74. Name: Hasnaa Hussein Title: Women in the Public Arena: The Situation of Female Programme Presenters in Arab TV Channels in Five Countries: Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Qatar and UAE Institution: Lebanese University Country: Lebanon Date: 2011 Language: Arabic Abstract: This study analyzes the increasing number of female presenters following the satellite television revolution in the Arab world. This revolution renewed the debate on the participation of women in media. The study examines the involvement of women in news broadcasting and its contribution to improving their professional and social status. It focuses on the leading role of Al Jazeera, which paved the way for the proliferation of professional news media. Al Jazeera opened the doors for female reporters to compete in a traditionally male-monopolized field. This includes war reporting and talk show presenting. Other channels found themselves compelled to follow this example and give more space to female presenters and reporters, hoping to increase their viewership. Arab satellite television has certainly contributed to reshaping the Arab media scene as the number of professional female increased and started to redefine the concept of “appearance of Arab females” and “gender relations”, not only in media but also in society. In this respect, the different positions of female presenters in the social, political and media contexts of each of the five studied cases has been analyzed.
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