by RAMZI BAROUD
A cameraman covering conflict in Egypt, 2013 PHOTO/Al Jazeera
It has been recently announced that Arab ‘media experts’ plan to ‘celebrate’ Arab Media Day on April 21, 2016. The theme for the first day, of what is meant to be an annual tradition, is: “The Role of the (Arab) Media in Combatting Terrorism”.
The mockery is surely multi-faceted. One is the clearly politicized choice of the theme of the proposed event. The term ‘terrorism’ is a political one, and is rarely applied to violence committed by Arab regimes: it only applies to their detractors.
Another is the fact that the committee of ‘experts’ which made the decision was itself appointed by the Council of Arab foreign ministers in their Cairo meeting last May. The Council operates under the ineffectual and mostly ceremonial Arab League.
Of course, various Arab countries are enthusiastically planning to join the ‘celebrations’ with some, unscrupulously, emphasizing the importance of the ‘combatting terrorism’ theme, for obvious reasons: positioning themselves as victims of terror, never as purveyors of violence. The event – as most other common themes in Arab media – is likely to tout rulers as the saviors of nations, and condemn their detractors as terrorists, terrorism sympathizers or potential terrorists.
In reality, Arab media has little to celebrate. If anything, Arabs should lament the moral malaise afflicting their media, whether official, semi-official, independent or opposition. This is not to mention the hundreds of useless, glossy magazines that objectify women, belittle the social challenges facing Arab societies, and embrace western globalization as if Arabs only exist to consume, but not to think independently or critically.
If April 21 is to be of any value at all, it should be a day of candid discussion about urgent and practical steps required to escape the complete collapse of credibility under which most Arab media has prevailed since the so-called Arab Spring in the last four-and-a-half years.
As someone who has spent over two decades working in Arab and international media spaces, written about topics related to the Middle East, in general, and engaged in issues concerning the Arab world specifically, I wish to put forward a few suggestions for consideration by the organizers of Arab media committee:
Violence, Not Terrorism
Terms such as ‘al-irhab’ (terrorism) and ‘al-ta’asub’ (extremism) are often lobbed by Arab media in all of its platforms for a specific political end: demonizing the other. Instead, the term ‘al-‘unf’ (violence) should be used and confronted, regardless of who the party responsible for acts of violence is. While the State is often granted monopoly on violence through conveniently enacted laws, this monopoly is not meant to be used so nonchalantly and without an iota of accountability, as is currently the case.
Toward Freedom for more