Saudi youth are infiltrating social media sites in a desire to express their opinions and share social issues that concern them. Some have chosen Twitter as their outlet, while others have opted for YouTube as an outlet to broadcast their creative videos.
Mohammad Bazaid was one of the first Saudis to start a YouTube channel deriding and mocking local advertisements poorly written, ineffective or deceitful. The program is called “Tasea’a Ela Roboa”, which translates to “Fifteen Minutes to Nine” and the YouTube channel that broadcasts the program is called “Sah” Arabic for “True”.
Bazaid previously worked as a reporter in one of the prominent TV channels in the Middle East, and his YouTube show is designed to resemble a newsroom, except the presenter is ridiculing the news instead of broadcasting it. “The idea of the show came from two of my close friends, Tariq Al-Hussaini and Hazem Al-Jurayan, in March 2010. I believe it is the first show of its kind in the Kingdom,” he said. “We faced problems with advertisers, as they didn’t believe YouTube was a good medium to advertise in,” he added.
Bazaid and his team wanted to prove everyone wrong and proceeded with the show even though they did not have any sponsors or advertisers on board. “We had low expectations in terms of viewership. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that in the first few days we had reached a large number of subscribers and viewers,” he said. “From then on, our show started appearing every Saturday, with a new collection of funny and amusing news. The first season entailed a total of 12 episodes. The inspiration for the name of my show came from the fact that local TV channels broadcast the news daily at nine o’clock, and we were looking to relate to that in a comical way, so we called the show fifteen minutes to nine,” he said.
Little after the first season of Tasea’a Ela Roboa, the YouTube market started flourishing with new local shows that also captured the attention of viewers and subscribers. “Each show had a different approach and a different level of production, but what mattered mostly, is that people started to believe in the power of YouTube,” said Bazaid.
The aim of the show was to spread laughter and lighten the mood, according to Bazaid. “If you pick up any Saudi newspaper publication you will see the exact same news published in three other competing Saudi newspapers. We wanted to shed light on this fact in a comical manner,” he said. “The other goal of our show was to use the open medium of YouTube to allow people to express themselves and voice their opinions,” he added.
“When you look at the number of viewers on any of the famous Saudi YouTube videos, you will find that it might be more than the viewership for a certain TV show,” said Bazaid.
Many TV stations have offered Bazaid and his team the opportunity to broadcast their show on the big screen, but Bazaid was against leaving YouTube. He instead agreed to start a new show with Rotana TV channel, while simultaneously working on his YouTube show.
The new TV show is called “Al Nashra Al” which is Arabic for newsletter and airs everyday on Rotana TV. “On this show I have a co-host, Hussam Al-Harthy, who was also a YouTube channel host. His program was about Saudi sports,” he said. “The TV show is similar to our YouTube shows, with small differences in terms of production, cast members and the script.”
According to Bazaid, TV offers the production team flexibility in terms of the ease and speed of changing the script, location and look of the show, that YouTube shows don’t offer.
Regarding freedom of expression, Bazaid said both YouTube and TV broadcasting offer the same limitations. “Since I personally appear in my YouTube show and on Rotana TV, I need to respect my country’s boundaries. I have been working in this field for a while, so I have a firm awareness of the dos and don’ts,” he said.
Bazaid further elaborated that he doesn’t stress on the social message in his shows, but rather on ensuring the viewers get access to quality content.
“I believe that the content is what makes a show good or bad and it is the reason why people favor one show over the other, and recommend it to their friends,” he said. “We always make sure our content is smart, funny and attractive. I believe this is the reason behind the popularity of our show,” he said.
Mohammad Bazaid: From Vlogger to TV host
Mohammad Bazaid: From Vlogger to TV host
Second doctor in Matthew Perry overdose case sentenced to home confinement
- Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October
- Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service
LOS ANGELES: A second California doctor was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement for illegally supplying “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor’s fatal drug overdose in a hot tub in 2023.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October to a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute the prescription anesthetic and surrendered his medical license in November.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service. As part of his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another physician Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who in turn supplied the drug to Perry, though not the dose that ultimately killed the performer. Plasencia, who pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful drug distribution, was sentenced earlier this month to 2 1/2 years behind bars.
He and Chavez were the first two of five people convicted in connection with Perry’s ketamine-induced death to be sent off to prison.
The three others scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks — Jasveen Sangha, 42, a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen;” a go-between dealer Erik Fleming, 56; and Perry’s former personal assistant, Iwamasa, 60.
Sangha admitted to supplying the ketamine dose that killed Perry, and Iwamasa acknowledged injecting Perry with it. It was Iwamasa who later found Perry, aged 54, face down and lifeless, in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
An autopsy report concluded the actor died from the acute effects of ketamine,” which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s NBC television series “Friends.”
According to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been receiving ketamine infusions for treatment of depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to the drug.
When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous providers elsewhere willing to exploit Perry’s drug dependency as a way to make quick money, authorities said. Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties that is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. It also has seen widespread abuse as an illicit party drug.
