|
Wilson Center event: Creative use of the media in the Middle East
February 27, 2008
By Christina Caspersen
At a Wilson Center event on Wednesday, a panel of media experts discussed their respective organizations and answered questions from the audience regarding media difficulties in the Middle East.
Honey Al Sayed, a host for Radio Al Medina’s “Good Morning, Syria” spoke on the wide range of interviews and topics her show covers. The show chooses not to report on political activities, leaving politics “for a heavier station,” she said, adding that Radio Al Medina was the first station in Syria to be risqué and quirky and involve humor in all aspects of coverage.
Mahmood Al-Yousif, a Bahraini blogger and political activist for Mahmoods Den Blog, said that the contents of his blogs are intended to “propagate tolerance through issues mainly focusing on discrimination – religious, gender, and ethnic.” He learned that the best way to reach the people of Bahrain was through the Internet.
Najdat Anzour, a filmmaker from Syria, revolutionized drama in the Arab world. He spoke of censorship and how it is everywhere. In Syria, only 20 of over 200 stations are allowed to run and report.
Riad Kahwaji, founder and CEO of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA) in UAE, stated that there are over 300 pan-Arab satellite stations. These numbers surprised the regimes of the Middle East, which must accept this new evolution of media. Controls and taboos that were present in the 1990s are gone, leaving a process of change and hope.
Zaid Mohseni of Tolo TV has radio broadcasts in 14 cities in Afghanistan, with TV being the newest phenomenon. In 2006, many of his employees, including him, were arrested for stories they reported. The attorney general sent men to raid the offices of Mohseni’s business and began bullying his company. After these events, his stations have begun self-censorship to ensure their safety.
Senad Pecanin, director of Dani Magazine in Bosnia, established his magazine at the beginning of the Bosnia/Herzegovina war. His magazine deals with topics of culture and politics that other media outlets will not touch, such as crimes of terror which occurred during the siege. The main focus is on current problems within Bosnia, with particular attention to Sarajevo. His magazine was verbally attacked by the Bosnian authorities for being traitorous and unpatriotic.
In the question and answer period, the issue of censorship was raised. The panel collectively agreed that one cannot afford to ignore breaking news. However, they indicated that one can censor the way he or she tackles the news. Emphasizing specific points within the news story that will appease a particular government is sometimes necessary for safety and security, they maintained. Also, self censorship is often used to prevent backlash from disapproving governments. Al-Yousif, ‘The Blogfather,’ called media outlets in his country “cowards” for not reporting the news. He said that reporters ask him to blog stories so they can quote his blog and avoid condemnation from the government.
A comment was made from an audience member who said that hidden political agendas can greatly affect media in the Middle East. He cited an example about the genocide in Darfur, which was not widely reported in the Arab world.
A representative from USAID posed the idea of funding from the United States. Most of the panel’s media outlets needed funding because they are not backed by their governments, she noted. How could the United States help these organizations without tagging the respective media source as ‘U.S. propaganda’ because it is funded by the U.S., she asked. Kahwaji replied that his organization was once funded by a U.S. group, however funding was immediately cut when his organization reported something that the United States did not like. It was fair news, but Congress took on a hard line on the issue and funding was dropped. The U.S. does not tolerate interviews with groups that are against them, he said. The best form of aid would be to encourage private U.S. businesses and media outlets to invest in Middle Eastern media that is attempting to report real news, Kahwaji argued. |
