Netanyahu on speaking to the Arab Media

from Jerusalem Post:


Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will grant an interview to the Palestinian or pan- Arab media when the message he wants to convey may actually make a difference, government sources said this week.

These comments came after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas gave an interview to Channel 1 on Sunday evening, bringing his message directly to the Israeli people.

This is the third time Abbas has brought his message into Israeli living rooms in recent months. The PA President was interviewed by Channel 2 in April, and in July, briefed print journalists. And now, this latest an interview with Channel 1.

In contrast, even though standing requests have been made to the Prime Minister’s Office by numerous Palestinian and Pan-Arabic outlets – including from networks like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya – no decision has yet been made by Netanyahu to grant any of them an interview.

An internal discussion was held on the matter “of late,” according to one source, but the discussions haven’t yet “come to fruition.”

Netanyahu heard the Abbas interview, and during a meeting with the Likud faction the following day said, “I must say that I prefer to talk to him face-to-face. This interview took place seven minutes from here. A direct conversation can advance the resolution of the conflict.”

When Abbas wants to address the Israeli public he knows that if he interviews with one of the Israeli stations he will have a significant audience. But this is not the case if Netanyahu wants to address the Palestinians, since the Palestinian Authority television news is not widely viewed, certainly less than Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera.

The Arab media is not the only media outlet that has failed to secure an interview with Netanyahu. The prime minister has given only a few in-depth interviews to the Israeli media since taking power in March 2009. And for the first time in recent memory, this year no Rosh Hashana interview was granted.

On Sunday, Netanyahu gave a brief interview to Army Radio to mark its 60th anniversary, but mostly gave his personal reminiscences of the radio station; the PM made little mention of the weighty issues facing the country.

Saudi Men Watch too much TV

Saudi males are lazy, eat too much junk food and spend too much time in front of the television, an Arab health and nutrition expert has said.

Dr Abdullah Musaiqir, head of the Arab Centre for Nutrition, warned of increasing obesity in the Gulf states, and particularly Saudi Arabia, and cited a Saudi study showing that more than 53 percent of Saudi males live a “lethargic lifestyle”.

Only 20 percent of Saudi males were described as leading a healthy lifestyle and engaging in activities that helped keep them in good physical shape, reported Saudi Gazette on Wednesday.

Twenty seven percent were described by the study as having a “partially active” lifestyle, Musaiqir told the paper.

Parents, he said, should cut down on TV watching time for both themselves and their children, and to remove television sets from dining rooms and bedrooms.

Musaiqir said the first steps towards promoting a healthier lifestyle should come with awareness programmes conducted throughout the Gulf with media involvement, and that school and university curricula should be improved to address issues of nutrition and public health.

(from http://www.arabianbusiness.com)

Various Arab media news

Dear Blog followers,

Sorry for not updating the blog, but we have been busy preparing reports and studies on the Lebanese elections, Obama's visit and Ahmadinejad's relection.

Here is some of the "best" you missed this last period:

1) Rotana Music finally moved out of Beirut, destination...Egypt (we had announced Amman); it turns out Jordan was indeed in the short list, but Egypt was finally selected as Rotana already broadcasts some programs from there.

2) Lebanon's Al Akhbar announced that LBC's Pierre EL Daher and Walid Ben Talal had a fallout(to be followed)

3) CNN was voted the "favorite news channel" by a panel of Arab voters (from the top earners) followed by BBC, Jazeera, CNBC and then Euronews (Study by Sinofit)

4 ) The Arab Media Forum was held this year. We attended the debates in Dubai. I have to say it was quite interesting. Especially when Arabiya's Nabil El Khatib faced Jazeera's Ahmed El Sheikh and BBC Arabic team; to discus the Gaza war coverage. Debates were heated as to the content of the coverage. Unfortunately, the content experts that Comtrax Solutions is, we did not have time to provide the necessary data to show scientifically how the coverage was.

The future of TV in the Arab world

This is my (modest) opinion on the future of Arab TV in the Arab world.

The Arab TV landscape is rapidly changing, and within 5 years we will probably be facing the following scenario.

Two or three major media groups competing in the Free to Air (and probably entering the Pay TV) market. Currently Rotana and MBC are these two major groups.
Each will propose a number of TV channels to their viewers (general entertainment, sports, news, music etc...) thus combining advertising sales.

Three or four groups that will compete with lesser channels, but with one or two key TV programs. Media groups controlling Abu Dhabi TV and Dubai TV will be the leaders in this category.

To service these powerhouses, a concentration in production companies will probably follow. The Arab market can probably sustain 4 to 5 major groups. The financial of production companies are quite complicated, and in front of large clients (MBC vs Rotana for ex) only cash ready production houses will survice.

Media agency representatives will probably stop being the major players they are today in the TV landscape. Large groups such as MBC and Rotana will end up having their own internal media rep agencies (currently MBC is with CHoueiri group and Rotana has its inhouse Rotana Media Services) External agencies will continue to strive on the number of smaller channels and medium sized players.

Audience research (currently controlled by market leader Ipsos) will need to change. The large media groups will have mor epower than the Ipsos like companies. They might at one point decide to build their own joint research tool (or outsource it to companies such as Ipsos)
The future of the audience research will be to manage to combine out of home TV watching with in home traditional TV.

More integration is expected between Media and Telecom firms. Each might enter the market of the other (very long term) but eventually, Telecom firms are to media groups what supermarkets are to Coca Cola.

414 Arab Satellite TV Channels

The Arab Broadcasting Union announced last week that there was 414 Arab satellite TV Channels, of which:

• 63 Governmental channels
• 126 Generalists
• 76 Music channels
• 53 "drama" channels
• 45 Sports channels
• 25 Business economy channels
• 21 news channels
• 21 children channels
• 15 cultural channels
• 6 religious channels
• 3 tourism channels