DOHA: After Lebanon, Qatar has the second largest number of people who prefer to watch news on television channels than entertainment programmes, according to a survey conducted by the Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) whose results were released yesterday.
The six-nation survey, entitled ‘Entertainment Media Use in the Middle East’, was conducted in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. According to officials, 6,035 face-to-face interviews were held as part of the study.
In the category called ‘News as a favourite genre of TV, Lebanon has come on top with 51 percent of respondents preferring to watch news than other genres on TV followed by Qatar (44 percent). It’s also interesting to note that in Qatar, news (42 percent) is the most popular form of online entertainment, followed by comedy (39 percent).
While Arabic is by far the most frequently used language for watching TV, Qatar (39 percent) has the highest percentage of nationals who watch TV in English, followed closely by Saudi Arabia (38 percent), the UAE (25 percent), Lebanon (19 percent), Tunisia (10 percent) and Egypt (two percent).
The survey was conducted in partnership with Doha Film Institute (DFI) from January 27 through February 26 this year with nationally representative samples of adults aged 18 or over who answered questions on a wide range of topics, including the role of entertainment media in their lives and related cultural attitudes.
Qatar has the lowest percentage of nationals who watch TV programmes produced in their own country. Only 51 percent of Qataris in the survey watch Qatar-produced programmes compared to Egypt (100 percent), Lebanon (98 percent), Tunisia (98 percent), the UAE (94 percent) and KSA (88 percent). This is perhaps because fewer programmes originate in Qatar.
A high percentage of Qataris and Arab expats want to see more entertainment based on their culture and history. And 83 percent of Qataris and 82 percent of Arab expats want more entertainment covering their culture and history or prefer to watch films that portray their culture (78 percent of Qataris and 76 percent of Arab expats). The study also revealed Qatar has the highest percentage of nationals (94 percent) who agree that more should be done to preserve cultural traditions. “What we see from these numbers is a growing demand for locally generated entertainment. The findings reinforce the idea that nurturing a thriving, creative industry in our region is vital to enable the creation of content that reflects Arab culture,” said Abdulaziz Al Khater, CEO, DFI.
The study revealed 65 percent of residents in six Arab countries want more content portraying their culture and history, while 66 percent say people benefit from watching content from different parts of the world. Over 70 percent region-wide want greater regulation of romantic and violent content. While 79 percent of respondents feel that more should be done to preserve cultural traditions, 70 percent agree that more should be done to integrate their cultures into modern society. “These apparently contradictory findings really are not, but reflect how the Arab world is coping with globalisation and grappling to preserve local culture,” said Everette E. Dennis, Dean and CEO, NU-Q. “Understanding cultural attitudes around entertainment is as important to industry leaders and policymakers as viewership and other audience figures.” Residents in Qatar generally support censorship and regulation of certain entertainment content. Nearly all Qataris feel content should be deleted, or whole programmes banned, if some find them offensive (91 percent and 89 percent). Over eight in 10 Qataris agree that violent and romantic content should be tightly regulated (85 percent and 84 percent) and that government oversight helps produce quality entertainment (81 percent). Arab expats express similar opinions. Asian expats also express strong agreement with regulation and censorship, but not to the same degree as Qataris. Residents are more into print media for entertainment compared with those in other countries as eight in 10 Qatar residents read newspapers compared with two-thirds overall. With regard to social media, Qataris are more likely to use Instagram (46 percent) than Twitter (37 percent) and Facebook (36 percent).The Peninsula
