Watch Part 2

This week on the Listening Post a look at the state of the media in the new democracies that once made up the Soviet Bloc.

The day the Berlin Wall came down twenty years ago marked a political turning point - the end of the Soviet Union's dominance of Eastern and Central Europe.

The global media went into anniversary overdrive this past week, flocking to the German capital to mark the occasion.

Back on November 9, 1989, the media discourse was dominated by talk of new freedoms, including freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

We ask if all that promising talk been realised with the short answer of yes, no and not quite.

Arab idol

Also we look at a music TV venture that is both clever and controversial in that it infuses Arab pop videos with Islamic values.

The Arab TV market has exploded in size and choice since the 1990s. There are now more than 450 free-to-air Arabic language channels and more than 40 of them are devoted almost exclusively to music.

The first generation of those channels was dominated by music videos produced in the west, featuring pop stars who had nothing to do with the Arab world.

These days Arabic music channels broadcast more and more videos produced locally, in places like Beirut, Cairo and Dubai, but many of the videos have a look and a feel that’s definitely non-Arab.

Now there is a new kid on the music TV block, looking to overturn the American influence on Arab music broadcasts.

This episode of The Listening Post can be seen from Friday, November 13, at the following times GMT: Friday: 1230; Saturday: 1030, 2230; Sunday: 0300, 1930; Monday: 0030; Tuesday: 0630, 1630; Wednesday: 0130, 1430; Thursday: 0330, 2330.