The following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Fatima Al-Sayyegh, dean of the history department at UAE University:
Interviewer:Before entering the studio you mentioned an electronic site… A site on the Internet that tries to monitor our media, in the other's perspective maybe…
Dr. Fatima Al-Sayyegh: True, this is the website of the Middle East Research Institute – MEMRI. This website was established by an institute in the US. Its goal is to monitor television programs, mostly, talk shows and religious programs and to analyze them, in order to find out what the Arab man on the street thinks, what is the discourse in the Arab media that is directed at the Arab public.
According to what was published on this website, some Arab TV programs, and especially religious programs… I don't know if I am allowed to mention specific programs, but one program the website mentions is that of Sheik Ahmad Al-Kubeisi. This program, for instance, was described by the website as calling for extremism and violence, an antisemitic program that encourages terrorism.
Interviewer: Ahmad Al-Kubeisi's program?
Dr. Fatima Al-Sayyegh: Yes, "The Word and its Sisters." This important program was described in this manner, while other trivial programs were described as calling for openness, reforms and so on. This issue should make us think: What does the West want for us?