Kalam Nawaem has been on-air for four years, an eternity in TV years. Yet, it is still remains one of the top shows across the Arab World. Why? Well, many reasons contribute to this success, but perhaps to me our success lies in our realness.
Not withstanding a great team behind the scenes, the show has weathered its share of obstacles. Yet, we also know that despite a focus on family topics, lack of sensationalism, abrupt changes of presenters who are a perplexing mix -- the eldest is a baby boomer, another wears the hijab, a third is deeply entrenched in motherhood, and lastly, a pregnant -pregnant- presenter, people still choose to switch their TV monitors on Sunday at 9:30 to MBC to watch our show.
Those who tune in, tell us that our success lies in seeing themselves represented on TV. Whether it was me publicly discussing my custody issues, documenting Farah’s giving birth, or Fawzia’s courage at creating a second late blooming career, or even Rania maturing from the "it" girl to the "it" mom, our viewers see themselves as they also go through the very same life altering moments.
But another great secret has been that these four, kind looking, unassuming mommies sitting and chatting on a warm yellow couch have tackled the most difficult issues, from homosexuality to incest, from abuse to murder to deformities and made it watchable and understandable for its Arab audience with all their different perceptions and cultural biases.
I do think that as mothers, we are non-threatening. We convey the calm that the guest needs to open up. Except when it comes to abuser and abusers, then, admittedly we are biased.
Our viewers could see and identify with our outraged sense of justice in these cases. When we ask for laws that make sense; ones that protect little girls from abusive parents, or ones that allow mothers to give their nationality to their children it is because that is the right thing to do. It is not a PR ploy for better ratings; or even an enlightened sense of justice discussed in an abstract theoretical utopian sense. We demand justice because we want a better world for our very real children. And we want it NOW.
Media is a powerful tool of education, but its strength of delivering instantaneous information is also its weakness; it is transient. Therefore, it must, in order to survive, capture the audience's attention. It must connect with the viewer. I believe that one of our secrets has been in our firm belief that if we respect our guest, respects our topic, respect ourselves, and stay clear from sensationalism we will deliver an entertaining but educational episode which people will remember and learn from.
Our viewers over the past four years have grown with us, both in numbers and in maturity. Some of our greatest moments, ones that people come up to us and talk about again and again, are not getting Christina Amanporu from CNN for an exclusive, but reuniting a mother and daughter who had, through freak circumstances, lost touch with each other for 33 years. It is moments like helping Anwar, the little Iraqi boy who burnt his angelic face as he was helping his mom with her gas oven get medical aid or Rami’s optimism despite being struck with AIDS.
It is the impact of moments like these that make us and our viewers proud to be part of Kalam Nawaem.
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