Page 166 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

IDEOLOGICAL APPROACH

Too difficult? It’s Yibna. Try another.
What structure built of gray sandstone in 1792 became the source of
all oppressive decisions the world over?
This one should be easy: the White House.
If you answered both questions correctly, you might be prime fodder to
compete on “The Mission,” a game show running on Al Manar, the satellite
television channel of Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese group.
Contestants from around the Arab world compete each Saturday night
for cash and the chance to win a virtual trip to Jerusalem. To heighten the
drama, points won by the finalists translate directly into steps toward the
holy city that are flashed onto a map of the region.
The show is a novel way for Hezbollah to promote its theme—that all
Arab efforts should be concentrated on reconquering land lost to Israel,
especially Jerusalem.
“The Mission” follows a standard game show format, with contestants
quizzed about history, literature, geography, science and the arts. But at
least half the questions revolve around Palestinian or Islamic history, and
at least one contestant is usually Palestinian.
“We wanted to put it into a form that would appeal to wider segment
of the population,” said Ibrahim Musawi, a spokesman for Manar and the
director of its English news. “It is not in an ideological or a direct way,
but in an entertaining way.”
Some questions do focus on the men who carried out suicide operations.
The martyr Amar Hamoud was nicknamed ‘The Sword of All Martyrs?’
—true or false? was one recent question. True. Mr. Abi Nassif, who never
fails to address the subject of recapturing Jerusalem in his patter, went on
to describe the man’s exploits. 44

Dr. Muhammad Abu Ghararah, one of the contestants of The Mission,
emphasized the importance of this program in sustaining the Palestinian
political movement:

These kinds of programs are very important, repeating the issue of the
Palestinians, keeping it vivid in our minds, keeping it alive. It is like com-
mercials. When there are so many commercials about a toothpaste, for
example, when you go to the supermarket you spontaneously think about
it and buy it. The same with Palestinians. We always have to remember
the Palestinian cause, and that is what Manar does. 45

In many popular genres—including children’s programs—the latent
function is political persuasion. In 2006, Hamas began producing The
Uncle Hazim Show, which appears on the Hamas television station, Al

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