[Swprograms] [Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz] The satellite dish - a midwife for democracy

[Joel Rubin <jmrubin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/553138.html

By Danny Rubinstein

One familiar event in past military coups in the Arab world was the
immediate takeover of state radio and television stations. This was
done at the outset, to fully control the media. The desire to
establish a monopoly over the information that reached the citizenry
was not limited to Arab countries alone. Totalitarian regimes
everywhere made sure that information would first be filtered and
reviewed by a censor or by the official news agency. Most of the media
was owned or controlled by the authorities, or subject to "official
guidance." In many places, this is still largely true.
But for several years there have been academic and political
discussions in the Arab world about what happens when the authorities
can no longer fully supervise the media. The discussions are usually
associated with the Al Jazeera television station, based in the
Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar. The station's slogan - "The opinion and
the other opinion" - has long signaled dramatic changes.

There are now some 10 Arab television stations using new-generation
satellites to broadcast news and current affairs programs 24 hours a
day. Modern technology enables whoever so wishes to obtain any
information via radio broadcasts, satellite dishes and the Internet.

The totalitarian regime's monopoly over the media and over the
information that reaches citizens has totally collapsed. The question
that can now be asked is: How do the regimes in such places as Saudi
Arabia, Yemen, Syria and the Gulf Emirates, and even in Egypt and
Jordan, survive without the option of controlling the media?

Several years ago when the subject was first aired, there were
political scientists, media people and politicians who predicted that
the broad public's ability to obtain information freely would quickly
lead to a change in Arab regimes. The Arab countries would become more
democratic and open societies. Journalist Uriya Shavit, who published
a study on the subject ("Shahar Shel Yom Yashan" [Dawn of an Old Day],
Keter Publishing, 2003), says that Benjamin Netanyahu, when he served
as prime minister, made democracy in the Arab world an important
precondition for peace in the Middle East.

Netanyahu argued that satellite television was a tool that served the
cause of human rights and freedom in the Middle East. "They will not
endure in the face of satellite television," Netanyahu said. "It will
take time, but against satellites they will not endure." In other
words, the modern media is, in his opinion, supposed to depose the
Arab regimes.

The conclusion of Shavit's research is that Netanyahu and others were
mistaken. The Arab regimes are also managing to survive in the era of
a free press. According to Shavit, the modern media did not bring a
new day to the Middle East; rather it is the same dawn of an old day,
as the study relates. The last chapters of the book describe the
methods used by Arab regimes to cope successfully with the threats of
freedom of information.

However, at the Israel Media Research Institute, which for years has
been monitoring Arabic-language radio and television broadcasts and
the printed press, they think otherwise. The institute's director,
Yigal Carmon, says he certainly sees the social and political changes
caused by Arab satellite broadcasts, in which the Arabic television
stations compete with each other for ratings and commercial
advertisements. The competition is leading to a huge abundance of news
reports and current events programs, some of which are provocative,
and the result is that the public at large is getting to know the
weaknesses of the regimes.

The viewers of these television stations understand from the
broadcasts that the ruling regime does not have absolute power and has
internal and external confrontations, and that encourages opposition
elements who see that their voice is being heard, and that they are
not alone and have a chance to have an impact.

These changes are taking place slowly, says Carmon, and there are many
examples of them. Just recently, intellectuals organized a
demonstration in Damascus and circulated two petitions in Syria.
Satellite dishes used to be illegal in Syria, and people hid them on
their balconies. Today this is no longer the case, members of the
Syrian opposition openly come out against the regime. The institute
has translated publications of the chairman of the Syrian human rights
association and other opposition people, as well as an article in the
establishment paper, A-Thawra, by columnist Assad Aboud, containing an
open later to President Assad: "Please know, sir, that you have
answered questions - but we say honestly and openly: We need more."

Not too long ago, no one imagined that such things could happen in
Syria.

The same is true of other Arab countries. In Yemen, for example,
President Ali Abdullah Sallah was forced to appoint reformist
ministers, and there has been a real explosion in newspaper
circulation. In Kuwait, efforts to grant women the right to vote are
progressing, and the other Gulf States are in the midst of a real
festival of freedom of the press.

Even in Saudi Arabia, the social changes are perceptible, and there
are debates over topics such as school curricula. While it is true
that all these phenomena are connected to the heavy pressure being
exerted on Arab countries by the American administration and other
Western countries to enact reforms, this pressure is being greatly
assisted by internal pressures stemming from, among other things, the
development of the media.

One need not go far to sense the changes the modern media has effected
in the Arab world. What has happened in the Palestinian areas is easy
to see. Nearly every Arab home in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has a
satellite dish, and residents are exposed to dozens of local radio and
television stations. Internet usage is constantly rising, and it can
be said that there is full freedom to obtain any kind of information.
The Palestinian Authority's ability to control the information
reaching the residents has been drastically curtailed. The official
Palestinian news agency, Wafa, still issues releases originating from
the offices of the PA and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO),
but the Palestinian media is using the official news agency less and
less. The large Palestinian newspapers, Al-Quds and Al-Ayyam are
publishing items about which the papers would not have once even dared
to whisper a hint. This includes reports about corruption, rivalries
at the top and demands for reforms.

If we add to this the elections to choose a PA chairman and the local
authorities in the territories, and the preparations for elections to
the Palestinian parliament, it may be said that the Palestinian public
has embarked on the road to democratization.

As in every traditional society, there are certain restrictions
dictated by the conservative social structure in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, but the general trend toward greater respect for the
rights of the individual is clearly apparent, and also provides a ray
of hope for a more comfortable dialogue between Israel and Arabs in
general and the Palestinians in particular.
	


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