what is the meaning of  " what he thought of as an Arab brightness in the lighting", in this sentence?

 The colours were more garish than on English telly – almost what he thought of as an Arab brightness in the lighting (a leathery man and a pretty woman at a news desk, virulent reds and blues behind them, the news-crawl along the bottom of the screen just obscuring the woman’s breasts). 

2017-04-11T00:37:33.809Z