Arab media hobbled by reputation

When the communication revolution swept through the Arab world, it broke down barriers and erased the borders of old. But even after this "Arab opening", many Arab media personalities continued to lament their lack of freedom, claiming that their shortcomings in the media world are due to the censorship and restrictions put in place by the governments and bureaucracies of their countries.

It is well-known that governments are not usually filled with angels. It is also well-known that the relationship between the government and the media is not always cosy. Because politics was, is, and will remain based on authority and power. Politicians know the important role the media plays in achieving political goals, and wish they could employ the media to help achieve those goals — without too much headache or hassle at that.

Antagonistic relationship

Therefore, the antagonistic relationship between the government and the media does not fully explain the problem of Arab media.

What, then, is the real problem?

The problem is that the field grew exponentially in a very short period. Because of this, there was no time to prepare the vast number of specialists and trained personnel needed to work in this sensitive and critical field.

Everyone knows that just a decade ago, what we call "Arab media" was nothing more than a small club of several hundred government-sponsored workers. The best qualification of people who made it into this limited field was the ability to echo the state's official line. The better they did this, the higher positions they got.

What does this mean? It means that those who were supposed to be the pioneers of the media industry were actually the people farthest from this field.

Then suddenly, the Arab world experienced a rapid opening in media and society. Within a few years, the Arab media had grown, at least in terms of numbers if not content, into a giant industry that required thousands upon thousands of specialists.

But providing those specialists was almost impossible, as there were few journalism and media departments in universities across the Arab world that taught the professional principles of the field. Moreover, few people considered going into these fields, as they were viewed to be jobs for those who did nothing more than blindly support, if not become complicit in, the rule of unjust governments.

But regardless. All these jobs had to be filled. Hundreds of newspapers, magazines, radio stations, satellite networks — they all needed people to get them started and keep them running.

Credentials

Very quickly, Arab media became a career of last resort, for people who could not do well at any other job. Whereas to be a doctor one needed a medical degree, an engineer an engineering degree, and a teacher a teaching degree, entering the field of Arab media required no such credentials. Arab media became a hub for anyone who wanted a job but not the years of training that were necessary for it.

Entering and rising in the field became based on personal connections (the notorious Arabic word wasta), much more so than any other career path in the Arab world.

Little by little, the field filled up with media models that would make any educated person cringe, focusing on flashy glitz and glamour to cover up the lack of meaningful content. Thus, what should have been an aberration in the media world became the norm.

It is true that the last decade of Arab opening brought forth energy from the media and communication realms that had been suffocated in earlier times.

It is also true that this opening allowed for the emergence of some Arab media organisations that are starting to reach international standards of excellence. But these excelling organisations and media people are the exception in an Arab media environment characterised by favouritism and disorder.

Recently, hundreds of Arab professionals gathered to attend Dubai's ninth Arab Media Forum. There, the discussions on the obstacles facing the growth and refinement of the Arab media showed once again that there is much room for improvement in this field.

It became clear that in order for the Arab media to be truly professional, honouring itself and its audience, it would have to face its underlying problem: its reputation as a career of last resort. If it does so, it will soon overcome the obstacles. Or, at the very least, it will be able to play a role in the Arab world that is infinitely more progressive than the role it is playing today.

Dr Wael Merza is a freelance journalist and media analyst. He works from Dubai and the US.