Murdoch tells Abu Dhabi to ride the creative wind

Rupert Murdoch's attention has now turned int seems to the Middle East as today he launched an attack on the unliberal attitudes of the media.

Speaking at the the inaugural Abu Dhabi Media Summit which opened today,the News International chairman told the conferenece that censorship is counterproductive and that the region's citizens should be free to unleash their creative talents.

the Arab world can adhere to traditions and values, while also investing in a thriving creative industry and avoiding over-regulation and hurdles that keep out foreign players.

and added

"As I speak, there is a powerful creative wind blowing through this region," he said, according to a copy of his speech. "Ride this wind and you will raise from these desert sands something extraordinary: a capital of creativity that is modern...that is global...and that is fully Arab."

The event will represents an opportunity to showcase its existing media infrastructure and outline its future plans and Murdoch's remarks make clear that the region must embrace the free market.

Al Jazeera's influence on the Middle Eastern peace process

How much influence does the Middle Eastern broadcaster Al Jazeera have over any settlement of the Israel-Palestinian conflict?

Quite a lot according to Noah Bonsey and Jeb Koogler who believe that negotiators should take note that

The channel’s tremendous popularity has also, for better or worse, made it a shaper of public opinion. Its coverage often determines what becomes a story and what does not, as well as how Arab viewers think about issues.

They add that

The result of Al Jazeera’s market dominance is that it has itself become a mover and shaker in Palestinian politics, helping to craft public perceptions and influence the debate. This has obvious implications for the peace process: how Al Jazeera covers the deliberations and the outcome of any negotiated agreement with Israel will fundamentally shape how it is viewed—and, more importantly, whether it is accepted—by the Palestinian public.

The fall of the Lebanese press

My favourite journalist Robert Fisk looks at the state of the press in Lebanon in this morning's Independent and doesn't find a particually good picture

For decades, Lebanese journalism has been applauded as the freest, most outspoken and most literate in the heavily censored Arab world. Alas, no more. Beirut's best-read daily has just shed more than 50 staff and LBC, one of the country's best-known television stations, has just fired three of its most prominent presenters. The Lebanese media are being hit – like the rest of the world – by the internet and falling advertising revenues. But this is Lebanon, where politics is always involved. Is something rotten in the state of the Lebanese press?

The problem is part economic,part stuctural.As Fisk continues

The problem is not so much the politics of Lebanon but the feudal state of the press. You cannot start a newspaper in Beirut – you have to buy an existing title from someone else. This costs money. So the rich own newspapers. Not much different, you may say, from the rest of the world. But the system in Lebanon is archaic; there are families in Beirut who own newspapers but don't publish them – they are still waiting for a buyer.

Despite the repression,blogging flourishes in the Middle East

In the Middle East and North Africa, where political change occurs slowly, blogging has becomes a serious medium for social and political commentary as well as a target of government suppression.

writes Mohamed Abdel Dayem over at CPJ

We are all aware of the problems for freedom of speech in certain countries in the region but as he says

Blogging has flourished in the Middle East, propelled by the region’s unusually high growth rate in Internet use, and the exceedingly restrictive landscape for traditional media. This nexus of demography and repression has led activists, journalists, lawyers, and others online, where they express dissent and report information in previously unimaginable ways.

Well meaning but dangerous-how press freedom campaigns can undermine freedom

Western pressures for freedom of the press in the Middle East may be undermining journalism in the region.

That's the opinion of Lawrence Pintak and Yosri Fouda writing in the CJR who argue that

well-meaning Western journalism rights groups have been invoking “freedom of the press” to defend Arab and Iranian online activists who have been jailed or harassed by the authorities.

Just because you put words on paper—or a computer screen—does not make you a journalist. they argue adding that

For journalism rights groups to defend anyone with a keyboard or cell phone camera on the basis of press freedom dangerously muddies the waters.

The goal of Western media in the Middle East has failed

There is an interesting piece in the Huffington Post that questions the resources that are channeled into the Middle East by the Western broadcasters (Ht-Adrian Monck)

Nadim Hasbani argues that there has been a

widespread failure of Western-owned Arabic TV channels to establish themselves as credible news sources with Middle Eastern audiences living under dictatorship regimes.

He continues that

Arabs are watching news and entertainment programmes from Arabic satellite channels like Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, MBC, and LBC. But they are not watching the news stations Western governments are funding to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year: BBC Arabic, the American Al Hurra, France 24 Arabic, and Deutsche Welle Arabia.

and the reason why according to Hasbani

Middle Eastern audiences regard American and European Arabic language television with deep suspicion. They suspect them of hiding "Western agendas" behind programming, particularly when it comes to political content. This perception reflects distrust of Western foreign policies in the Middle East and often seems justified if you follow what these channels are broadcasting.

Al Jazeera critical of media coverage of Gaza

Journalism.co.uk hosted an online interview with Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin at the end of last week and was rather critical of the Western Media's coverage of the conflict in Palestine.

"The western media has failed tremendously in covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict accurately and contextually.

adding that

"They would not tolerate what has continued for decades and now what is happening in Gaza. I am extremely frustrated by how Gaza and the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict is portrayed, in the western world particularly,"

Sherine Tadros went further and said that

"I think it comes down to finance and editorial judgement," Tadros said. "Unless there is a military operation - i.e a sexy picture - editors won't spend on deploying teams to cover humanitarian tragedies.

BBC Trust have made a mistake over Bowen

The front page of the Independent picks up on the report of the BBC trust yesterday that the BBC Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, had breached guidelines on accuracy and impartiality.

The paper reports that

Bowen was censured for a piece which he wrote for the BBC website last June under the headline "Six days that changed the Middle East", attempting to give context to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by analysing the events of the 1967 Six Day War. The Middle East editor referred to "Zionism's innate instinct to push out the frontier". He wrote that Israel showed a "defiance of everyone's interpretation of international law except its own" and that its generals felt that they were dealing with "unfinished business", left over from the 1948 War of Independence.

I have much sympathy with Bowen.Reporting on the Middle East is a minefield,a complicated melting pot of rival histories.Bowen does the job well and it appears that his crime is to apportion more of the blame onto Israel.

The corporation has already announced that it will be taking no cation against the senior reporter.

I agree with Robert Fisk who says that

The BBC Trust's report on Jeremy Bowen's dispatches from the Middle East is pusillanimous, cowardly, outrageous, factually wrong and ethically dishonest.

Bowen simply made the mistake of rubbing up Israel with his version of events,events that most impartial commentators would say were correcr.

Media freedom seriously curtailed in Gaza according to Reporters without Borders

Reporters without borders have just published its initial analysis of press freedoms during the recent conflict in Gaza.

According to the report, six journalists ho were killed, two of them while doing their job. Around 15 were wounded. And at least three buildings housing media were hit by Israeli fire.

Both sides in the conflict come in for criticism.For Hamas

Contrary to what its leaders say, journalists are not free to criticise the Islamist movement, to communicate the stance of other factions or simply to set forth divergent opinions.

whilst on the Israeli side

he sealing off of the Gaza Strip, which was the full responsibility of the Israeli authorities, is unacceptable and disturbing. Beyond this conflict, control of news in time of war has become a military objective throughout the world.

Gaza situation a mess according to a BBC news person

With Sky news now also deciding not to carry the DEC appeal for the citizens of Gaza,Charlie Beckett,director at POLIS reminds us that the BBC does have a precedent for this which appears to have been forgotten

Back in August 2006 it turned down a DEC appeal for Lebanon for the same reason - impartiality. It was specifically concerned that the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah might break down.

So as Charlie points out.

Did the DEC not remember the Lebanon precedent?Did BBC News warn that their impartiality was going to be questioned? Were they consulted? If the Appeal would bring criticism, was it really thought that it would be so strong and so credible that it should sway BBC policy? Would it not have appeared more confident and consistent to allow the appeal, take some flak and move on? In practice has this not made the BBC look much worse?

As he concludes

The BBC is now suffering from self-inflicted collatoral damage. One very senior BBC News person described the BBC Gaza Appeal decision to me as ‘a mess’.

Joe the Plumber

The news that Joe the plumber is going out to the Middle East as a war reporter has provided a good deal of mirth and merriment as well as this spoof letter to Hamas form the Huffington Post team

Dear Hamas,

Allow us to restate that we deplore your actions, which have harmed both Palestinians and Israelis. However, it has come to our attention that Joe the Plumber is headed to the Middle East, to cover the war for WNWO-TV in Toledo. And while we are not technically asking you to kill Joe the Plumber (that's illegal!), we are encouraging you to reject a ceasefire until at least three rockets are fired in his direction. He's easy to spot. He literally has a skinhead, and he'll be surrounded by Israelis who will be asking themselves, "it's come to this? Israel's security is dependent on the editorial skills of Joe the Plumber?"

Maybe I could live with media curbs in the Middle East but Holocaust denial?

At the end of last term we were asked to prepare a seminar about the prospects for graduate journalists getting a job this summer.

One of the areas under discussion were the opportunities in the Middle East with the rumours that many of last year's graduates went out there.

We were asked what sort of problems we would encounter out there and the usual list of cultural and language barriers came up.

I chipped in with restraint on publishing freedom but it got little reaction.

Little did I expect to see this though which is doing the rounds of the blogosphere.How would you fancy working for a paper which publishes a holocaust denial piece?

Roy Greenslade flags up the case of the Dubai-based daily Gulf News which published the following article Zionists are the new Nazis

Today, the whole world stands as a witness to the fact that the Nazi holocaust was a mere lie, which was devised by the Zionists to blackmail humanity. The same Zionist entity swindled the world out of billions of dollars over the years to compensate the wrong and unjust which they claim to have been inflicted on their people.
"It is evident that the holocaust was a conspiracy hatched by the Zionists and Nazis, and many innocent people gave their lives as a result of this inhuman plot."

Tories on the offensive over Beeb coverage of Gaza

It didn't take long did it?

Tory MP Michael Fabricant has apparently

been horrified and angered by the coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict. While paying scant regard to the provocation of 10,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza over the last seven years, the BBC has chosen to broadcast 'human interest' stories reminiscent of salacious photos in the cheaper red top newspapers.

and adds that

perhaps the worst interview of all was with the Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic who dared to suggest that every country has a right to defend its citizens, that Hamas had walked away from negotiations, that they had resumed firing rockets into Israel unprovoked, and that Israel's actions are therefore defensive and not offensive. The ire and vitriol of the BBC interviewer was extraordinary. Paxman and Humphreys are pussy cats in comparison. The Czech minister sounded shell shocked

So once again the Tories are on the offensive.

My own personal perspective.As I said on this blog yesterday far from being bias,the coverage on the Beeb is simply not up to scratch

On the media coverage of Gaza invasion

The invasion of Gaza by Israeli ground forces yesterday evening has shown up the power of online over the traditional media.

The rapidly changing events especially on a night when newspapers are generally put to bed early have created an ideal platform for online content.

As regards televising coverage,Sky seem to be beating the BBC coverage hands down and have even put Al Jazeera into the shade.

On the same subject,Editor and Publisher have taken a rather critical stand on the American media's coverage of the crisis,Greg Mitchell commenting that

Most notably, after more than eight days of Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket launching in Gaza, The New York Times had produced exactly one editorial, not a single commentary by any of its columnists, and only one op-ed (twice the normal length and favoring Israel's bombing). The editorial, several days ago, did argue against the wisdom of a ground invasion - - but even though that invasion had become ever more likely all week the paper did not return to this subject.

No doubting that once the fighting is over,the world's major news organisations will be heavily scrutinised over any perceived bias on the part of either of the incumbents

Head East young Journalist

Perhaps with all the goings on of the last few months in the journalism profession and the events of the last few weeks in the financial markets,we should think of moving away.

I read yesterday that unemployed finance high flyers are being advised to apply for jobs in the new and upcoming centres of Mumbai and Shanghai.

Well for journalists-perhaps the Middle East.Already seen as a growing hub of journalism

The United Arab Emirates launched on Sunday a regional multi-media centre to train, develop and promote Arab talent in journalism, broadcasting, film-making and publishing.
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, has been seeking to turn itself into an industrial, financial and cultural hub to rival and complement other Arab and Western capitals.
"This is an unprecedented step that will see home-grown content available to the rest of the world," Khaldoun al-Mubarak, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Media Zone, said at the launch of the "twofour54", attended by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan as well as editors and executives of global media companies.

via Reuters

Added to that

CNN International is to start broadcasting live daily news programming from a brand new broadcast facility in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. This landmark move signals the global network's significantly expanded on-the-ground commitment to the Middle East and marks CNN's first regularly scheduled daily live show from the region.
The development is part of ongoing plans for CNN's new broadcast and production centre set to open in the Abu Dhabi Media Zone* in early 2009. In addition to a daily local-primetime newscast, the new production centre in Abu Dhabi will provide the infrastructure for expanded newsgathering activities in the region. It enhances CNN's existing representation in the region which currently comprises news operations in Amman, Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, Dubai and Jerusalem, and is part of the company's ongoing newsgathering expansion which over this year has seen more than 50 additional staff and more newsgathering operations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

If it bleeds it leads

Over at Media Shift,Jaron Gilinsky takes a look at the way in which the new media can change our perceptions of the situation in the Middle East.

Blogs exemplify the best and worst attributes of the Internet (and human nature). At their worst, blogs can be untruthful, bad sources of news and gossip. But without the profit motive, the need for immediacy, and the thirst for conflict, blogs can also help show a more complete picture of the Middle East. At their best, they can be a great source of anti-news and help demystify this murky region.

According to him the average Americans perception of the Middle East is the fault of the established media

“If it bleeds, it leads,” is the old adage in U.S. newsrooms

he says but he asks

whether the proliferation of high speed Internet connections, digital cameras, and user-friendly blog publishing tools can change the game.

But the verdict is that there is a long way to go

A brilliant bit of writing

Great bit of journalism in today's Independent by one of my journalistic heroes Robert Fisk.

Writing about the exchange of prisoners and bodies between Israel and Lebanon

Yesterday was the last day of the 2006 Lebanon war, the final chapter of Israel's folly and Hizbollah's hubris, a grisly day of corpse-swapping and refrigerated body parts and coffin after bleak wooden coffin on trucks crossing the Israeli border, which left old Ali Ahmed al-Sfeir and his wife, Wahde, stooped and broken with grief. Ali had a grizzled grey beard and stood propped on a stick while Wahde held a grey-tinged photograph of a young man – her son Ahmed, born in 1970. "He was a martyr, but I do not know which lorry he will be on," she said. In the slightly torn picture, he looked whey-faced, unsmiling, already dead.

Read the whole piece ,Brilliant journalism as usual

BBC Arabic launches but how will be it be percieved?

The BBC launches its Arabic service today,aimimg to compete directly with the likes of Al Jazeera.

Richard Sambrook writing on the BBC editors site says

Together with our radio and internet services in Arabic, it will form part of the first multimedia offer to the Arab world with programming scheduled across all three media - from the web, to radio, to TV.

Describing how

The Arab world is one of the most important regions of the world. Events there affect all of us in some way, from terrorism and war, to oil prices and trade. It is natural therefore that the World Service should seek to reach as many people as possible with its broadcasts - and today that means being on TV which is now the most used medium for news and information.

The service will be

distinctive for Arab audiences offering an international, not just Arab, perspective on events and an objective approach to issues. It will have the same standards and values as any other BBC service, reporting on the rest of the world as well as the region. In surveys in the region, 85% of those asked said they would watch the BBC channel. We hope some 35 million people will be using the service in 5 years time.

One problem that the service will have as Colin Crummy writes at Press Gazette is its percieved association with the British Government

But critics said the BBC would face scepticism in the region over its impartiality, with its funding of £25m a year coming from a Foreign Office grant-in-aid under particular scrutiny.
Dr Makram Khoury-Machool, a lecturer in media studies at Cambridge University, said the reaction would depend on how much it would be seen as “a mouthpiece for the British Government”.
Chapman said that audiences could make the distinction between what the BBC does and British Government policies, and that the BBC would report “without fear or favour” in the region

This perspective can be backed up by an editorial in Gulf news ( via Adrian Monck.In coming late to the party it asks

What can a British broadcaster do for a region that looks less and less towards the West for quality news programming, and has already found it in its own backyard?
In reality - for the vast majority of Arabs sitting in coffee shops on the streets of Cairo or Beirut - probably not very much

Indeed

A new prespective on Middle East reporting

Press Gazette are reporting that

A British journalist has launched a pan-Arab English-language current affairs magazine to highlight topical issues from the Arab world, reported from an apolitical stance

The magazine is called the Arab and will be published 6 times a year,the journalist behind,Anna Costin, is a a British journalist of Syrian descent.

According to its website it

"aims to publish original, refreshing articles which go beyond the region's multi-dimensional conflicts - an area which dominates traditional coverage of the Arab world. Popular myths and stereotypes are challenged, to show an often hidden side of the region."

Available by subscription only,the first issue will report on

Civil society's role in bringing peace to Palestine-Israel

Indonesia and the Middle East peace process

Beirut's nightlife - past and present

Investigative journalism in the Levant

Balen report remains a secret

The BBC's desire to keep its report on its coverage of the Middle East continued yesterday when three appeal court judges ruled that the report did not come under the freedom of information act.

The Balen report originated in 2004 when the then director of news Richard Sambrook commissioned a report to look at allegations of bias in the corporations coverage of the Middle East.The BBC has consistently had to fend off allegations of anti Israeli bias.

The reasons why the BBC has continued to suppress the report are unclear and it has consistently argued that the report was purely for internal consumption.