The triumph of reality TV

byHabib Battah
May 9, 2008

While deadly street battles raged across Lebanon on Friday, a studio audience gathered in the hills above Beirut to watch a live broadcast of “Star Academy”, one of the country’s biggest reality shows. The program, aired on LBC, opened with a patriotic song by pop sensation Carol Samaha–pictured above speaking to the show’s host. When asked to comment on the situation, Samaha (in black) was careful to avoid politics. “What is there to say,” she said, before exiting stage left with a smile.

As the evening progressed, RPGs exploded in the Shouf mountains and civil war seemed imminent. The live show meanwhile, featured a choreographed ‘women in leather and chains’ dance:

Hundreds showed up to watch, even as casualties piled up and Lebanon’s future hung in the balance.

Normally, “Star Academy” faces fierce competition from “Superstar” the Arab version of “American Idol” But that show never aired because its carrier, Future Television, remained blank throughout the night after being shut down by militants loyal to the Hezbollah-backed opposition, who continue to control the city.

On the other hand, Hezbollah’s TV channel, Al Manar, aired a painfully over-dramatic Syrian soap.

Winning the street war may have seemed easy, but the opposition is still far behind in the prime time arena.

Habib Battah

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.

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Who Am I?

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.