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A few days ago, a Jordanian newspaper carried an article on a noticeable increase in the number of Arab tourists, mainly Jordanians, heading towards Turkey this summer.
The tourist boom in the already popular holiday destination, however, has nothing to do with the natural attractions and historical aura of the land.
Instead, the sudden interest is being attributed to Nour and Years Lost, two television drama series that have attained widespread popularity since they started showing on an Arabic satellite television channel.
"After we added the palace where the shooting of Nour took place to the tour schedule, there has been a 20-25 per cent increase [in the number of people going to Turkey]," said a Jordanian travel agent.
The Turkish ambassador to Saudi Arabia was quoted as saying in an interview: "Turkish drama has succeeded in boosting the number of Saudi tourists from 30,000 last summer to 100,000 this year."
The success of the two television series has also rubbed off on others. An Arab bookshop owner affirmed that sales of magazines featuring articles or pictures of lead protagonists had never been found wanting. "They sell like hot cakes," he said.
On the flip side, Mohanad, the lead actor in one of the shows, has been blamed for the alleged break-up of several marriages in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, according to press reports.
At least one divorce has been attributed to a picture of Mohanad displayed on a cell pone screen while a lack of intensity on par with romantic liaisons depicted in the dramas has reportedly led to more separations.
The interest the Turkish television productions (with Arabic voice over) have generated in an Arab audience, although unexpected, is, to researchers and media experts, proof of the entertainment industry's power to influence peoples' behaviour.
The phenomenon of "peoplization" in the media is suddenly in focus.
A recent example was when French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Israel last week. Pictures of his Italian wife Carla Bruni filled the pages of Israeli newspapers and overshadowed his official visit.
Sarkozy himself was the top newsmaker in the first few months of 2008. In 2007, it was US president George Bush who hogged the media attention.
Not politically related
"But in that case (Sarkozy), 79 per cent of all coverage is not politically related. It is amazing to see the phenomenon of peoplization in that case," said Jean Francois Dumas, who heads a Montreal-based Canadian communication company.
The most discussed personality in television, radio and print news in 2007 was Paris Hilton, a study by Dumas's firm, Influence, concluded. The survey covered 632 million news items across 120 countries.
"The phenomenon of peoplization is so important that we are [constantly] seeing news on those personalities around the world though they didn't [necessarily] do anything. It is probably because they are figures we love to hate and hate to love. It could explain the phenomenon," Dumas said in a recent interview with Gulf News.
Similarly, Lebanese pop artiste's like Haifa Wehbe, or Ellisa, or Nancy Ajram, receive doting media attention. Wehbe did make news a few months ago when Bahrain's parliament demanded the cancellation of her concert there. International conflicts, both real and political, have never been far from the news, though.
For instance, the top five stories covered in the media last year were the Iraq war, the US presidential polls, the Iran nuclear issue, anti-Taliban operations, and former British prime minister Tony Blair's exit from office respectively.
People "are very interested in serious news", said Dumas.
"But I think, right now, the media are modifying their strategies, because the client is moving and changing; in the past, the media used to target audiences but now we are facing a new paradigm, we are talking about information predators. People are constantly shopping for their own information."
Nour traces the saga of a very wealthy family and the individual troubles of its many members. Lost Years focuses on a young couple whose feelings for each other are caught in the fraught relations between their families.
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