By IPS Correspondents
DUBAI, May 23 2007 (IPS)

A semi-governmental media company in this most vibrant of Middle East cities is feverishly working on the much-anticipated launch of ‘Arabiya MTV’.

It is unclear what the multi-million dollar MTV Networks International, owned by the media conglomerate Viacom, and the Arab Media Group (AMG), the movers behind MTV Arabiya, will do for the entertainment market.

Set to broadcast in the second half of this year, MTV Arabiya has remained tight-lipped about what their programming will be like. Company officials would not answer questions about whether their programming would dabble in social and political topics considered taboo in the culturally and religiously conservative Middle East.

The sensitivity is so high that company officials first agreed to be interviewed and then insisted that nothing disclosed could be publicised.

However, in a subsequent e-mail, MTV Arabiya’s chief marketing officer, Patrick Samaha, said the channel’s programming will consist not only of music, videos, music-based programming, general lifestyle, comedy and animated programmes, but also reality shows, news specials, interviews and documentaries.

It is in the developing and under-developed countries of the Middle East, Asia and former Soviet republics that the media phenomenon called ‘glamour factor’ has emerged.

In Egypt, a television host recently used her show to talk about prostitution, a subject so taboo than no mainstream newspaper or magazine dares tackle it.

What the term ‘glamour factor’ means is debatable but it generally refers to the concept of using males and females with ramp model looks or those with celebrity status – a la Oprah Winfrey and Tyra Banks – to discuss social (and political) issues that mainstream media cannot or will not touch.

British actress and TV celebrity Chantel Shafie believes that the phenomenon in the East is different from that in the West. “I have never heard of the term ‘glamour media’ before. We just don’t have that. Entertainment media, yes. But I think what they call glamour media is simply the use of celebrities to discuss things because they do not have press freedom,” she told IPS over telephone.

Whatever the definition, media analysts believe that this new trend could be both beneficial as well as detrimental to mainstream journalism.

‘’I guess every society has its own different definition of what ‘glamour media’ are but I think we do have a situation that pop media, glamour TV, and reality shows have taken over to a large extent,” said Jim Laurie, a veteran American journalist and a broadcast professor at the University of Hong Kong. “Gone are the days when you could count on (TV) network stations to routinely provide serious documentaries, for example,” he said in a telephone interview.

The shift from “serious” mainstream news coverage to television entertainment programming that often concentrates on music videos and uses the talk show format is happening generally for two reasons, according to analysts and practitioners – economics and politics.

“In television you cannot make money from news and serious programming so stations have moved to the entertainment platform where they can use interactive format, get the public involved, and make money,” said Roland Daou, a producer with the UAE-based Infinity TV, an Arabic language private TV network.

Interactive programmes allow audiences to either call in or send mobile phone text messages. Phone services and TV stations would then share the revenue. Advertisers also pay much higher rates for programmes watched by more people. The formula has catapulted programmes such as ‘Star Academy’ and ‘American Idol’ into international hits.

Some observers believe Russian media are leaning the same way – by necessity if not by choice.

Alexandra Shegay, editor of the Russian-version of Esquire magazine in Kazakhstan, said several glossy magazines in the former Soviet republics, including her own, often mix glossy production with articles tackling serious political issues.

“We have published a number of articles that mainstream media might not be able to publish these days in this part of the world. For example, we have printed articles on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that have been quite critical. We can cover issues from a different angle that would give the information but not raise eyebrows,” she said.

The United States and several human rights and non-governmental organisations have criticised the Russian leader for trying to limit freedom of expression and the media.

Kseniya Sobchak, who has become a household celebrity in Russia for her reality TV shows, says it is perfectly fine to make use of ‘celebrity’ and ‘glamour’ beyond entertainment.

“I don’t see any contradiction between having a glamorous person (on TV) discussing serious social and political issues,” she said at the Eurasia Media Forum in Kazakhstan in April. “Who said if you are beautiful you cannot talk about AIDS or the homeless?”

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