BEIRUT, Lebanon -- A few days before the outbreak of violence between Israel and Hezbollah here, I was sipping strong coffee and talking with a highly influential Lebanese man about something totally unrelated to war: The mass media popular culture revolution that has swept the Arab world in recent years. Karim Sarkis, deputy head of broadcast for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) -- the outfit whose smash hit reality show "Star Academy" rewrote the book on how to make money in the world of Arab satellite television -- told me that one of the most significant new trends in the Middle East is the exploding popularity of glossy gossip magazines. "Now more than ever before," Sarkis said, "the whole tabloid culture has come over here in the last few years."
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