In the recent past, the collective Arab media has hailed what was called a new media environment. Though some were confident, I was always skeptical, feeling they were excessively optimistic and too hasty in believing what certain political bodies told them.
Do I need to do more than point to recent events in Lebanon? In case anyone is unaware of what I am talking about, some journalists were arrested by the Lebanese authorities.
The increase in the number of TV channels and the spread of Internet cafes misled many people into thinking that we were living in an open world. A prominent media investor once sought my advice when he was planning to establish three Arab Internet sites. I warned him, however, to be careful and not to put his faith in appearances; the Arab media still lives in the past. Unfortunately I was proved right.
The latest actions against the media in Beirut — and before that in Amman, Cairo, Sana’a and Khartoum — all took place at a time when journalists claimed to be living in the golden age. What happened in Beirut to Al-Hayat and the MBC channel has shaken media and journalistic circles and it is certainly evident that even Lebanon isn’t free.
At the same time, we must not object to journalists being arrested. After all, journalists are only human and there could easily be a thief or some other kind of criminal among them. What we do object to is an arrest with no reason being given. This is unacceptable and in such an environment, it is hard to believe what has been said about those arrested — even if the allegations are true and the investigations carried out are fair and honest.
In the absence of mutual confidence between government and media, government’s bad treatment of media and failure to follow its own laws, the rush to arrest a member of the media is impossible to understand.
The Arab media itself is partly to blame since it was the promoter of such falsehoods as “the new era of freedom and democracy”. In other words, the media was a victim of its own propaganda. Realistic individuals in the Arab media are well aware of the limits within which they have to work, and the freedom given to them by Arab politicians and governments; they are not easily deceived by attractive, but empty, claims.
In addition, they are further aware that the fact may well be the opposite of what has been stated. They are aware, as much as anyone else, of what goes in voting districts and in elections but they also know what is publishable and what is not. The margin of freedom in most of the Arab world is a kind of makeup, covering the presumed political freedom or democracy. In fact, journalists or media groups face daily obstacles in trivial matters; these matters are not easily got round.
The obstacles affect editors, photographers, the receipt of news and the technology for monitoring what has been received. For instance, if a journalist orders a small wire for his PC, the customs officials will delay delivery. If a parcel is sent via express courier, it will also be seized and inspected and held until the authorities decide to allow delivery. The media needs to wake up and admit the reality instead of dreaming and shouting about a new and freer era for the press and the media.
