Media Habits of Arab Youth Jad Melki Asst

Media Habits of Arab Youth Jad Melki Asst. Prof. of Journalism and Media Studies American University of Beirut jad. melki@aub. edu. lb Sponsored by The Issam Fares Institute – AUB UNICEF

Media Habits of Arab Youth What old and new media do various Arab youths use to consume and produce news, information and entertainment, particularly print, broadcast, satellite, mobile, online, and Web 2. 0 media? …. and what are the policy implications of these media habits?

Method: Survey 2744 students 43 schools & universities 13 – 28 years old. 56% female - 44% male. Sample skewed in favor of: urban, mid-upper income, literate Weighted in favor of lower-mid income pilot study

1 Language and Media

(1) Which language do you mainly use with the following? 0% 10% 20% 30% Blogging 50% 60% 70% 81% Entertainment 23% 64% Watching TV 24% 32% 57% Arabic French 100% 4% 2% 25% 57% English 90% 11% 66% Work or Schoolwork News 40% 3% 2% 1%

2 Online Social Networking & Blogging

(2 a) For what do you mainly use online social networks? 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Fun 84% Connect with existing friends 84% Connect with family 58% 55% Make new friends Express opinion 41% Conduct business Political activism 9% 5%

(2 a) For what do you mainly use online social networks? 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Fun 84% Connect with existing friends 84% Connect with family 58% Make new friends 55% Express opinion 41% Conduct business Political activism 9% 5%

2 b. Blogging 77% say they had NEVER written a blog entry

(2 b) What do you blog about? 0% 10% 20% Music and entertainment news 40% 68% Arts and culture 37% Sports news 33% Travel 25% Science and technology 23% International news 20% Health news 18% Religion 17% Local political news 15% Arab political news 14% Economic and financial news 30% 11% 50% 60% 70% 80%

3 News

(3 a) How much time daily do you spend on news? 0% 10% No Time at all 20% 30% 40% 50% 20% Less than one hour 44% About one hour 17% About two hours 10% Three or more hours 10% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

(3 b) Which of the following do you most frequently use for news? 0% 10% 20% Television 30% 40% 50% 45 Friends & Family 60% 70% 80% 34 38 90% 15 29 6 21 12 Professional news websites 31 28 23 18 Internet videos 31 28 22 19 Email 31 SMS 31 21 20 28 Oneline Social Networks 31 21 19 29 Newspapers and magazines 19 Radio 18 Blogs 6 10 Several times a day 23 22 30 28 14 24 31 20 31 23 70 About once a day 100% About once a week Never

(3 c) What news genre do you mainly follow? 0% 10% 20% Music and entertainment news 40% 67% International news 43% Sports news 41% Science and technology 39% Health news 38% Local political news 36% Arts and culture 36% Arab political news 30% Travel 23% Religion 23% Economic and financial news 30% 18% 50% 60% 70% 80%

4 Entertainment and Leisure

4. Entertainment and Leisure Related Media Habits 55% usually use media for entertainment MORE THAN THREE HOURS/DAY

(4) How often do you use the following for entertainment? 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Watch TV programs Mobile phone texting Listen to music on a PC Talk on a mobile Listen to music on MP 3 player Listen to music on radio or TV Listen to music on CD/Cassette Online social networking Online Chatting Watch videos on DVD/VHS Watch videos online Play games on mobile Watch videos on PC Use Skype or other VOIP Play video or computer games Play internet games Play sports or board games Read books or magazines Read blogs Watch movies at theater Read ebooks Watch live theater plays Never About once a week About once a day Several times a day 80% 90% 100%

5 Television

5. Television Habits 56% had at home THREE OR MORE TV SETS 48% watched TV IN THEIR BEDROOMS

(5) What else do you do while watching TV? 0% 10% 20% 30% Eat 87% Chat with people present 59% Cell phone texting 53% Talk on the phone 50% Email 41% Listen to music 39% Browse online 36% Do homework/work 35% Play video games Read 40% 19% 17% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

(5) What do you mainly watch on TV? 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Movies 87% Comedy series 78% Music videos 62% Drama series 55% Cartoons 43% Sports 43% Documentaries Game shows Newscasts Political talk shows 38% 29% 26% 21% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

6 Attitudes Toward Internet

(6) General Attitudes Toward the Internet content should have/be 0% 5% 10% No restrictions 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 21% Less restrictions 31% More restrictions Fully restricted or banned 15% 40% 8% 45%

(6) Perception of the Internet threats 83% say information from Internet very or somewhat TRUSTWORTHY

(6) General Attitudes Toward The Internet 0% 10% 20% helps me gain political power 30% 40% 50% 40 helps me influence government 60% 70% 80% 30 33 90% 100% 21 32 9 26 9 helps goverments monitor me 30 31 26 13 helps corrupt me 31 29 27 13 threatens my privacy 26 distracts me from work/school 20 helps advocate my causes/beliefs offers great entertainment opp. 7 3 2 4 Strongly Disagree 18 48 22 51 23 31 70 26 Somewhat Disagree 14 37 20 11 4 32 25 10 helps me express my opinion helps me with work/school 28 68 Somewhat Agree Strongly Agree

(6) Which of the following have you done in the past 30 days? 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Never used a credit card online 82% Never purchased a product online 82% Never clicked on an online ad 54% 85% Downloaded music at least once Downloaded software at least once 71% Downloaded games at least once 50% Downloaded movies at least once 50%

Concluding Notes • • Media consumers, not producers English main language, except for news Entertainment dominant purpose Web is for freebees TV remains king, while blogs barely register Print news and radio on the weak side Alarming trust in new media Tech savvy, not media literate

Going Forward Preparing for 2 nd phase Global Survey of Youth Policy Papers: Highlighting policy priorities for each region

Acknowledgement Research Assistants Ameen Jaber Basma Tabaja Ewan Abbasi Farah Madadha Haidar Saheb Hiba Sleiman Janet Barhoum Maryam Saad Michael Oghia Noaf Ahmad Nour Amache Samia el-Osta Sara Ajlyakin Sari Majdalani Yasmine al-Sakka Issam Fares Institute Rami Khoury Zina Sawaf Muneira Hoballah Funding Issam Fares Institute Unicef