Is the emergence of information cities in a limited number of Arab countries an indication of a healthy phenomenon which represents a real breakthrough in the field of freedom of expression, or is it merely a sort of economic investment which has little to do with the basic mission of the media, namely to enlighten the general public?

Is the amazing plethora of satellite channels irrefutable proof that the Arab world is beginning to show more respect for the line of thinking of its citizens by revealing facts kept hidden for so long, or is it perhaps a new tactic to do away with their intellectual wisdom?

What about those educated Arabs who appear before cameramen to confirm that the ages of repression have gone, never to return, as a result of these information cities? Is what they say incompatible with the facts on the ground?

Does this fluid state of things suggest the duplicity of many educated Arabs and confirm the impression that the true intellectuals who seek to uphold the dignity of the Arab individual are a rare commodity in this age?

Is it the fear of the crack of the whip, an ever-present threat, that is responsible for this stampede toward the dance floor of hypocrisy and the agreement to produce a fake version of reality? Does the Arab information machinery perform its natural role, or is it nothing but a historic big lie — since its role is still confined to the duty of keeping Arab minds under perpetual anesthetization?

Has the Arab information machinery succeeded in exposing the many negative aspects in Arab societies or, on the contrary, has it contributed, through duplicity, in perpetuating their rotten foothold?

Every now and then Arab ministers of information meet together, hold consultations and pass resolutions to improve the image of the Arab in the West in the wake of Sept. 11, which has made the Arab lands appear to many Westerners as a fertile ground for terrorism and violence.

It is perfectly all right for officials to try to give the Arab image a bit of a gloss. However, does this require starting from the very beginning again to determine the negative aspects within, and to see the Arab information machinery for what it is: ridden with many ailments, so much so that it has aged and become weak while supposedly still in the prime of life?

A move to launch another Arab satellite channel has caught my attention. That channel will devote some time for a transmission in influencing Israeli viewers and acquainting them with the Palestinian point of view. Have things come to such a pass? Has our mission become nothing more than sending scattered overtures here and there? Does this mean that the Arab information machinery is progressing or regressing?

Let us be frank about things and admit that the Arab information machinery suffers from intellectual fatigue — corruption is perhaps a better word — after it has caught the bug from those establishments which sponsor conflicting trends in the majority of Arab countries.

With such flagrant duplicity, the Arab information machinery will never become strong enough to be a match to its counterpart in the West.

In all countries of the civilized world, those in power do respect the media and are careful to present them with a glossy image of themselves because they know pretty well the influence the media have on public opinion. On the other hand, the Arab media stands no real chance of advancement as long as its role remains confined to one single task: Singing the praises of the governments, flattering the egos of high-ranking officials and providing patches wherever needed to cover up their faults.

No hope of advancement will ever be within reach as long as the media is banned entry into areas reeking of corruption and scandals in the majority of Arab societies. How is it possible for the Arab media to shed its domestic skin and acquire a universal status which will take them all the way to the Western mind as it twists the facts?

The Arab media is still fighting to prove its worth, whereas the media in the West gained its independence a long time ago and has the power to bring the downfall of corrupt officials and raise the status of others, and even to topple the government itself by exposing malpractices. The Watergate scandal, which proved to be the undoing of US President Richard Nixon, is a case in point. Nixon, we may recall, was ousted as a result of the efforts of two journalists who were little known at the time.

There are two things invented by and applied to the Arab world, namely the tendency to pay little heed to what goes on in the Arab street, and the tendency to cover up for the mistakes of so-and-so and to sing the praises of this and that in order that they may be able to remain in office as long as possible.

So regular has this notorious practice become that it brings to mind the hilarious behavior of the cast in the Egyptian TV comedy "The School of Mischief Makers," which still evokes bursts of laughter whenever it is on the screen.

It is said that the Arab media needs to beautify itself. I wholeheartedly agree.

This business of beautifying oneself was advocated by novelist Ihsan Abdulquddoos in the title of a collection of his short stories "I Do Not Lie: I am only Trying to Look Beautiful." There is a problem, however, in that the use of cosmetics makes one look like a circus clown whose comic appearance evokes laughter from the onlookers while they pay no attention to his inner self.

How can the Arab media command respect for itself when it is a fact that the Arab individual who has no access to the Internet websites, and when books he would like to read are banned under the pretext of "intellectual contamination?"

Arab viewers are presented day in and day out with the same programs that keep heaping praise or blindly condemning the same things, with the tactic only of making the viewer feel like his bottled-up emotions are being given expression. In reality, it doesn’t matter a lot.

The West will never trust the Arab media as long as it remains in such a bad state.

This state of affairs urgently calls for the adoption of measures which show respect for Arabs, who have a right to receive any information irrespective of its ideological slant. Isn’t this one of the simplest rights any adult is entitled to?

***

(Zaynab Hafni is a Saudi writer. She is based in Jeddah.)