New Blog

If you are interested in health journalism, visit my new blog:

www.notesfromharvard.blogspot.com

New Media: New Opportunities

Read on Global Media Journal: New Media, New Opportunities: the Role of the Internet in Empowering NGOs in the Arab World (Arabic)

www.aucegypt.edu/academic/gmj/06F/Unrefreed_yomna.html

Arab Media Forum 2007

Under the theme, “Developing People, Developing Organizations”, Dubai Press Club is organizing the fifth Arab Media Forum on April 24th and 25th at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

For Arab Media Forum 2007 Programme 24, 25 April 2007, visit http://www.dpcmediaforum.com

An image from 'Control Room', a worth-watching documentary on Al-Jazeera news channel

US-Arab Publics: Minding the Gap

With a Qatari plan to launch an English-language satellite television in mid 2004 and a US project of an Arabic-language television network targeting the Middle East end of the year, the Arab and American publics might be experiencing another war, but this time to win their hearts and minds.

The ‘Information War’, as some media experts like to call it, comes in response to augmented concerns of both sides (the Arabs and the US) about their deteriorating images following the 9-11 attacks and the latest war against the former Iraqi regime.

Al-Jazeera in English

A Western media campaign against the Arab countries triggered by a long list of Arab members of Al-Qaeda network made the Arab governments more apprehensive about their image. The Arab League held several meetings and called for Arab cooperation to revamp their image in the West, but nothing fruitful came out of their summits and calls.

Leaning on the success of the Qatari Al-Jazeera, the Qatari government seems to be taking the initiative and acting alone towards better international understanding of the Arab causes and problems. A senior broadcaster at Al-Jazeera head office in the Qatari capital, Doha, told Cairo Times the Qatari government is planning to launch an English language channel, but that will not before mid 2004. “It will not be an English version of the current Al-Jazeera, but it will be independent, while co-operating with Al-Jazeera in Arabic.”

“It became clear the importance of addressing the Western mentality in a more persuasive way and more Western style while using a common language. The Arabs realized that this would help explain and defend themselves against what they consider a wave of hatreds and misunderstanding,” he said.

Al-Jazeera already has its English-language web site working since March. According to the BBC online, the site is ranked the eighth among the most searched news sites.

“After 9-11 it seemed there is an urgent need to bridge the gap between two worlds apart: the West and the Middle East. Each side wanted to reach out and talk to the other in a way, which is more convincing: talking the same language,” he said.

Beside Al-Jazeera’s sister English TV, some Arab satellite TV channels have started to offer some programs targeting English speakers. The Middle East Broadcasting Center, MBC, has launched MBC2 (Al-Thaniya), an English language entertainment channel with a daily news program that includes the day’s news and interviews with guests. The Dubai-based Al-Majd television has an English service channel presenting programs mainly about Islam.

America Speaks Arabic

Likewise, during its war on Afghanistan and then on Iraq, the US government felt Al-Jazeera’s and other Arabic channels’ airing of fighting have been drawing people’s wrath against the US in the Arab world. Senior US officials have repeatedly asked the Qatari ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, to use his influence to tone down Al-Jazeera’s news coverage. The station, however, seems to continue its policy hosting anti-American political commentators and analysts and exposing the Arab public’s anti-American sentiment. For this, winning the hearts and minds of the Arabs and Muslims has become a necessity particularly with an American open-ended existence in Iraq.

The AFP reported in February that the US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an autonomous agency that overseas US-funded broadcasts abroad, has allocated 30 million dollars to start up the Middle East Television Network.

The network is part of the State Department’s efforts to influence the Arab public opinion and it will help “overcome problems faced by Washington in coaxing Arab governments to air American official ads in state-run Arab channels and TV networks,” reported FreeRepulic.com, an American online news forum.

“Specific details of the new network were not immediately available although it is intended to be a companion to Radio Sawa, a new Arabic-language broadcasting service initiated by the BBG last year to provide news and entertainment to listeners in the Middle East,” it stated.

The US State Department also hired a veteran marketing expert, Charlotte Beers, to take over the task of buffing up the American image in the Middle East. According to the site, “Beers’ campaign relies on all forms of communication from the Internet to television. Her office will next target Islamic youth with a magazine and an education science and technology television show designed for 12-20 year old Egyptians.”

“Self interest or, as it is often said, to win “the hearts and minds” of people in the Middle East and Moslem world. Through the establishment of satellite TV, radio broadcasts, and Arabic publications, the American Administration will be able to override the Middle East media by directly disseminating its pre-packaged version of news and information,” says professor Yahya Kamalipour, head of the Department of Communication and Creative Arts at Purdue University in Indiana.

Kamalipour envisages an information war in full swing “as the US communication strategists (propagandists) are poised to influence the Arab and Muslim public opinion.” He believes Al-Jazeera has become a powerful medium of global communication and its increasing popularity has motivated the Bush Administration to counter it, as well as other exiting and emerging Arabic satellite TV channels, by starting new TV channels aimed at the Arab World.

“In fact, the Bush administration is engaged in a global communication campaign to mend the increasingly negative global perception of the US and to appease the approximately 1.3 billion Muslims throughout the world,” Kamalipour explains.

Marwan Kraidy, professor of international communication at the American University in Washington, thinks the US government has a certain political agenda for the Middle East; however, its success could not be based only on communication campaigns. “Most of the Arab audiences do understand and appreciate facets of US culture and society, but reject US foreign policy in the Middle East, with the Palestinian cause serving as a lighting rod.

“This is a very tricky issue, but in this age of abundant information, no power can redraw maps and changes geopolitics in secret. So, that will be a fascinating issue, and media war to observe,” Kraidy says.

Kamalipour agrees that action always speaks louder than words. “The best propaganda techniques, the most sophisticated marketing campaigns, the most professionally packaged media messages, and glittery publications will not work until and unless people in the US and throughout the world see meaningful and tangible positive economic, social and political results in their daily lives,” he says.

Al-Jazeera’s senior broadcaster also agrees it will take the US administration more than a TV channel to gain the trust of Arabs who will doubt the content of such a channel once he receives it because of the uncertainties about the US policies in the region.

“Unless the US TV channel-Arabic service addresses Arabs in a way which understands its cultural background and traditions- which is an important factor to gain success and win the hearts and minds of Arab viewers, it will be a waste of time and money,” he says.

Yomna Kamel

( an edited version of the report appeared in the Egyptian news weekly Cairo Times)
Cairo Times

Online Opposition

Arab opposition uses net to skirt censorship

An on-line Libyan opposition newsletter repeatedly calls for the overthrow of Qadhafi's regime, another on-line paper fiercely attacks the Saudi royal family, and a third reveals the Tunisian government's repressive practice.

Propagating their political views while circumventing government intervention, Arab opposition groups began launching on-line media sites in the early 1990s. But how successful are they in transmitting their opinions with Arab regimes mounting efforts to curb the free use of the "Information Super Highway" and with illiteracy and the high cost of the technology severely limiting access?

With all Arab countries allowing open access to the Internet, Arab opposition groups deemed it the best medium for spreading their political views as it is difficult to censor.

Although most Arab opposition groups are aware that their on-line sites are not yet popular as well as being not easily accessible to the majority of Arab public, they seem optimistic about the future. They carefully watch, however, their governments' increasing efforts to control the Internet.

A recently released report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) titled: 'The Internet in the Middle East and North Africa: Free Expression and Censorship' says "some governments in the region have taken a more hands-off attitude toward the Internet- even as they enforce laws that curb other means of expression. This has created paradoxical situations in Egypt and Jordan, where newspapers or articles that the authorities censored became quickly available on-line without repercussions for those who read, posted, or forwarded them."

Abdel Bari Atwan, editor in chief of the London based daily Al Quds Al Arabi, thinks the Internet has pushed some Arab regimes to adopt more flexible media policies. He says his paper resumed distribution in Jordan after being banned for few months in 1998 for publishing articles attacking Jordan's policies. The Jordanian Ministry of Information rescinded its initial decision after the paper published its Internet address in several Arab and Jordanian papers, Atwan added.

A number of Arab countries including Algeria, Morocco, and the Palestinian Authority have not made any effort so far to control on-line content, which allows Internet users to obtain access to political and human rights information that the local print and broadcast media cannot publish, the HRW report states.

Tunisian Islamists publish their monthly newsletter Tunisia Insight on-line. They say they have launched an on-line newsletter due to the "lack of independent sources of information offering impartial news and analysis of the Tunisian situation on various levels: political, socio-economic and human rights. This is due the Tunisian government's absolute control of local media transforming it simply into a tool to enhance its image inside the country and abroad."

The Algerian Front Islamique due Salut (FIS), among numerous Web sites launched by banned Islamist groups, can be easily visited. Also, Moroccans can obtain access to information disseminated by the Polisario Front on the World Wide Web, HRW reported in June.

Meanwhile, in countries with more restrictive political regimes, the Internet is
seen as a real political threat.

"Governments have adopted various means to restrict the flow of information on-line. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates impose censorship via proxy servers, devices that are interposed between the end-user and the Internet in order to filter and block specified content," the HRW says in its report.

The Saudi opposition groups top the list of Arab opposition Web sites in terms of their numbers and the quality of service they offer. Among these are the Committee against Corruption in Saudi Arabia (CACSA) and the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA).

According to CACSA's on-line newsletter, "A British company called JBB Consultancy Systems installed a monitoring and policing system in Saudi Arabia that filters objectionable sites. The 'Net Map' system also traces user patterns by identifying how often sites on the Web are visited and by spotting the movement of information. Through the use of a 'collection' device attached to the main telephone line and an alarm signal, the authorities can be alerted each time forbidden information is called up."

Internet still has limited reach

Yet, for some media researchers, the impact of the 'Information Super Highway' on the political arena in the Middle East might not be as great as some Arab governments think. Other factors must be taken into consideration. A substantial percentage of the Arab public is illiterate and has a low standard of living. For these people, gaining access to the Internet is not a high priority.

According to statistics released in May 1999 by Nua, Ltd., an information technology company, there are only 880,000 Internet users in the Middle East (including Israel) out of 165 million users world wide.

Not only is the equipment expensive, but most of the Web is in English, according to Ahmed Al Guday, media researcher at the American University in Cairo.

"In a country like Egypt with an illiteracy rate of 48 percent and limited financial potentials, only thousands out of more than 65 million Egyptians have access to the Internet. We should also take into consideration that a good percentage of people don't read English."

Hussein Amin, professor of mass communication at the American University in Cairo believes that limited Internet access keeps opposition groups weak. "On-line opposition papers do not form a threat to the Arab government and will not for some time. [There are] still many obstacles, like affordability and illiteracy, hindering such a kind of media from reaching the masses."

Among the hindrances to Internet access are the high prices of telephone lines, Internet service providers, and computers.

"Not all people can afford to buy a PC [personal computer] and even if they can, not all of them know how to use the Internet. We are talking about the mass of people who are not well paid and can hardly afford to buy more than one newspaper. Internet seems a kind of luxury for them," said Amin.

Most of those who frequently read on-line opposition papers are media researchers or students interested in media and politics, he explains.

Professor Jerrold Green of the University of California, Los Angeles, agreed adding that security and moral concerns stirred many Arab governments towards restricting access. Even if people manage to get Internet access, Green somewhat pessimistically concludes, Internet-based opposition groups have a long way to go.

"What significance may they have if local people notably, can but [choose not to] look at them?"

Yomna Kamel (Middle East Times, Cairo)

Dreams need planning to come true


When the first privately owned Arab satellite television, ART, experienced serious financial problems and had to sack dozens of its Italy-based staff few years ago, some media analysts expected that Arab businessmen would be reluctant to venture into similar visual media projects.

Yet, a couple of Saudi business tycoons who are connected to the Saudi royal family risked their money in another two television networks, the Orbit and the MBC. Though well funded by the Saudi petro-dollars, the three stations have been striving to survive since they were established in the early 1990s.

For Egyptian businessmen, the experience of investing in private channels is not entirely different. Until recently, the Egyptian government was reluctant to license for privately owned television channels leaving the Arab air dominated by the Saudi businessmen and the state-run television channels.

But with a sudden change in the government's attitude after the launch of the Nilesat 102 and the expansion of the Media Production City at the October 6 City, a good number of Egyptian businessmen and politicians competed to win licenses for television channels.

Taken by their enthusiasm for a business that has been shuttered for the private sector for decades, early signs of their financial situations indicate that the owners of the new channels rushed and risked their money without carefully studying the media market and their future opportunities of survival.

Three new private satellite channels, Dream TV 1 and 2 and Al Mehwar, were granted licenses in 2001 and started transmission via the Nilesat 102, marking a new era of Egypt's television industry.

The Dream TV 1 and 2 are owned by Ahmed Bahgat, an Egyptian businessman whose activities include electronics manufacturing, real estate and eventually TV business. Al Mehwar is a joint stock company owned by a number of Egyptian businessmen headed by Hassan Rateb, an investor in tourism projects in Sinai.

Marking the inauguration of Al Mehwar, the Minster of Information, Safwat A1 Sherif said, “We shall support the private sector in its first experiment, at their own request. We shall support the experiment with all our abilities particularly as the private sector realizes the difficulty of this experiment. The media industry is difficult and costly and needs the experience of long years.”

The Egyptian Radio and Television Union, ERTU, owns around 15 % of both channels. The ERTU’s contribution comes in forms of media materials and free use of the Media Production City’s studios.

Such a limited government support seems not helping much the infant channels since media analysts have noticed early signs of financial mal-performance and expressed doubts about their ability to be profitable.

A freelance television producer, who wished to remain anonymous, said just a year after it was launched, the Dream TV has already been experiencing financial problems and started cutting down some jobs.

“The story of other Arab private televisions seems to repeat itself. Rumors are widespread in the media community that the Saudi business giant, Al Waleed bin Talal, might venture in the Dream TV to provide financial backing, but nothing is confirmed,” she said.

Though admitting that it is not making profit at the moment, Dream TV general manager, Osama El Shiekh, said the channels are not experiencing financial problems and Ahmed Bahgat is still the sole owner of Dream TV.

“The television business is a long term investment. We have a plan to start making profit in three years time. The one-year old channels have succeeded to gain a good segment of the Arab audience by its mixture of entertainment on Dream 1 and serious programs on Dream 2,” Al Sheikh said.

Denying reports that Dream TV is depending only on the owner’s advertisements, Al Sheikh said the channels attract other advertisers and by next month they will be having more advertisements. An international company has just signed an agreement with Dream TV to run the advertising business for the channels, he added.

Passant Hassan, an announcer at Al Mehwar Television, however, said both channels experience financial problems. “Some staff are not paid their salaries and others get them very late,” she said. Changes in the channels’ management staff might be the reason for not being paid on time. Some of Dream’s staff already left the channel to join Al Mehwar.

Not getting enough advertisements might be another reason.

“At the moment, both Ahmed Bahgat and Hassan Rateb are using their channels primarily to advertise for their projects. They have had enough of advertisements on the local televisions’ screens and now they want to reach the foreign markets through their satellite channels, she said. “ It is their right to take up most of the channels’ time to serve their cause. Advertisements about their projects are given prime times and more frequency than those of external advertisers. This is quite discouraging for other advertisers.”

Early indications of financial problems facing the new private channels, in some media analysts’ points of views, reflect a chronic problem facing the private television industry in the Arab world.

“Sources of revenues for the private televisions, which are advertising and or paid subscriptions, do not cover the cost of their production. For free to air channels, the situation is more difficult since they depend mainly on advertising,” Professor Hamdy Hassan, Dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication at the Misr International University said.

Taking into account that both Dream and Al Mehwar are not pay- televisions, Hassan said they depend on advertisements and the call-in competitions. For those two sources of revenues to work, the channels have been trying to build up viewership. With its light entertainment programs, Dream has succeeded to attract more audience and advertisers than Al Mehwar, he added.

Apparently, these two sources do not cover the production cost of the channels’ programs though most of them are of the low-budget talk shows that fill in hours of transmission. Their failure to attract advertisers can be traced back to reasons related to the channel itself and others related to the market.

“Being a satellite channel does not encourage both the local advertisers and the international ones who are targeting Egyptian consumers. Advertisers do not want to place their advertisements on satellite channels favoring Egyptian local channels that reach millions of Egyptians,” a senior advertising executive at Tarek Nour Communications said.

There is a demand from some clients to have their products advertised on Dream TV since it has considerable number of viewers, but still it is a limited demand comparing to the Egyptian local channels though the channel is offering reduced rates for commercials.

Inaccurate rating of Egyptian and Arab televisions is another problem that leaves advertisers unsure how best to target viewers, he said

Adding to this, Hassan said, without having an identity or a “character” that attracts viewers and advertisers, the channels would not survive. “While Dream TV has managed to create an identity for itself focusing on the entertainment business in the first place, Al Mehwar, though seems more serious, is still looking for one, a thing that is quite discouraging for both viewers and advertisers.”

Not having an identity or a character reveals that neither feasibility studies nor planning policies had been adopted before they were launched.

“Who is their targeted audience, what is the expected cost and what are the sources of funding? All those questions should have been answered before the new private channels started transmission,” Jihan Rachty, former Dean of Cairo University’s Faculty of Mass Communication said.

Part of the problem of planning is determining the targeted viewers. Owners of the new satellite channels should realize that only 12% of the Egyptian people have satellite dishes. “Unfortunately, some businessmen venturing in media projects are looking for prestige and control. They are not interested in the business itself. That is why they do not have serious plans for such projects,” Rachty said.

The channels’ early problems could be part of an economic slump the Arab economies and the media market experience. Arab advertisers’ spending is declining too as a result of the current economic slump.

A report released by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy revealed that financing is a primary challenge facing the satellite television industry in the Arab world.

“ With annual costs in the tens of millions of dollars, few if any satellite television stations in the Arab world are turning a profit. Some have business plans, which rely on advertising revenue alone (so-called "free to air" channels), while others encode their transmissions and require a proprietary decoder and the payment of a monthly fee. Such fees, which run in the range of $10-$30/month and up, put satellite television beyond the reach of many in the region,” Jon B. Alterman said in the report.

At the present time, Alterman added, “the Arab advertising market appears too weak to allow a broad variety of free-to-air systems to prosper. The market is growing, however, and television spending is growing faster than the overall market.”

Commenting on the Egyptian experience, Jihad Fakhr El Din, head of the Dubai based Arab Media Research Center said, “TV privatization in Egypt comes at a time when the pan Arab market is extremely crowded. Even the major players in this market are suffering, both financial and audience losses.”

However, Fakhr El Din said there are many positive indications that the privately owned Egyptian TV channels are able to establish a foothold in the market.

“Well-thought out product concepts are required in order to capitalize on this initial success. One major limitation needs to be surmounted. Will they want to position themselves as Egyptian channels targeting the Egyptian market, or reaching out with a wider net, and that is the pan Arab market?”

Yomna Kamel