Contributed by Mehrunisa Qayyum
“None of the MENA countries rank in the top 50,” according to the Reporters Without Border 2011-2012 ‘Press Freedom Index’.
This trend alone, calls for a conversation between media, civil society and emerging citizen journalists. For those who are wary of outside non-MENA based organizations judging MENA countries, I have an indigenous source too. Here’s the sobering factoid: the Amman-based Center for Defending the Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) conducted its survey on press freedom and found that only 2 percent of the 500 or so journalist said that they were entirely satisfied with the state of press freedom in the kingdom.
I needed to hear some good news, the bad is just so typical.
Somewhere between the optimism and the pessimism, the back and forth sentiments suffocate my need for a reality check. I need to understand how people can succeed or inspire despite living in environments (like Syria, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey) that present challenges in expressing ideas, opinions, and limit media freedom.
How do people become agents of influence when media outlets determine when, how and who hears their narratives? The who, what, when, and how determines impact. If someone’s narrative impacts, then they represent influence. Right?
The good news is that Time Magazine announced its ‘Most Influential People for 2012’. In particular, PITAPOLICY honed in on those from the pita-consuming region, listed below, and are among the ‘Most Influential’ (this is in no particular order):
- Ali Ferzat-Cartoonist, Syria
- Samira Ibrahim-Plaintiff, Egypt
- Manal Al-Sharif-Activist, Saudi Arabia
- Maryam Durrani-Broadcaster, Afghanistan
- Rached Ghannouchi-Politician, Tunisia
- Asghar Farhadi-Filmmaker, Iran
- Ali Babacan & Ahmet Davutoglu-”Neo-Ottomans”: Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Turkey
- Hammad bin Jassem bin Jaber al-Thani-Prime Minister & Foreign Minister, Qatar
- Ayatullah Ali Al-Khamenei- Supreme Leader, Iran
- Iftikhar Chaudry-Chief Justice, Pakistan
The terms “influencer” or “influential” connote a heavy judgment. Simply put: Time’s yearly list not too far off from high school superlatives listed in a yearbook. Ideally, my personal heroes would be counted among the 100. However, in reality, whether we agree or not, the controversial exercise of voting “top 100 Influencers” provokes discussion. On a less cynical note, the list inspires a discussion on what I would argue is the root cause for determining influence: Freedom of the Press.
Freedom of the press–or the limits imposed–pushes certain narratives forward for the less influential (audience) to accept or reject. Conversely, the audience enjoys limited power through a feedback loop in repeating the narrative of the supposed influencer. Each media outlet that picks up the narrative, and hits repeat, reproduces the cycle. Voila: journalists turned bloggers note what’s ‘trending’ and repeat the narrative. Twitter users, as many have argued, choose to amplify the narrative or amend the narrative.
Before you know it: Time Magazine puts a call out to its audience simplifying a year of initiative to about 100 or so top narratives. In the end, the top narratives become influencers. This may be good, if you are hero to a society. This might be bad, if you start applying relativism and algorithms to check on the list. This is one interpretation. Other interpretations are welcome.
The bad news is that Freedom House released its “Freedom of the Press 2012” report, which focused on the Middle East & North Africa region (MENA) entitled, “Breakthroughs and Pushback in the Middle East” compiled by Karin Deutsch Karlekar and Jennifer Dunham. Specifically, the index assesses the 1) legal, 2) political, and 3) economic factors that influence print, broadcast and internet freedom.
Spoiler alert for the MENA region: more pushback is not necessarily a good thing in this case because censorship and press freedom still permeate many of the countries. When Saudi Arabia scores an 84, as it did this year, KSA didn’t earn a B- rating on its report card. For this index, the higher the score, the worse the performance.
True, the “Breakthrough” highlights how “In 2011, Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt improved to Partly Free as media freedom expanded with the fall of longtime dictators.” But I remember how a seasoned Egyptian-American journalist, Hanan Elbadry, worried out loud that self-censorship in Egypt has increased despite the revolutionary spirit, at a media panel in Washington, DC. As internet and mobile phone use balloons in the region, many MENA governments are adopting new means for controlling technologies that facilitate media freedom.
This region’s media environment underwent huge improvements in 2011, but it remained the worst-performing part of the world. Libya (60), Tunisia (51), and Egypt (57), all moved from ‘Not Free’ to ‘Partly Free’. Great news: recently Juan Cole described
Image from Roibal.com
Tunisia is “now freer than the US”. However, Bahrain (84 points) and Syria (89 points) both experienced declines in press freedom amid crackdowns on protest movements. Conditions in Iran are still extremely restrictive, with 42 journalists behind bars–the most of any country, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
On May 3rd, Bahrain revoked visas for an NGO (Freedom House) to conduct a site visit to follow up on previous recommendations. The recommendations were not implemented. Ironically, UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations began on May 3rd–in the MENA country of Tunisia.
I do not contest the report’s finding that MENA press sees a “significant net improvement”, but I see that for every Egypt moving forward in media freedom, there’s a Bahrain or two moving backward–and neutralizing the progress. Trends like this remind me that some of the top ‘Time Most Loveable Influencers’ in the region have been freely able to express themselves because they have emigrated from those environments limiting freedom expression, like Mohsen Makhmalbaf, among other great filmmakers.Those who were not so lucky and paid with their livelihoods: the Assad regime took revenge on Political Cartoonist, Ali Farzat, by breaking his hands.
Others are able to express themselves in spite of the environment–like Hammad binn Jassem bin Jaber al-Thani, who literally influences media since he is part of the three factors of production mentioned above: legal, political, and economic influence.
"the Assad regime took revenge on Political Cartoonist, Ali Farzat, by breaking his hands."
Are you kidding? Sounds like a scene from Cohen's "The Dictator", please don't tell Hanitizi.
Posted by Seagall | May 25, 2012, 12:48 pmSeriously, do you masturbate to Jewish-written anti-Muslim hate media or something?
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Posted by myluxuryshopping | September 24, 2012, 2:43 amIt is not a joke, I think, but we should be more attentive to details while reading this article.
Posted by flat in Minsk | January 24, 2013, 4:35 amMany Arabs are ignorant of the fact that Dictator Yasser Arafat ordered the murder of a Palestinian cartoonist in London:
"Mr al-Ali ignored the warning and published a cartoon lampooning Mr Arafat and his henchmen on 24 June. " http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/…
Posted by Mr. Seagall | May 29, 2012, 2:23 pmYou really need to spend more time doing research than just shitting on cars parked at the beach, mr. seagull.
Posted by Uncle Tom (Hanks) | May 30, 2012, 3:54 amYou mean this blog is a parked car? rusting on the beach?
Read the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/…
Posted by Mr. Seagall | May 30, 2012, 5:57 amConsidering there's only been three posts in the entire month of May. Seems likely. What the hell is going on Kabobfest? Where's the content??
Posted by Marc | June 5, 2012, 2:00 amLook at the comments section, it's being swarmed by anti-Arab / Islamophobic pseudo-Nazis. I'm guessing the blog writers have just gotten sick to death of confronting these hateful unthinking bigots day in, day out even on their own turf.
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Posted by acnesolution101 | September 24, 2012, 2:47 amAnd then there was that one waiter in Lillehammer! Oh wait…
Posted by Anonymouse | May 30, 2012, 9:05 amThat mistake is for you like Arafat and Assad killing people for their opinions?
Posted by Mr. Seagall | May 30, 2012, 2:58 pmArafat never killed anyone for his or her opinion. Prove otherwise. Speculation holds no merit for the record.
Posted by Mrs. Humpback Whale | May 31, 2012, 1:47 amPROOF?
Terrorist Yasser Arafat ordered the murder of a Palestinian cartoonist in London:
"Mr al-Ali ignored the warning and published a cartoon lampooning Mr Arafat and his henchmen on 24 June. " http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/…
Posted by Mr. Seagall | May 31, 2012, 4:27 amYou're seriously flaw in your thinking. No where in that article does it say "Yasser Arafat ordered the murder of Naji Ali."
In fact, all it DOES say is that someone close to Arafat called him and said: "You must correct your attitude."…."Don't say anything against the honest people, otherwise we will have business to sort you out," the caller continued.
Again —> SPECULATION
Posted by Mrs. Humpback Whale | May 31, 2012, 5:21 amHe was mocking Arafat just like Ferzat mocked Assad.
There is no proof that Assad ordered the beating of Ferzat, Assad denies it.
Arab dictators are so truthful.
Posted by Mr. Seagall | June 1, 2012, 5:25 amYeah, about as truthful as Jewish Nazis like you.
Posted by Anonymouse | June 1, 2012, 9:21 amBut you said and I quote:
"PROOF?
Terrorist Yasser Arafat ordered the murder of a Palestinian cartoonist in London"
Your argument holds no merit whatsoever because:
1) the source you listed even contradicts your own statement. It never explicitly says anywhere in the article that "terrorist" Arafat ordered the murder of a Palestinian cartoonist in Lond…in this example, Naji Ali.
2) Sure, Naji Ali was mocking Arafat. Just like most cartoonists mock their own and other political leaders. That has nothing to do with your bold proclamation that it Ali was murdered by Arafat.
3) If there was no proof, then its "speculation" or do you still not know what that means?
4) Of course Assad or Arafat or anyone else is going to deny a charge of murdering someone. Who really would want to admit that and accept the blame? Netanyahu still refuses to admit that his own commandos murdered 9 Turks in international water aboard a Turkish ship. Something that equates to the IDF acting like a loony bunch of pirates.
5) "Arab dictators are so truth"…right, because every single Israeli Prime Minister has been so truthful thus far too, right?
So…..again…..
Prove that Arafat ordered the murder of Naji Ali….or stfu.
Posted by Mrs. Humpback Whale | June 3, 2012, 2:16 amA mistake? Well, I can't argue with that — waging a campaign of terror and assassination across the European continent in the name of Jews worldwide was a HUGE mistake.
It's too bad more Jews don't, you know, condemn it as such.
Posted by Anonymouse | May 31, 2012, 9:15 amThey killed the PLO terrorists who massacred Israeli athletes in the Olympics, not "in the name of Jews worldwide".
Posted by Mr. Seagall | June 1, 2012, 5:23 amNo, they slaughtered dozens of Palestinians who were guests in European countries who had nothing to do with Munich. By, among other acts of terror, setting bombs in European streets. You're nothing but a Jewish terrorist. The extent of your bravery is skulking around with forged passports, and electrocuting people in hotel rooms.
Posted by Anonymouse | June 1, 2012, 9:22 amMurdering people whether justified or not…in a sovereign nation that has nothing to do with you, as the assassin, or the person you're assassinating through the use of smuggled arms, forged documents, and explosive devices is not only a threat to the citizens of these countries, its also VERY VERY ILLEGAL…and fits the exact characteristics of what the world generally regards as TERRORISM.
So basically the Mossad, Shin Bet and IDF are all just terrorists. Then again, what do you expect from organizations that were founded by the Irgun, Haganah, and the Stern Gang…all three militant terrorist groups that murdered Arabs and Brits in Palestine prior to 1948.
Posted by Kosher Bacon | June 3, 2012, 2:22 am"in a sovereign nation that has nothing to do with you"
You mean killing Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan was wrong? You call that "TERRORISM"? Are you a supporter of Bin Laden?
Posted by Mr. Seagall | June 4, 2012, 3:15 am1) Yes, that's terrorism. One man's defense is another man's offense.
2) Killing Osama Bin Laden is not only "TERRORISM," it's also murder. Innocent civilians were murdered along side Bin Laden. People who had nothing to do with 9/11. What would you say to the parents and families of those people? "Ooops?" In fact, forget that innocent people were killed. Forget that Bin Laden was murdered. The United States of America was founded on the concept of basic human and civil rights. Everyone…yes, including Osama Bin Laden…has the right to due process. To being represented in the United States or in an international criminal court. There's this little thing called "Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law." Yes, even Bin Laden has the right to a lawyer and to present his side in a court before a jury and a judge. By denying him that right and murdering him without right to due process is murder and terrorism…and it places the United States on the same level as the terrorists it supposedly seeks to stop. Funny how Obama didn't think that one out. Obama and Osama are actually just one little letter away from each other, aren't they?
3) I don't support Bin Laden. I support human and civil rights, regardless of the context. If you can't agree with that then you're the one with the problem, not me.
4) Yes, going into a sovereign nation…or a hotel in the Persian Gulf…using it as your playground to murder people with smuggled weapons and using fake documents is and again I say this….ILLEGAL and amounts to TERRORISM.
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