MTV Suddenly Concerned About Earning Respect

Wow! MTV is suddenly concerned about making sure that they earn the respect of their viewers, and they are going to be sensitive to the morals of their audience. Just not in America. From the November 19, 2007 Seattle Times:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — MTV is hoping hip-hop and reality television tailored and sanitized for a more conservative Middle East will draw young Arabs away from dozens of locally produced music video channels that already dominate the market.
MTV Arabia, which launched over the weekend, will feature 60 percent international music and 40 percent Arabic music, along with local adaptations of the channel's popular nonmusic shows.
But MTV, which is known for airing provocative videos featuring scantily clad women, says the Arab version of the pop-culture channel will show less bare skin and profanity.
"When we come to people's homes, we want to earn their respect," said Abdullatif al-Sayegh, chief executive of Arab Media Group, which along with Viacom's MTV Networks International owns MTV Arabia. He explained that there will be "culturally sensitive editors going through content of the programming."

It's unfortunate that they didn't share that same concern when they started running hip-hop videos that degraded women in this country. Oh yeah, Pimp My Ride is so out. Perhaps it will be Pimp My Camel instead. (And no, I won't tell the joke about what camels and Arab submarines have in common.)

And to think that one of the first videos that put MTV on the map was The Clash's Rock the Casbah. I wonder if they'll be showing that! :-)

Thanks to Michelle Malkin for pointing this out.