Everyone in the Arab world, including its present leaders, recognise that major change is needed, is urgent and cannot be resisted much longer. The courage of the young people campaigning across the region for their political and economic rights, and perhaps above all for their dignity, has won widespread admiration all over the world.
The change achieved so far in Egypt and Tunisia is fragile but promising; most importantly, it has given millions of people hope. Desmond Tutu, our chair, embraced the spirit and method of the protest movement in a Twitter message: "Brothers & sisters of #Egypt, you have given the world the most precious gift: the belief that ultimately right will prevail." He seemed to strike a chord - the message was re-tweeted by thousands of people.
The young in Egypt and Tunisia are still mobilized. They see that their achievements, though remarkable, are far from complete. Many, perhaps most of them, consider that if the old order has gone, a new, better one is still struggling to firmly establish itself.
| May 3: World Press Freedom Day |
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| Cartoon courtesy Michel Cambon WAN-IFRA |
They have been shocked, for example, by the court martial and three-year imprisonment of an Egyptian blogger for his criticisms of the military. They are rightly disturbed by reports of arrests, disappearances and torture of fellow activists since the transitional government, led by the Supreme Military Council, was formed. They see that websites reporting such incidents are being blocked and old laws are being used to try to silence critics.
A culture of accountability will not be achieved overnight, despite the detention of former President Mubarak and high profile corruption cases against several ministers. Some journalists have acknowledged that under current circumstances, the old habit of self-censorship has not disappeared completely.
What happens in Egypt matters. The country has traditionally played a leading role both in the Arab world and in Africa. People are looking to Cairo to steer this wind of change in the right direction. The broad popular effort to establish a truly representative government, if allowed to run its course effectively, will liberate strong forces for the rebuilding of Egypt itself and send a powerful signal throughout the region.
Already it is clear that the wave of demand for real, not cosmetic, change is being resisted through the use of excessive, unacceptable force in Yemen, Libya and Syria. In Bahrain, legitimate demands for freedom and equality have led to dangerous regional tensions.
In the longer term, the impact of the Arab Spring will be hard to contain. Indeed, it is already clear that an important outcome of the peoples' revolutions will be an irreversible gain in freedom of expression - for ordinary citizens and the media. New media ventures are already springing up and we hope there are more.
Greater access to information and engagement by ordinary people in decisions affecting their lives is essential to resolving their underlying sources of grievance including unemployment and inequality. The growing demand for justice should energize international efforts to achieve, at long last, a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As we have seen repeatedly throughout the world, censorship and control of information serves the interest of the privileged few; the rule of law is negatively affected, human rights ignored and impunity and corruption unchecked.
In contrast, a free, diverse and responsible media promotes transparency and accountability, informs public debate and helps to ensure governments address the concerns and aspirations of all citizens.
There is no room for complacency.
National constitutions and international treaties may guarantee freedom of expression but the reality on the ground is often different. Millions of people around the world live in countries where the flow of information is tightly controlled, censorship is routine and freedom of expression discouraged or worse. Restrictive defamation laws preventing criticism are all too common.
This is still largely true in the Middle East and North Africa. One recent survey suggests that three out of four people in the region live without any free press at all - and only one in 20 enjoys access to completely free media.
In the latest Press Freedom Index from Reporters without Borders, only Lebanon figures in the top 80 countries. In contrast, Iran, Syria and Yemen all feature in the bottom ten.
Repressive regimes everywhere are finding it much harder to control the flow of information. Where security forces have tried to close down the internet, people are often quick to find ways around the censors. The economy needs the internet too; regimes are learning that shutting down the web affects the entire country.
This does not mean that expressing views through the new media is without risk. Bloggers, campaigners and journalists have been identified and targeted through social media. They have been victims of intimidation, assaults, arrests and even killings. We should all speak out about these abuses, call for the immediate release of those jailed and demand that countries pay more than lip service to the freedom of expression they have guaranteed.
World Press Freedom Day provides us with the opportunity to reflect on the importance of a free media in fulfilling ambitions of humankind for a fairer world. We need to redouble our efforts to deliver its protections and benefits for everyone who shares our planet.
- Courtesy http://www.worldpressfreedomday.org
(Martti Ahtisaari is the former President of Finland and a Nobel Laureate. Lakhdar Brahimi is the former Foreign Minister of Algeria and former UN Special Envoy. Both are members of The Elders www.theElders.org)
New media: problems and prospects
In a recent international media seminar, one speaker stressed the potential role of cell phones and the Internet in general and texting and tweeting in particular as dynamic new elements of "breaking news" citizens journalism across the globe. But he had not imagined the revolutionary role of SMS, Twitter and Facebook in triggering and sustaining democratic political change in closed and repressive societies.
We witnessed this phenomenon in Pakistan two years ago when thousands of young lawyers and civil rights activists armed with furiously tweeting cell phones galvanized the media and public to overthrow a military dictator and help install an independent judiciary.
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| Cartoon courtesy Michel Cambon WAN-IFRA |
More recently, the new citizen's media has unleashed the most significant revolutionary upheaval in the Middle-East since the revolutions of the 18th and 19th century changed the balance of power in Europe.
The best part of these new media tools is that they are cheap, universal, pro-democracy, pro-freedom and pro-liberty. Indeed, not since the printing press was invented and the Word became free locally has such a swift transformation of the force of the Word taken place so globally.
An era of citizen journalism and free media is upon us and this will have far-reaching consequences for democracy and accountability.
But the news about the new media is not universally positive. Two examples from South Asia explain why it can sometimes become part of the problem rather than the solution.
The Niira Radia Tapes case in India last year revealed an unholy nexus between big businessmen, powerful politicians, manipulative lobbyists and influential journalists. "Particularly disturbing were the moves to use media persons for help to influence decisions by the government and leadership of the ruling dispensation on crucial issues like the composition of the Union Cabinet," remarked media watchdog South Asia Media Commission.
No less disturbing were determined efforts by mainstream media to block the story. Initially, only a handful of mainstream newspapers covered it and commented on it. Others skirted the issue.
"The authenticity of these transcripts cannot be ascertained", they said. One senior TV anchor assembled a panel of experts on a popular nationwide programme to discuss whether corporate lobbying was undermining democracy but chose to play safe by avoiding the crux of the matter and not naming names.
The news only gained prominence following sustained pressure on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook against the mainstream print and TV media blackout.
When the scandal began trending as number one topic on Twitter in India, the Washington Post remarked: "Twitter has played an important role in launching what has become an international conversation on the issue, with the Indian diaspora weighing in". In the event, the Radia tapes made a big dent in the image of the media in the country.
Pakistan's powerful media have also opposed the war against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban waged by the West despite a formal strategic relationship between Pakistan and the US endorsed by the mainstream political parties and the military establishment of the country.
Most journalists insist that this is America's war and not Pakistan's war and argue that if American troops were to withdraw from Afghanistan, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda would simply melt away. "No Muslim can commit acts of terrorism against fellow Muslims", they insist.
Such misplaced thinking is a result of three decades of enforced Islamisation in the body politic and education system of the country during the US-Pak sponsored jihad against the USSR in the 1980s, followed by the rise of anti-Americanism in Pakistan after the US exited from the region in 1989 at the end of the cold war and heavily sanctioned Pakistan for continuing to develop nuclear weapons.
The situation is alarming not only because it serves to nurture and sustain terrorism in the country but also because the passion and outrage is often directed at liberal and secular journalists in the country who don't subscribe to the Pan-Islamist views of their colleagues.
Allegations of "CIA agents" and "American Spies" in the vernacular media echo no less frequently than similar charges in the Al-Qaeda-Taliban theatre of war in North Waziristan where such targeted people are routinely attacked, beheaded and butchered.
Increasingly, the Pakistani media are becoming a non-state political actor with passionate likes and dislikes in aggressively shaping domestic and foreign policy, including attempts at destabilizing economy and electoral politics by advocating "regime change" and "bloody Islamic revolution".
All these contradictory manifestations of the new media are, however, inevitable consequences of the rise of new media technologies, sudden winning of media freedoms and proliferation of satellite and cable television. In time to come, they will surely be tempered by the demands of the economy and democracy and learn to become as responsible and accountable as the other pillars of the modern nation state.
Courtesy Najam Sethi and WAN-IFRA
Najam Sethi is the Editor-in-Chief of the Friday Times and the Daily Times in Pakistan and is the 2009 laureate of WAN-IFRA's Golden Pen of Freedom. Najam Sethi advocates liberal and secular ideas in a country too-often torn by religious extremism and strives for the defence and promotion of press freedom under difficult circumstances and constant personal danger. Here he discussesthe problems and prospects of new media in his region and beyond. |
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