What inspired me to make Dishing Democracy is the fact that in my recent work and travels in the Middle East and in the Arab world, I recognized the presence and the importance of satellite TV, which has been around for roughly 17 years now.

This Arab TV Guide highlights other popular programs throughout the Middle East.

The introduction of satellite television in the Middle East in the early 1990s completely transformed its media landscape. Satellite channels set in motion the emergence of modern TV journalism, live debate and reality TV.

Links to information on the media and human rights groups in the Arab World.

WIDE ANGLE goes behind the scenes at Arab television channel MBC in Cairo for an inside look at the hit all-female talk show, KALAM NAWAEM, whose hosts are using the power of transnational satellite TV to push social reform.

Links to information on Brazil, and race and racial discrimination there.

Learn more about the United Arab Emirates from these additional web resources.

I had many questions: What kind of state builds a brand new city? What is the idea behind the city? Where is the money to build the city coming from?

Unlike Abu Dhabi, Dubai boasts no vast oil reserves or territory. The emirate's plans to diversify its economy and fashion itself into a global center for trade and tourism led to an unprecedented construction boom in the area.

Once a region predominantly inhabited by nomadic Bedouin tribes, the country has become a global hub for trade and tourism.