 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 March 2000 Issue No. 474 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 March 2000 Issue No. 474
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Media mania
By Salama Ahmed Salama
Does founding a free zone for the media imply a genuine renaissance? Are the studios, satellite transmission stations, news agencies and improved press services sufficient to create an industry powerful enough to compete with or even stand up to international media networks? Are millions of pounds in investments, a little bureaucratic wheel-greasing, pretty female anchors and a few programmes that can be purchased here or there all it takes to precipitate a revolution in the media, bringing it up to scratch with the latest developments in information technology and satellite communications?
These are questions that resonate throughout the Arab world, which for the past few weeks has been showing signs of an unprecedented (and unjustified) competitive mania, one that has whetted the appetite of a number of disparate bodies -- state-owned media agencies, new businessmen looking for investment opportunities, television channels with as much practical experience as debts and losses and media personalities of all kinds looking in vain for a free work environment.
In Egypt, the founding of a free media zone, to be operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Information, was recently announced. This zone aims to attract Arab networks that transmit from London or Rome, as well as businessmen who, it is hoped, will transfer their activities to the new media zone. The project, however, and has aroused suspicion and numerous reservations.
In Jordan a similar project was debated vehemently in parliament. It hit a stumbling block, however, when participants discussed the extent of actual control. Suspicions centred around possible pressure on Jordan's relations with other Arab countries and the question of what the government is ultimately willing to put up with. These fears caused the project to be postponed after the emergence of ideas similar to those that have been mooted in Egypt, such as a "code of honour" binding all those responsible for the emergent institutions -- an elastic concept that depends on the state's interpretation.
Whatever the consequences of these plans, their ultimate success or failure depends on whether or not the states in which they operate will impose a cut-off point beyond which they are not free to broadcast, and whether or not these states can stop fearing freedom of the press. Can governments contain all their sensitivities concerning the possible impact of such freedom?
There is no indication that the winds of democracy are blowing in any direction. We have not heard of free elections or other changes that could allow these media projects to work without restrictions, and ministries of information have not been abolished the way they have been in the rest of the world. What is even more important is the question of where these networks will find the experience required for undertaking the work. Such experience only exists in societies where journalists do not fear for their income and life -- societies that can encourage media personalities to be innovative.
Establishing an infrastructure, setting up new channels and building new studios are not enough, no matter how much money is spent. Free zones do not necessarily create a free media, and, in the absence of a system for the protection of freedoms, within the framework of an open, democratic political system, the media will remain an overcrowded and stifling bazaar, which viewers will flee as fast and furiously as they can.
