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Analysis: Calls at Arab Media Conference for Easing of Media Control

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 December 2005, 12:00 CST

Text of editorial analysis by Amani Soliman of BBC Monitoring Media Services

The Arab and World Media Conference 2005 brought together more than 1000 leading journalists, media executives, politicians, businessmen and academics from all over the world. These included the host, Prince Mohamed bin Rashid Al-Maktum, the Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE (United Arab Emirates) Defence Minister, Queen Rania of Jordan and Leader of the Lebanese parliamentary opposition Sa'ad al-Hariri.

Held in Dubai in early December, the two day event was attended by record-breaking numbers, according to the organizers. It presented a chance for an exchange of views and an open dialogue with the aim of bridging the gap between the misperceptions widely present on both sides.

Mutual understanding

The main theme that dominated the discussions both in the main sessions and the smaller workshops was the importance of mutual understanding on the part of both the Arab and Western media.

Many media observers in the Arab world believe that ever since the events of 11 September 2001 and the ensuing US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, much of the reporting on the region by the international media was based on distorted images of Arabs and Islam. To address this problem, the Arab Thought Foundation, a Saudi think-tank, and the Dubai Press Club jointly organized their fourth media forum entitled "Getting It Right".

Amongst the key speakers at the forum was the Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Musa who told journalists that Arabs must seek to correct the misconceptions about their culture and religion in the Western press.

Addressing the conference, Musa added that Arab governments would be less open to criticism in the Western press if they implemented political reforms and fought fundamental misinterpretations of Islam. "The Western media is linking Arabs to terrorism and it is an attack that should not go without a response," Musa said.

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwalid bin Talal, the nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, told the forum that the Arab media could also do more to correct the image of the Arab world in the West. "We in the Arab world are not doing the job of explaining ourselves properly," Prince Alwalid bin Talal said.

He said he had established centres at two prominent US universities, Harvard and Georgetown which deal with Arab and Islamic studies. He is also due to launch a television channel called "The Message" next month and hopes to broadcast it to the United States in two years to "spread the right message". The billionaire Prince said: "We are open to criticism, we have a lot of mistakes, but we must try and fix our image".

Asked about the mistakes said to have been made in the Iraqi media by the US, Alwalid said that it was allowing hundreds of newspapers and several television stations to be set up. "Right now, the last thing Iraqis need is so many voices quarrelling through the media. This is not the time for the luxury of having so many TV channels and 200 newspapers, you can't impose US democracy in Iraq," said Alwalid, who owns stakes in US media conglomerates.

Reporting Iraq

In a workshop session on the current environment for journalists in Iraq entitled 'Journalists in the Line of Fire', war correspondents spoke about the current environment in Iraq, where journalists are under threat of being killed or kidnapped, which severely limits their ability to tell the truth.

Nabil Khatib, Executive Editor of the Dubai-based Arabic 24-hour news channel, Al- Arabiya said: "The opposing parties in Iraq - both the Americans and the insurgents - are insensitive towards journalists. Journalists often hesitate to do their job because of the dangers on the ground. They are not always able to get first- hand information about incidents. This makes it harder for them to report the true story, which suits the interests of both the fighting parties."

Deborah Amos, Correspondent of US National Public Radio said that none of the media in Iraq are seen as neutral. "Gone are the days when press stickers on our back made us safe. Iraq is particularly dangerous. We expose ourselves to kidnapping and risks to our life."

Coverage of Iraq in the past two years has seen an increase in the use of local Iraqi reporters, producers and camera crews by both the Arab and Western networks.

"Sometimes we use local Iraqi reporters to cover news, but they are not safe themselves. Humans are not generals, they are ordinary human beings, they cannot just send their staff to places where there is danger," said Nabil Khatib.

The participants in the discussion said that news organizations have to consider a number of political, religious and emotional issues when sending their Iraqi staff to cover news. These include sending Sunni staff to a Shi'i mosque for example.

Easing control

Arab journalists who participated in the conference agreed that the governments in the region needed to implement reform and ease their control of the media in their countries.

Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid, the general manager of Al-Arabiya TV news channel, said: "Arab governments need to ease licensing for media. They should give up control. It is the markets which should decide."

The Arab media industry is still in its infancy, said Al-Rashid. "Some people say we have 200 satellite TV channels but we can have another 800. We need specialized channels and publications."

Another opinion was expressed by Dr Anwar Gargash, Political Science professor at the UAE University, who said that the Arab media is mainly state-owned and needs to be privatized. However, he added: "Privatization means that it should be owned by many groups, not just one group."

Correcting the distorted Arab image in the Western media requires sustained efforts on the part of the Arab world, including the governments and the media. Dealing with the problems in the Middle East demands a great deal of openness and objectivity.

However, after two full days of deliberations, there were no recommendations from the talk shop and no mechanisms set up to address the problems except through open-ended dialogues.

Source: BBC Monitoring Media

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