New Arab Media

“An Agent of Change & Empowerment in a Capricious Environment”

One cannot overstate the premise that the Middle East is currently going through a phase that will leave its indelible mark on the future of the area, and inevitably dictate the prospect of regional collaboration in various spheres: political, economic and security.

Although doomsayers on both sides look at the developing scenario as the end of the world as we know it, still keen observes recognise that the dynamic resembles labour pains, and that the area has been going through an evolutionary phase. Some experts opine that this stage has been interrupted by nearsighted political expediencies and the rise of ideologies that propagate fast-paced revolutionary change by use of force at the expense of evolution.

Indications of on-going, albeit slow, change in the Arab world abound. Perhaps a look at New Arab Media, being the emerging Arab news satellite broadcasters, could be a case study, particularly its impact on domestic and regional discourse and consequently East-West relations.

Traditionally, Arab media has been characterised as one that is subservient to the status quo in almost every Arab country. It has been used successfully as a tool of propaganda and subversion against any kind of change that is deemed to run against the grain of political change of the prevailing hegemony. Regrettably, this has been taking place under the nose of the international powers that have had no interest in disrupting a situation conducive to its interests.

For decades, Arabs were deprived of an indigenous national media that they believed could supply them with credible news and information. Instinctively, lay Arabs gravitated away from their own media towards what they deemed to be more truthful and comprehensive, namely Arabic language news services instigated by Western organisations such as BBC and Radio Monte Carlo. Indeed where it not for those radio stations, Arab societies would have been truly isolated from the rest of the world. 

More importantly perhaps, there existed no effective public forums for exchanging views, and no debate between the governed and the government. The iron fist policy made sure of that. Social and political discourse was the domain of a very small minority that risked life and limb in partaking in covert debate about national and international issues of public concerns.

Things took what is akin to a dramatic turn however, when in the late seventies most media in Lebanon, were forced, as a result of the war, to immigrate to Europe, which presented an opportunity for journalists to practice their trade away from the clutches of the censor. It was a modest leap, but a genuine attempt nevertheless at bringing media into the fray of public Arab discourse, albeit from afar.

Real change had to wait to the early nineties, though, when the technological revolution coupled with the low cost of satellite access signalled the advent of New Arab Media. The first breakthrough came in 1991 when an Arab entrepreneur envisioned an independent Arab mass media targeting Arabs at home and abroad out of London, UK.

Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) was created with a programming mix that included, and here is the relevance to us, the first comprehensive news bulletin in contemporary Arab history that circumvented the state’s eagle eye watch.

The popularity of format and content of MBC’s newscasts acted like a dose of courage that egged on similar endeavours. In 1996, Al Jazeera was set up in Doha, Qatar and in 2003 Al Arabiya News Channel was launched in Dubai, UAE.

Arab satellite news was to have an immense impact on Arab societies, as well as regional and international interface commensurate with the area’s importance. This is evidenced in no small way by the endeavour on the part of interested non-Arab powers to play part in the discourse by setting up their own news channels targeting Arabs: the US funded Al Hurra, the re-launch of BBC World Service TV, as well as the announced launch of a French and Russian channels targeting Arabs in their own language.   

The advent of new Arab media has had an omnipresent impact on all walks of life not envisaged by its pioneers.

Arab national identity was resurrected on a social level, as Lebanese and Libyans, Saudis and Sudanese could now identify common concerns and destinies. Many more Arabs can now have access to Western culture, way of life and the benefits of political debate.

Much more important however, is the central role new Arab media has been playing in facilitating possibilities for change by providing platforms for relatively safe and candid debate in a society that is far from homogeneous. Islamists could now be seen pitting their wits in public against hard core communists, with liberals pitching in at will. Taboo subjects such as the viability and relevance of religion, governments, the gender divide have been breached. Policies, domestic and foreign, started to be scrutinised in a much more purposeful manner than ever before. All this with the status quo looking on with concerned contemplation.

A new and invigorating vitality is now in evidence within the Arab world. Ordinary Arab men and women felt empowered to claim a role in engaging in public discourse and taking part in formulating policies, and actually acted on this belief. It wasn’t too long before the results of this new dynamic started to materialise.

Images of mass demonstrations in former Soviet Union states were beamed across Arab world. Virtues of political, economic and social reform resonated in Arab societies, and sung to an applauding mass audience by a new breed of politicians, who appreciates the wisdom of home-born democracy and reform.

The genuine ballot box became the rule rather than the exception across the board of the Arab world. Witness the Arabian Gulf area where municipal and local elections took place, a major step considering the social, cultural and political complexities of its societies. Egypt had for the first time presidential elections and not presidential referendums where usually the incumbent is the only candidate and president elect.

Economic and social reform came at a greater speed than political ones, perhaps stimulated by globalisation and the need to assimilate with the rest of the world. The business and financial regulatory environment improved to an extent that foreign investment became a mainstay of today’s regional economies, and as important as oil itself. Financial markets are now a buzz word in almost all Arab societies, and are being gradually regulated in accordance with international standards.

This has not been plain sailing by any stretch, however. The regional status quo, jealously guarding their tools of power, was watching in utter fright as they could sense authority slipping through its fingers.

State controlled media were haemorrhaging audiences at an alarming rate, and something had to be done. No trick in the book was spared to silence Arab satellite media. When all failed, it was decided to enter the fray of satellite news channel launches as a way of minimising the impact of new media. A good thing, really. But a development that has to be scrutinised closely if the momentum of reform is to be sustained and enhanced.

Some international powers, renowned for their guardianship of democratic reform and the freedom of expression were slow to react; fearing for the sustainability of the age-long web of interests that bonded them with traditional Arab regimes.

It wasn’t until the invasion of Iraq that the pressure was vocally on by the West to support new Arab media; even then it was not a solid support, rather subject to political expediencies.

Arab reform is in the early stages of development. But the future is promising, so long as the gains enjoyed so far are not reversed. For the process to be sustained and progress, it needs a lot of home-grown hard work, and an understanding on the part of the West that evolutionary progress is a much preferred course of action to importing instant revolutionary change. Arab societies are sensitive to dictates by outsiders who are seen, rightly or wrongly, as having an agenda. Change and reform has to be seen as national choice rather than a foreign imposition. 

Arab reform has been a slow and at times painful process. A process that would have not been possible without an independent Arab mass news media which embraces the concerns and needs of the population, as diverse as they are. There are challenges ahead. One of immediate concern to me as a journalist of 30 years is maintaining the independence of media away from the grasp of government control, as subtle as it may be and any form or shape it may take, financial or otherwise.

It is said that free press is a by-product of democracy. I put it to you, that in our case, the advent of democracy in the Arab world was ignited by the new Arab mass news media. Safeguarding it is the responsibility of all of us who genuinely care for democratic reform in any part of the world.

- Adapted from Jihad Ballout’s speech at the “Economist Conference" in Athens, Greece