The cultural role of Arab satellite channels in strengthening the national spirit and belonging to the homeland for Iraqi university students

Abstract

Preserving identity has become the challenge most posed in the era of open skies, which is crowded with satellites that carry hundreds of TV channels from all over the world, with its different effects that shape the thought and conscience of young people alike. The sense of danger requires a search for identity and belonging so that we do not face conflict The researcher found that cultural programs have a presence on Arab satellite channels that is less than the spread of other types of programs despite their role in shaping belonging to the homeland and pride in national identity. The research problem is manifested in the following main questions (what is the exposure of university youth to cultural programs in Arab satellite channels?) and branching It has a number of sub-questions, and the importance of the research comes. Since belonging to the homeland is a necessity in building the personality of each individual, it is necessary to confirm the role of the media in facing the negative effects that can lead to weak belonging among members of society. The aim of the research is to identify the extent to which university youth are exposed to cultural programs and to identify the reasons behind the follow-up of young people to cultural programs and present the proposed vision to activate the educational role of the media in managing National affiliation in light of societal changesThe researcher used the descriptive approach to suit the nature of the current study. Where it does not stop at the abstract description of the phenomenon to be studied, but extends to a set of research procedures that are integrated to describe the phenomenon and interpret the information and analyze it to extract its significance and reach meaningful results or indications that are useful in achieving the objectives of the study. The current research community included male and female graduate students for the academic year (- 2019-2020) at the University of Baghdad. As for a sample, the researcher chose an intentional sample from the research community, as (102) male and female students of both sexes were selected, specifically from the master’s and doctoral students in the faculties of media - political science and languages - as they are more mature, aware and familiar with the information that enables them to answer the questions of the research form better than students of other levels. The research reached a number of results, including:1. - The majority of Iraqi university students are followers of cultural programs in both Iraqi and Arab satellite channels, but the Iraqi channels came first, including Dijla channel 44.12% of the respondents2. - The cultural programs in the Arab and Iraqi channels that the cultural programs can reflect reality in their content and by 58.82% of the answers of university students3- The advantage of cultural programs in Arab and Iraqi channels is the quality of guests (41.18%) in addition to the courage to present, with a percentage of 31.37.