with the institution of the UAE as an independent state, the need for more coherent and reliable broadcast operations was, more than ever before, a top priority on the nation’s agenda. The establishment of the Ministry of Information and Culture in 1971 furnished the umbrella for launching such services across the country. In 1972, Dubai had its first channel, followed some years later by the launch of Channel 33, a foreign programme outlet that, along with Abu Dhabi’s 2nd channel, sought to reach out to members of the large UAE expatriate community, mostly with English-language programming. In 1989, another television station was launched in Sharjah with mostly cultural programming. Radio broadcasting also witnessed substantive expansions in the 1970s and 1980s with the mushrooming of more broadcast outlets in other emirates transmitting on AM and Short Wave modes to local and regional audiences. In those two decades, an extensive terrestrial transmission network was established by the Ministry of Information and Culture to ensure full national coverage across the country (Ayish 2003a).

The most defining development phase of broadcasting in the UAE was in the early 1990s when new enhancements and expansions were introduced to the country’s broadcasting scene. In that period, UAE broadcasters based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, like their peers in the region, went international on satellite services with new programme genres, especially those drawing on entertainment. By the end of the 1990s, broadcasting in the UAE seemed to have been drifting towards more localization in institutional affiliation as federal broadcasting began to disappear. The launch of local broadcasting operations like Dubai Media Incorporated and Emirates Media Incorporated, both serving as umbrella organizations for numerous publications and radio and television services, was an important development in this regard. The 1990s also witnessed a growth in the number of local radio stations that, thanks to an advanced mobile telephony network, gave rise to live talkshows and entertainment programmes (Boyd 1999). But when the Ministry of Information and Culture was abolished in 2006 to be inherited by the current National Media Council (NMC),² the localization of broadcast operations (as opposed to federal) was already completed, leaving NMC with only media-regulatory functions. Abu Dhabi Media Company was established in 2005 to replace Emirates Media Inc. as a private media company with no institutional ties to the federal government. By the end of 2010, all broadcasting services in the UAE were operating as part of local government structures (Departments of Information or Independent media corporations) (Table 1.1).

The other significant feature of UAE-based broadcasting development appeared in 2002 with the launch of Dubai Media City (DMC) as the first media free zone in the country. DMC, operating as part of the Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority (TECOM Investments), plays host to hundreds of media operations, including radio and television services with regional and international publics like Al Arabiya channel, Al Hurra channel, Middle East Broadcasting Cen...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Notes On Contributors
• Introduction: a Return to the National Perspective
• 1 Broadcasting Transitions in the United Arab Emirates
• 2 Television Reform in Saudi Arabia: the Challenges of Transnationalization and Digitization
• 3 The Other Face of Qatari Tv Broadcasting
• 4 Reforming Egypt’s Broadcasting in the Post-25 January Era: the Challenges of Path Dependence
• 5 The Lebanese Broadcasting System: a Battle Between Political Parallelism, Commercialization and De-Facto Liberalism1
• 6 Syrian Television Drama: a National Industry in a Pan-Arab Mediascape1
• 7 ‘We Cannot Let It Loose’: Geopolitics, Security and Reform in Jordanian Broadcasting
• 8 Tunisian Media Under the Authoritarian Structure of Ben Ali’s Regime and After
• 9 Liberalization of the Moroccan Broadcasting Sector: Breakthroughs and Limitations
• 10 Libyan Broadcasting Under Al-Qadhafi: the Politics of Pseudo-Liberalization
• 11 Algerian Public Authorities in the Face of Transnational Media Competition: Between Status Quo and Deregulation
• 12 Towards a Supranational Analysis of Arab Media: the Role of Cities
• Conclusion
• Index