The Channel | 2009 | Issue 2

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Palestine, with Israel, the economy,
politics, but from the child's
perspective. We address the child as a
citizen – when you are 13 or 14 you
are a citizen, even if you cannot vote.
We are a public mission TV with a
public vision with a public interest,
we are rooted in our culture, we are
promoting our identity, we are open
to other cultures and other identities,
and we don't have any kind of special
dogma in the content we produce.
In Europe kids are on the computer
all day long – is that happening here
as well?
What you see in Europe in the kids'
world, you have about 85-90% of it
here, it's the same. For online, we
have to diversify our offer, we have
to make it look nice but useful also.
We are not an entertaining web site –
it should be accessible when needed.
We worked with Microsoft and
brought teachers together around the
table to discuss what kind of content
they want to see on a web site or a
web platform. If you can give them a
tool to make their life easier and their
relationship with the kids transparent
this is a value added to their
curriculum.
How do you tell people that JCC and
Baraem are out there?
This is the main challenge. You know
when you have a public mission and
you want to inform about the public
mission it's very different from a
commercial approach. Without the
media we cannot survive, we have to
win awards, we always have to make
that extra effort that is going to bring
the credibility to our offer. I can tell
you, in the beginning people did not
understand the point about JCC:
'What is this channel? What more do
you want to present for children?' It
is a public mandate, we have to build
a future for our children which is
better than our present. The present
of the Arab world is ugly, it's sad, it's
full of challenges and full of nonsense
on the political, social and cultural
front – is this the world that we want
our kids to inherit? I don't think so.
This is why we try to bring the touch
of beauty, of change, of ambition, of
naivete. One of our programmes is
I have to give you just two numbers:
we have a budget today for two
channels of $115m a year. The
turnover of the commercial market,
satellite TV for Arab children, is less
than $60m among eight or nine
channels. So if you become a
commercial channel, you will fight
for $10m, and you cannot make TV
like this for $10m. Our ambition is to
stay true to our mission, make very
good TV and become a successful
and sustainable corporation.
Mahmoud Bouneb, thank you.
"Talk to me", it's just 23 minutes of
talk with a child. It's amazing how
little we listen to our kids. The Arabs,
the English, the Americans, blacks,
whites – we do not listen to our kids,
we do not know them.
What about the future?
JCC is not a conventional channel,
and it should remain non-
conventional in its relationship with
its content, with the talents that we
are dealing with, in our financing.
Without the support of government
this kind of offer will stop
immediately and it will be replaced
by a very commercial offer. And even
a commercial offer is not sustainable.
THE CHANNEL | IN CONVERSATION
Nadhra Ala, an
hour-long
debate show
Ad-Darb, a
tournament of
joy, fun and
excitement
16 | ISSUE 2 2009 | THE CHANNEL
You
cannot
make TV
like this
for $10m “