Amir Hetsroni
Amir Hetsroni, an associate professor of communications at Ariel University Center in the West Bank, is the editor of Reality Television: Merging the Global and the Local (Nova Publishers, 295 pages), a new volume of essays by scholars from around the world who examine the impact of reality TV on their respective cultures. Hetsroni, 42, is critical of what he sees as a general tendency among academics and television critics to look down on reality shows and their audiences, and applauds the fact that many shows draw both participants and viewers from outlying areas and the working classes.