Audiovisual Media Entertainment in the GCC: Similarities and Differences

Table of Contents

Abstract 3

1. Introduction. 4
2. Theory. 8

2.1 Theoretical Framework of Audiovisual media entertainment production impacts. 8

2.2 Literature overview / state if the art of research in “Audiovisual media entertainment production”. 18

2.3 Literature overview / state if the art of research in “small states”. 63

Political and Legal Issues. 66

Cultural Issues. 70

Impact of Religion. 75

Technological Impact 76

Key Issues in the GCC Small states. 78

3. Adapted theoretical framework of audiovisual media entertainment production impacts in small states (including peculiarities of small states) 81
4. Description of GCC states (histories, economies etc) 87

Historical Accounts. 87

Economic Issues. 91

Cultural Factors. 101

Legal issues. 107

Technological Issues. 108

5. Adapted theoretical framework of audiovisual media entertainment production impacts in the GCC states (including peculiarities of small states) 109
6. Audiovisual media entertainment production impacts in the GCC states (empirical part according to the model). 118

6.1 Comparison of the six GCC states. 119

6.2 In-depth analysis of each of the six countries. 157

Kuwait 157

Bahrain. 162

Qatar 166

Saudi Arabia. 172

Oman. 173

The United Arab Emirates. 178

References. 191

Abstract

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a political and economic alliance of six Middle East countries in which entertainment production has experienced some growth and development as these countries’ economies develop. The entertainment production industry in the GCC region, is tied to the identities and cultures of the peoples that occupy the GCC. These identities have been shaped by a complex interplay between political, cultural, and socioeconomic events in the specific regions that have to be identified as member states of the council.

This study adopts a theoretical framework that captures various trends in entertainment production of the GCC countries to decipher the economic, political, legal, cultural, and technological influences that have characterized entertainment production in the GCC. Unique among GCC states, the UAE has been known as to be a haven for creative opportunity, legal and political freedom, cultural openness, technological advances, and financial support, all of which contribute to the growth of its entertainment production. However, significant challenges still remain in that initiatives to make entertainment a national priority still lag behind. The study explores elements of economic, political, cultural, legal, and technological factors that influence audiovisual media entertainment production in GCC. The GCC has 5 small states, and as such, the study also establishes a context for examining media entertainment in small states based on the framework and also compares the phenomenon in all the six GCC states.

Keywords: entertainment production, GCC, cultural, economic, religious, political, legal, and technological opportunities and challenges, the UAE.

1.     Introduction

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was established in 1981 and is a political and economic alliance of six Middle Eastern countries; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. The purpose of this Paper is to discuss trends in the development of the entertainment production industry in GCC. Attention is given to the political, cultural, economic, and technological facets that have influenced this development.

Figure 1: Map of the GCC.

The GCC entertainment industry has experienced long-term development. This development has been influenced by the availability of supportive factors that will be explored here. The industry encompasses all forms of media entertainment including art and all other forms of entertainment that are aimed at bringing pleasure and fun to people during their leisure times. Today, the media industry (TV, radio, film industry, etc.) together with a wide range of entertainment facilities is developing at a fast pace, much affected by the forces of globalization. It has the potential of influencing the lives of people at an extraordinary scale and determining the general development of a whole nation. The smaller states of the GCC have been paying significant attention to this fact. As a result, they have handled their media in a manner that has influenced the current status of the GCC entertainment media on the global entertainment scene. The smaller states of the GCC have been experienced developments that have empowered them to make independent decisions on how they handle their entertainment media. As such, the notion that is created by the “small states” label does not hold to be true beyond geographical area coverage of these states.

The GCC media entertainment production has a high-potential of supplying satisfactory content to its audience. The member countries of the council have interesting histories through which their compositional populations have acquired a rich diversity in culture and taste for entertainment. The countries have also embarked on lucrative development plans and most of them are already experiencing some level of achievement. The need to sustain these developments is an inevitable requirement for the stability of all the GCC states. Many multidisciplinary factors come into play when this need is considered. Indeed, the social welfare and general life satisfaction levels of the GCC people is one of these factors. The entertainment industry contributes to this factor and as such, it is important for the general development of the GCC. The researcher hereby envisions a development potential that lies in the GCC media entertainment production with regard to the available resources. The GCC media is examined under a comprehensive theoretical framework to explore trends that have influenced its development to the status quo.

Core Definitions:

The entertainment industry consists of all those providing entertainment through means like radio, television, films and theater. Thus, terms like show business industry, film industry, or movie industry, generally grouped in media are in use. Media is a wide term that includes various mass communication channels to disseminate news, entertainment, education or data. It includes broadcasting, newspapers, publications, TV, radio, and various communication means.

Leisure is the free time spent away from work, engagement or any chores. On the other hand, Oxford Dictionaries (2015) defines entertainment as an activity of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment. The Free Dictionary (2015), on the other hand, terms it as the art or field of entertaining by way amusing or pleasing people through a performance or show.

2. Theory

2.1 Theoretical Framework of Audiovisual media entertainment production impacts.

Creativity industries have emerged as a new source of revenue in oil-based economies that are undergoing diversification attempts. This has been inspired by the obvious impact of creativity on the international marketplace. Entertainment is huge industry all over the world. Some of the richest well-known individuals are professionals in various forms of entertainment. It is also one of the industries that naturally emerge as an economy develops. However, the industry does not develop in a vacuum. It is supported and influenced by fundamental aspects that characterize the populations of these economies; culture and religion being the most conspicuous ones.

Considering all the factors, the researcher has developed a comprehensive theoretical framework aimed at explaining the diverse impacts on entertainment production.  These include economic, political, legal, cultural, religion-related and technological influences in an interconnected manner as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Theoretical Framework

The core elements of the theoretical framework shall form the basis on which media entertainment production in the GCC states is examined. The theoretical framework is hereby explores as follows:

2.1.1 Economic

The entertainment media is affected by economic factors in many dimensions. The level of economic development of a country has been shown to relate to the ability of people to access media entertainment services. Similarly, the media has been shown to possess the potential of influencing economic performance of a country. Countries use the entertainment media to run their public relations campaigns. This is essential for promoting specific economic agenda and maintaining internal peace. Some sectors of the economy like tourism demand for rigorous advertising and promotions through the entertainment media. People also rely on the media to provide them with critical information on how they can access various opportunities in the economy. This applies to both developed and developing economies. As such, for countries to score high on equitability indicators, an active independent media is needed.  An active media therefore determines the level of success that may be attained in various sectors of the economy.

There is always an economic angle to the production of entertainment media content. Media economics is an emerging discipline that focuses on the way media production is affected by the availability of resources, regulations on how these resources can be accessed, their value, how they are managed, and the ultimate value that is obtained out of them (Fog, 2013). Under this discipline, the multiple relationships between the media and economics have been unveiled. Issues such as the role of the media in influencing sections of the economy, the sources of revenue for the media and the economic justification of competitive advertising, and the role of the media in driving economic diversity have been explored. For instance, it has been shown that; the media is often indifferent on the objectivity of advertisements. It is unable to regulate the interests of advertisers (Napoli 1999). The current state of technological developments has also increased competition in production to an extent that requires producers to pay a lot of attention to ways by which they can profit from their content. The number of content producers has also increased tremendously. Such technologies as satellite transmission has increased the ability of broadcasters to transmit their content over vast distances. As a result, the local producers of entertainment in any locale have to deal with a lot more competition from various producers. The production and distribution costs of content in such forms as films has increased (Wasko, 2008). Producers have to secure their ventures by assessing the market viability of content in order to avoid making losses. They also need to attract partners and investors in order to maintain profitable operations. The availability of adequate financial resources can also enhance access to talent. The ability to pay performers, artists, producers, and other professionals determines their level of motivation. It also determines their willingness to spare adequate time towards a project, and this could directly influence the quality of the final content. The costs of producing content also varies from one country to another. This depends on the existing taxation principles, the availability of infrastructure and technology among many other factors.

Some studies on the effects of the media on economies have shown how the press can drive popular ideas with the potential of causing significant shifts in economic trends (Guo & Chauvet, 2003). The researchers have associated the global economic downturns of the 90s to public sentiment that was created by the media. The reports that were made over the performance of economies led to a decline in consumer confidence. Information that is spread through the media can also impact on the market value of stocks, lead to consumer boycotts, increase preference for various products, among many other effects. Some countries that have enacted strict media regulation laws cite the importance to ward off negative publicity that could harm their economies.

2.1.2 Technology

Technology has improved access to media entertainment. Media entertainment has also been shown to be a motivating factor for people to acquire various technologies.  Digital distribution of content in art, music, and other forms of entertainment has led to the transformation of global markets. It has changed the perception of the “target consumer” as audiences have been integrated by communication networks. It has also improved consumer privacy in a way that can make it difficult for producers and distributers to evaluate markets. The most important effects of technology in media production are related to the increase in resource-utilization efficiency, and improvement in the distribution of content. Producers can now access low-end markets without losing much value for their content (OECD, 2005).

Each entertainment medium has experienced some level of technological advancement. As a result, the speed and quality at which content can be delivered has increased. The recent developments in media technology has especially improved the quality of content that is delivered using images, sound, and text. Audio-visual technology stands out to be the most effective blend of these technologies in the current media production. Computer technologies have enabled broadcasters to deliver video content in formats that can be displayed on a wider range of devices. As such, people have gained more convenience in accessing media content. Content sharing is another feature that technology has added to the entertainment production industry. Producers can initiate the distribution of their content by sharing it just as consumers do among themselves upon receiving the content. Computer technology has also been advanced to aid in tracking the rates at which content is shared on networked devices. This helps them to determine the level of popularity of their content. Networked devices also provide content distributers with legal means for accessing consumer privacy. When this information is required, consumer consent is needed to establish tracks that can be used to determine patterns in content consumption.

Technology has changed the traditional conceptualization of producer-consumer relationships in entertainment production. Consumers now take part in the production of content more frequently than they did before. They can record raw content on mobile computer devices and submit the raw content to media houses for processing and distribution. They can also share the content directly without having to process it. In countries that have high media censorship, consumers utilize networked technology in helping to improve access to information. This has also helped them to circumvent undesirable media regulation in some countries. However, issues of legitimacy and authenticity of information may also arise. This happens when consumers use these technologies to produce or share inappropriate information. Criminals may also use media technologies to create damaging information on persons, companies, and other institutions. As such, the regulation and monitoring of the use of media technologies has become difficult to achieve whenever large populations are involved.

2.1.3 Culture

Culture is a central factor in media entertainment production. It is tied to both the economic factors that influence the availability and access to entertainment content as well as the availability of a market for various forms of entertainment. The culture of people is composed of the various activities that they create and carry out frequently. It entirely depends on the availability of various resources that can facilitate these activities. Such resources vary widely and may include; availability of an adequate population size, availability of means of communication, and the availability of other support structures for practicing and maintaining the culture. Cultures thrive best in non-conflict zones and in well-performing economies. Cultures can also develop to bring faster returns than other areas of an economy. For instance, the European Union cultural and creative sector grew by 12.3% faster than its overall economic growth (European Commission, 2007). As such, countries that are able to tap the potential of their people’s cultures can experience growth in their incomes.

It has also been shown that; cultural development occurs faster in an environment where positive attitudes are prioritized in the sharing of information and creation of an identity (Brodie, 1996). Positive cultural elements are less likely to cause conflicts as people do not have to defend them against other cultures. This fact is more evident in the constant conflicts that are observed between cultures that hold onto opposing conceptualization of morals, religion, wealth, and other aspects of human livelihood. As a result cultures that share ideologies in more areas of their people’s lives tend to coexist better than those that have little in common.

The media has such an immense potential to influence cultures. This explains the tight media regulations by regimes that have been founded on extremist cultural ideologies. Similarly, the media is constantly influenced by culture. People impose their norms and values to others by seeking to share information on these norms and values. The media brings people together to create a virtual unification voice over issues in the society. As such, a biased media could create serious divisions between people of different cultures. The media also highlights issues that threaten cultures in order to sustain these cultures. This role can also be abused if the media loses objectivity in its reporting or when it fails to identify the rightful sources of influence that are affecting a given culture.

2.1.4 Religion

Religion is another factor that determines people’s choice of entertainment (Meyer & Moors, 2005). In the Arab world, it is even more influential to the choices that governments make for their people with regard to the forms of entertainment that can be made available to them. The entertainment media has always faced the risk of attracting criticism whenever it disregards people’s religious believes. It may also prove difficult to take care of the religious beliefs of people while broadcasting to a diverse audience. Resultantly, religion is one the most complex subjects in media freedom. Some people may not be tolerant to the beliefs of others and they would react negatively to media content that tends to promote such beliefs (Lincoln, 2003). In most cases, people use religion to conceptualize the ultimate punishment that others deserve in case they deviate from their preferred beliefs. This problem has become a global phenomenon as it is being used in the media by terrorist religious extremist groups. Media outlets in some parts of the world also have to deal with issues of censorship and self-censorship in broadcasting issues that touch on religion. Unlike culture, some religious issues are almost untouchable when it comes to criticism. Such conditions are usually set by the audience or an agency that represents their interests in a given belief.

To broadcast entertainment content peacefully in areas that are characterized by religious intolerance, the media may tend to “confess” the existing beliefs (Schulz, 2006). As such, such content may create serious controversies when it is extended to an audience that does not hold onto the beliefs in question. Even worse, if the media expresses indifference or attempts to stay neutral amid contending beliefs, each side will often feel like they’re losing the argument. This makes the issue of religion to be an even more complicated one for media broadcasters that reside in multi-religious populations.

2.1.5 Legal

Media freedom is a contemporary issue in the entertainment industry. Laws exist in every country to influence the ability of the media to operate, how the media operates, what it produces, and how the produced content is distributed to the consumers. In some countries, these laws are designed to create a free or independent media. Other countries design these laws in a way that will limit the various freedoms of the media. The needs of a country with regards to media freedom depend on many factors. The most common factor is the interests of the government with regard to media freedom (Skjerdal, 2010). Developments that have been achieved in the area of press freedom have led to recommendations suggesting that; a free media is good for all nations. Fundamentally, the freedom of expression is an undeniable human right and the recommendations are based on this precinct.  Nations that fail to allow a free media to thrive are likely to be already having other human rights violations going on in their interior. In some cases, countries impose restrictions on media freedoms in order to take a political stand that opposes that of a rival nation.

The amount of content that is obtained by consumers from local media outlets and that which they can access from international media outlets may indicate the level of freedom that is being experienced by their local media. Some governments focus on censoring both local and international sources of information. Other governments may censor just one of them, while others may not censor any of them. Political control has come to be the most popular reason of media censorship. The events of the Arab spring presented an exemplary test to various GCC governments on just how much censorship they can impose on their media to ward off foreign political ideologies.

2.2 Literature overview / state if the art of research in “Audiovisual media entertainment production”.

Globalization and rapid technological developments have also made the entertainment industry to occupy a significant position in the daily lives of people. Information if flowing at a faster rate than it did, and people are also exploiting entertainment platforms to voice their opinions on various issues that affect their countries. As such, politics and entertainment have become inseparable in a way that makes some countries to reconsider their policies with regard to media freedoms. This leads to the legal aspects that affect the media entertainment production in various countries. This close association between the economy of a country, people’s culture and religious beliefs, technology, and politics forms the theoretical framework for this paper.

Research evidence suggests that creative industry development has undergone a series of changes and developments. The creative industry has now become commercialized, art and creativity is inseparably connected with commerce, and these are increasingly subject to the impact of technology, culture, politics, and legal frameworks of the states concerned as well as economy. As Deuze (2007) points out, the creative industry-related research is not just confined to analyzing how consumers of entertainment content receive it but is extended to positioning media production in the contexts of political economy. The creative industry research is focused on the ways in which media industries reinforce people’s social identities as producers and consumers of media contents, and the responses of consumers revealing the resistance to, or enforcement of power relationships.

Townley, Beech, and McKinlay (2009) investigated the issues concerning creative industries and realized that they have particular significance in the political economy. They concluded that the management in creative industries should pay attention not only to the production issues but also to the role of consumption. They recommend that the intellectual, social and cultural capital embodied in the field should be researched.

Jones, Comfort, Eastwood, and Hillier (2004) conducted similar research and grouped cultural, commercial, and industrial variables to characterize the notion of creative industry. They also recognized the role that the government plays in the promotion of creative industries, and emphasized its positive contribution to the economic development and growth of the state. The key idea they pursued in their study was to pay more attention to the management challenges, support, and promotion initiatives that should be developed in theory and practice to strengthen and enforce the position of creative industry in the economic profile of any state.

Though research on entertainment industry has considerably intensified, there are still major gaps and inconsistencies in the theoretical framework of considering the creative industry. Altmeppen, Lantzsch, and Will (2007) indicated in their study that there is little knowledge on entertainment acquisition and production, specifically in the international format trade, though the commercial value of this field is indeed high. The researchers defined format trade as the process including the stages of creating, distributing, producing, reproducing, and broadcasting various media entertainment programs. Altmeppen et al. (2007) researched the ways in which various creative industry stakeholders create the flowing organizational networks and found that the situational requirements and stages of the format trade process are the key variables determining different organizational structures.

Fröhlich (2007) presented the findings on the comparison of television entertainment production in Germany and the UK. By means of applying the Agency-Theory, the author explored the nature of relationships between broadcasters and production companies, and the nature of dominance in these relationships. Fröhlich (2007) paid special attention to the impact these institutions had on the innovativeness in the creative industries of Germany and the UK. The research findings provide a data-rich synthesis of theory and practice of creative industries’ functioning principles, existing hierarchy, and the modes of relationships in them.

As one can see, the creative industry and the entertainment production mechanisms are undergoing fundamental changes in the technological perspective as well. The current period of technological change and innovation unavoidably poses a series of constraints on the creative industry, making it to keep pace with the latest technologies and discoveries. As Cunningham, Cutler, Hearn, Ryan, and Keane (2004) opine, an innovation agenda should be set for the creative industry to remain topical as demanded by sophisticated consumers. This innovation agenda is likely to open new dynamic and central policy territory as in the field of science, engineering, and technology, and to help creative industry research develop. The authors also saw the path for creative industry’s innovation in the focus on the “alignment of the existing policy regimes with digital content industries” (Cunningham et al., 2004, p. 2). Creative industry development in any state should be stimulated, which can be possible by promoting the unity of action by cultural institutions, universities, and creative industries.

The present research is concerned with entertainment production industries in small states and the exploration of challenges GCC states (and the UAE in particular) experience with its establishment and development. The entertainment production industry in small states will be analyzed with the help of this framework. The GCC states’ impacts and legal contexts of the UAE entertainment production industry will also be discussed

Research in media entertainment production trends in various countries has been on-going for decades. This area forms a fundamental area of the creative industries, which have been growing at a fast rate in the modern world.  Countries have been creating various policies to support the growth of this industry. The industry is heavily supplied by cultural elements of populations. As such the European Commission is one of international organizations that have embarked on using it to fast-track development in its member states (European Commission, 2007). The impact of entertainment has also been found to have far-reaching effects in transforming cultures. It influences people’s perceptions of their world, their beliefs, and their consumption patterns for various goods and services. Technology has impacted heavily on this industry. Telecommunication and multimedia technologies have impacted on the ability of people to access, share, and change the types of entertainment content in the industry. In particular, the emergence of audio-visual technologies has influential the industry to an extremely large extent. People can simulate real-life entertainment or retrieve such entertainment on various platforms that allow for the integration of video and audio elements of entertainment.

Research in audiovisual media entertainment production has mainly focused on the essential aspects of content, its formats, emergent technologies, and trends in the cultural and sociopolitical worlds that are changing the media entertainment production ecology. Audiovisual media entertainment production fundamentally deals with content in form of images and sound. As such audiovisual media production has presented a wide area for potential research but this opportunity is rarely exploited. Researchers have tended to sway away from employing robust analytical techniques when exploring the issue of audiovisual media (Prosser, 1998). This is exacerbated by a culture of overlooking the role of audiovisual methods in other fields of research. Text and audio have been able to attain a high penetration in entertainment as a result of them being adopted as basic and fundamental means of communication for a long time. However, audiovisual media has been around long enough to be embraced as a fundamental method for presenting data and communicating in various realms. Nevertheless, research finds audiovisual media entertainment production to have caused major societal changes and shifts in cultures. It has also impacted media economics and given rise to the rise of full-fledged industries such as film, television, video gaming, among other industries.

Producers and researchers in audiovisual media production agree that technology and production tools have evolved fast and they influence the content that can be produced, how it is distributed and how consumers receive it. This has created a change in the way the production process is managed and effected. The roles of professionals are also being redefined (Jensen, 2008). The most common distribution of responsibilities that is agreed upon by researchers and practitioners include production management, production directing, screenwriting, cinematography, audio recording, lighting, costume and makeover, art and design, post-production roles, and usability management interactive audiovisual media.

In audiovisual media production, the producer is tasked with initiating, supervising, coordinating, and controlling key functions in the production process. These often includes the negoti