NYT: In War's Chaos, Iraq Finds Inspiration for Reality TV
"Reality TV could turn out to be the most durable Western import in Iraq." More
Posted by Matthew Burton on August 28, 2005 at 04:50 AM in Native media, New television, Television shows | Permalink | Comments (0)
Naguib's New Toy
Here is the link to the article in Egypt Today that Nahrain TV through the Egyptian holding company Hawwa was launched September 9 2004.
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on May 24, 2005 at 10:10 AM in New television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (176)
LA Times on Iraq's "entertainment renaissance"
After decades of government censorship and a two-year U.S. occupation, actors, filmmakers and television producers are embracing new artistic freedoms to tell stories about Iraqis -- before and after Saddam Hussein's overthrow -- for an increasingly housebound audience.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on May 9, 2005 at 10:00 PM in New television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (332)
What Happened to Hawa?
Almost a year ago, we included news on the creation of Hawa, an Egypt-based, Orascom-owned Iraqi television station. A reader recently wrote to point out that nothing has been mentioned about Hawa since then:
Do you know if the station planned by Orascom, Hawa, ever actually went on air? All I can find on the internet are stories saying that the launch was planned for June 2004, but as far as I can tell, it never actually happened...
She followed up with this:
They are registered as a licensee on the NCMC website with Jan 1, 2004 listed as their date of first broadcast. I suppose that just because they were granted a license doesn't mean they actually ever started broadcasting, and it's not clear from the site if this is a list of stations that have been granted licenses or stations that are actually broadcasting.
Has anyone heard more about Hawa?
Posted by Matthew Burton on March 28, 2005 at 11:16 PM in New television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (263)
IHT on Nahrain (Baghdad TV Channel)
A calmer voice comes to nascent Iraqi television scene
Nicola Clark
He may not seem like a revolutionary, but Mohammed Gohar is hoping to play a part in the transformation of Iraq's broadcasting landscape.
The 52-year-old founder of Video Cairo Sat, an Egyptian production company, Gohar plans to begin beaming Nahrain, a new Baghdad-based television channel, this month to millions of Iraqis who for decades knew only the strictly controlled dispatches of Saddam Hussein's propaganda machine.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 16, 2004 at 01:57 PM in Native media, New television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (136)
Beirut's Al-Safir on TV and radio landscapes
It has become common to launch a new television or radio station beamed to Iraqis every week, and so it is difficult to work out how many there are. However, despite the proliferation of stations, Iraqis still prefer satellite channels, which rank first in terms of the number of viewers, with some exceptions here and there.
Along with Al-Iraqiyah Channel, which is not very popular among Iraqis despite its excellent programme production, particularly the political programmes (five each week), Al-Sharqiyah channel, which is owned by the well-known media mogul Sa'd al-Bazzaz, was launched. Iraqis jokingly call this channel "Al-Ba'thiyah", although its viewers are increasing in number owing to its focus on satirical programmes that make fun of public and political life in Iraq. As for the newscasts, they are unreliable, owing to their repeated mistakes.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 4, 2004 at 02:17 PM in Media landscape, New television, Radio | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (124)
UK/Iraq: New satellite TV "Arabic News Broadcast" targets Iraq - BBC Monitoring Research
A new pan-Arab satellite TV channel, United Kingdom-based Arabic News Broadcast (ANB), has beamed test TV programmes from 1700-2000 gmt on the Hotbird 4, Eutelsat W1 and Nilesat satellites. The channel is reported to have four regional bureaus in the Middle East and is believed to be uplinked from Beirut.
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on July 1, 2004 at 11:05 AM in Middle East media, New television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (78)
BBC set to launch Arabic channel - Chris Tryhorn
The BBC is in talks about launching a 24-hour news channel broadcasting in Arabic across the UK, Europe and the Arab world.
Click here for the full article from Media Guardian.
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on June 25, 2004 at 11:22 AM in New television, Public diplomacy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (127)
BBC warned Arabic TV channel will be derided as propaganda - By Ian Burrell, Media Editor, The Independent
The BBC was warned last night that its plans to launch an Arabic television station would be met with suspicion by many in the Arab world.
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on June 25, 2004 at 11:11 AM in Middle East media, New television, Public broadcasting, Public diplomacy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (116)
Baghdad's favourite radio station gives residents a voice - Michael Howard
From a modest family house somewhere in a western Baghdad suburb, Radio Dijla is fighting crime, saving lives, and treating the emotional traumas of lovesick teenagers.
Unthinkable during the Saddam era, this is Iraq's first talk radio station. It is only a small commercial channel that has sprung up in the maelstrom of the capital, but has already struck a chord with residents.
Up to 18,000 callers a day try to contact the station - it only answers a fraction of that number - and it has become Baghdad's favourite.
Click here to view this Guardian article
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on June 10, 2004 at 05:01 PM in Native media, New television, Radio | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (94)
Tigris Tales: Real politics is replacing propaganda, thanks to our new-wave media. We even have satire now!
Click here to view Tigris Tales from the Guardian
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on May 26, 2004 at 05:34 PM in Al-Iraqiya/Iraqi Media Network, Alhurra, Native media, New television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (75)
Arabs are watching US TV channel Alhurra--survey Reuters
WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) - The controversial U.S. Arabic-language TV channel Alhurra is winning viewers as a news source in the Arab world despite rising anti-American attitudes in the region, according to a U.S.-financed poll released on Thursday.
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Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on April 29, 2004 at 02:19 PM in Alhurra, Middle East media, New television, Public diplomacy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (408)
Arabs in Control - by Joshua Hammer - Newsweek International
Networks: The official U.S. efforts to shape opinion on the Arab Street are also-rans in a growing competition between new Arabic TV stations.
Continue reading "Arabs in Control - by Joshua Hammer - Newsweek International"
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on April 20, 2004 at 03:06 PM in Al Arabiya, Aljazeera, Middle East media, New television, Press freedom | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (200)
Egyptian group to launch Iraq's first private national TV - Hawa (BBC Monitoring World Media)
A licence has been granted allowing an Egyptian consortium to launch the first privately owned national TV station in Iraq on 15 June, Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press reported on 13 April.
The Arabic-language TV station will be called Hawa, (meaning "air"). It will start by broadcasting six hours of news and entertainment programmes daily before going 24/7, said Hasan Abu al-Ala, the station's deputy manager and editor-in-chief.
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on April 15, 2004 at 11:28 AM in Middle East media, New television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (126)
