TV Erodes Family Values
Ahmed ShaabanDUBAI – Mass media is to blame for undermining traditional family values and encouraging divorce, a senior media official said.
Few, if any Arab TV programmes are promoting family values, said Aisha Sultan, director, Political Programmes, Dubai Media Incorporated, at a forum arranged by the Islamic Affairs Department.
“Most programmes talk about cooking, fashion and beauty,” she said. “TV programmes here not only undermine family issues and turn woman into a ‘commodity’, but also create bizarre consumable lifestyles that undermine family stability.
“Instead of paying attention to their crucial responsibility towards the society, mass media are now more in service of the market.”
Sultan then urged people to complain against programmes which undermine family life, as many viewers do in the western world.
“Showing a father, brother, husband and even a son being violent towards a woman in TV dramas, has encouraged husbands to be more aggressive with their wives,” she warned.
Urging people to mainly draw solutions to their problems from the Holy Quran, Dr Saif Al Jabiri, director, Researches Section at the Dubai Islamic Affairs Department, said Islam has made divorce the final way out to an unsolvable problem.
“If observed in line with Islam, the gradual steps of separation, including admonishment, refusal to share bed, arbitration, and finally resorting to judiciary, will end up satisfactorily from all the parties concerned,” he said.
Spotlighting the role of government departments in enhancing family bonds and curbing divorce, Muza Al Khaiyal, board member, Marriage Fund (MF), said the number of the nationals benefiting from the marriage grants is increasing regularly.
“MF since its launch in 1992, has provided more than Dh3.95million to 59,248 national men and women.”
Added to the financial support, which is mainly aimed to enhance family stability and curb new couple’s debts, the Fund is actively encouraging national to national marriages, holding mass weddings, and running campaigns as well as intensive training courses before marriage.
Khaiyal then said as many as 27 lectures on the right start for a continuous happy marriage has been delivered all over the country.
· Dropout and poor academic performance
· Violence, addiction and suicide
· Sleep disorders and over irritation
· Sever depression and loneliness
· Lack of self-confidence and psychological underdevelopment
Year 2006 2007 2008
Family disputes 2085 2456 2615
Settled litigations 62% 63% 63%
Divorce cases
Year 2006 2007 2008
Marriage transactions 2685 3156 3244
Divorce transactions 618 594 656
Divorce percentage 23% 19% 20%
Year 2006 2007 2008
Family violence cases 2085 2456 2615