SATELLITE broadcasts have apparently left a tremendous impact on people in the Middle East, especially women. It has been successful in bypassing the most important communication barriers in the region: illiteracy and government control. However, I have noticed that some of the women's programs aired by Arab satellite channels were not up to the standard and have a negative influence on women. These programs are actually produced spending millions of dollars with the intent of improving women's living conditions in the Arab world. Unfortunately most women's programs focus on peripheral and silly issues and subjects such as cooking, how to enhance looks by removing excess fat and applying make-up. On the other hand, serious women's issues are discussed with sensationalism, creating more confusion and conflict inside homes. The problem in the past was that most women's programs were produced by men and presented by women. Today although the programs are produced and presented by women themselves, they have been a big failure as they focused on peripheral issues that do not have any social impact. The failure of most of the programs on satellite channels reaffirms the general view (which I also subscribe to) that women are incapable of producing useful television programs. Women producers often add conflicts and conspiracies to make their programs attractive. Sometimes they even do not spare viewers and followers from such conflicts. This week, one of the programs aired by a satellite channel struck me. Three actresses were the hosts of the program, which highlighted the tastes of modern Arab women. They ate raw onion in front of the viewers and started abusing each other. The talk show was all about how women should advice their husbands tactically to avoid appearing in public after eating onion. The secret behind the success of some women's programs on Arab satellite channels and their continuation is the ability of talk show presenters to hold constructive and impressive dialogue with their guests and to give participants the right to express different opinions on the topic. Such talk shows will definitely help promote cultural diversity. On the other hand, programs that reflect conflicts between the presenters will be taken to social media platforms by armies of their followers, all because of their difference of opinion on silly matters. I like to emphasize that these useless programs will have a negative influence on women viewers and I am sorry to state that most women's programs on Arab satellite channels do not rise up to the expectations of Arab women. It seems that women's programs on Arab satellite channels are hijacked by someone who do not really represent Arab women.
