Wednesday, September 27, 2023 – 11:45 PM
Dubai, September 27 / WAM / The closing day of the Arab Media Forum hosted a dialogue between journalist Abdullah Al-Mudaifer from Rotana Khalijiya Channel, and journalist Rabaa Al-Zayat from Al-Jadeed TV, about talk shows, the consumption habits of the Arab recipient and viewer, the content he prefers, and the programs he aspires to that discuss his issues. And the details of his daily life.
The session also discussed how young people are attracted to media content, and are influenced by the content shown on television, digital platforms, or social media networks.
Abdullah Al-Mudaifer reviewed the history of talk shows in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since the seventies until social media platforms entered the line of producing content that suits various segments of society.
He pointed out that Saudi talk shows went through many stages and witnessed great development, starting with important talk programs presented by Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Shubaili, hosting important figures, but those programs were characterized by an “official character” and did not reach the masses of people in the desired manner due to the official language used in the dialogue.
Al-Mudaifer pointed out the failure of talk shows to reach large segments of followers in the Kingdom during the eighties and nineties, as this period witnessed the emergence of the stage of the star broadcaster, and the increase in the popularity of news presenters who were presenting some weak talk shows in addition to presenting news periods, where language was used. Elitist and not understood by the general public, until talk shows entered a new phase in the year 2002 with the school of journalist Turki Al-Dakhil, who moved talk shows to another stage of development with his move to the “Al-Arabiya” channel, with a journalistic background and an easy language that reached people and achieved talk shows with it. Quantum leap.
Al-Mudaifer pointed out that the ceiling of talk shows had risen, with Saudi channels covering the local football league, and the emergence of sports talk shows that were able to bring people together around a sports meal that conveyed the pulse of the sports street, until the vocational school appeared, which did not get its chance until the emergence of Rotana channels, which began presenting Real talk shows covering daily issues of society.
The Saudi media also pointed to the tremendous development in talk shows with the emergence of social media platforms, and the entry of a group of talented Saudis into creating media content and talk shows, so that with the emergence of podcast platforms, it became a daily product provided to all segments of Saudi society.
– The Lebanese experience.
For her part, the journalist Rabaa Al-Zayat reviewed the development of Lebanese talk shows since the beginning of the seventies, with the bold dialogues presented by the first generation of Lebanese media professionals, including Laila Rostom and Sonia Beiruti, until Lebanon entered the war phase and the media work was completely directed to cover its events, noting the entry of the media A new phase in the 1990s with the reconstruction period, and the prosperity of Future TV, Lebanese Television, and Al-Jadeed, pointing to the tremendous boom that accompanied that period in terms of dazzling images and great production capabilities.
Al-Zayat touched on the status of the Lebanese media on the Arab level, and the strength of its content, the advancement of artistic, directing, and even financial capabilities, and the emergence of powerful talk shows, including: “Al-Layl Al-Maftah,” “Stay at Home,” “Sira wa Fatfatahat,” and many other programs that… It achieved great fame and popularity at the local and Arab levels.
Rabaa Al-Zayat pointed out that talk shows entered a dark tunnel of lack of production with Lebanon entering the stage of partisan channels that are used politically to express and promote the political positions of parties, in addition to the economic crisis that affected Lebanese television production, while the ingenuity of media professionals and Lebanese appeared in maintaining the quality of content using Less possibilities.
It is noteworthy that the Arab Media Forum focused in this session on a group of basic topics, the most important of which is the impact of technology on the media, especially artificial intelligence, and media elites from various parts of the Arab world participated in the dialogue, where opinions varied about the opportunities and challenges that technological development brings, while The speakers agreed on the need to be well prepared for the proper use of technology to take advantage of the opportunities and challenges that it will bring, while the largest event of its kind in the Arab media arena continues its approach of keeping pace with the most important topics related to the field of media work and the surrounding developments affecting its development process, and the forum’s keenness To establish a dialogue aimed at pushing Arab media forward and bringing its outputs to the highest levels of excellence.
Ahmed Al-Boutli
