Free report in international satellite channels directed to the Arab region | Analytical study of a sample of free reports in the BBC Arabic and free channels

Abstract

This study is of some significance for various reasons, notably among them, is the nature of the free reports as broadcast by the satellite channels to the Arab region .These reports focus , to a large extent , on certain values and problems and exclude many others without any comments . Free reports appear on satellite channels whenever there is news silence or few events with little importance, as a result of which , editors begin to look for items to fill the gaps between the programmes. However, this arrangement is not accidental but intentional to achieve certain aims and objectives and rely on strategies with political, social , economic and cognitive implications . The problem of the study attempts to pose and answer some relevant questions: what are the yardsticks against which a free report is measured ? What are the topics or fields that become of interest to the free report ? Do these reports try to achieve some purposes outside the limits of the audience vision ? The study , through its theoretical context , defines free or variety TV report as a technical concept and explains how it differs from other types of reporting . The study also demonstrates its most important characteristics in the contemporary media and gives an outline of the cultural , political and social dimensions of a free report . Moreover , the study shows the role of the frame theory in drawing the features of a free report and its propaganda power . A qualitative analysis has been proposed for this type of study with the aim of coming up with accurate results that show the relation between a free report and the aims and objectives which satellite channels try to implant in the minds of the audience who watch them .Needless to say , TV news reports have become essential items in all broadcast programmes . They take various forms and shapes . There are news reports which cover the latest events and their developments . There are also reports which touch some deep-seated causes in the society and there are reports which shed a new light on some topics or problems about which we have no previous knowledge . This study deals mainly with free reports which give instruction as well as information and which contribute to promote broadcast journalism in general . It excludes all other news items on current events .