“Dandana TV has been one of the fastest growing channels in the United States and Canada. Dandana TV's hip approach to the Middle Eastern culture through pop music, lifestyle programming and entertainment has made Dandana TV the one and only channel to reach the untapped Middle Eastern market as well as the viewers that want to be in the know on the real Middle East.”
The channel has a format that is very similar to those found on other networks that focus on popular culture such as MTV, BET and Mun2. The stations lineup has a variety of shows that include Top Ten, a countdown of popular Middle Eastern music and news, Mobasher Ma3a Amr which offers a reflection of the lives of Middle Easterners and ALO Dandna Show which is a game show focused on entertainment trivia among others.
In what ways can we view this television network in a post-9/11 era? One of the more obvious ways is the greater visibility of Arab Americans on a national scope. However with an continuously negative focus on the Middle East region Dandana TV seems to fill in a void that the news networks have left open, positive representations of Arab Americans at home as well as abroad. The network not only serves this purpose but it is also an affirmation of an important consumer base that had previously been ignored.
One show of particular interest is Arab American Beat, which features events happening around the country ranging from local community events to interviews with popular Arab and Arab American artists. The premise of the show, according to the networks site is “Education through Entertainment.” Beyond its educational value though, we can see something perhaps more significant than its intentions in what Edward Said has called the Globalization of Capital. Said’s idea of the globalization of capital argues that there is a weakening of boundaries between cultures and societies due to the motion of people, ideas, products and many other things. This weakening of boundaries then stipulates that the differences we perceive between ourselves and others are only not inherent but they are also diminishing. Arab American Beat perhaps best demonstrates this because it focuses on popular artists that perform in Arabic, yet the production is usually done here in the United States. This inevitably carries some influence over into the work of the artists. In an interview with a rising artist called Zindiali, she discusses how even though her newest music video is sung in Arabic, it was filmed in Miami with the help of a Latino director. The Latino director had only previously worked on music videos with reggaeton artists. The experience of just one artist demonstrates how interconnected the media industry has become. What this means, then, for those who consume these products is that they are actively participating in the globalization of capital.
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