Literature Review

Introduction
At a time of great tension between the Arab world and the West, this paper explores the impact of Arab news media and assess its possibility of bridging the existing cultural, political divide, as well as contributing objectively to the global public sphere. The issue is wide-ranging, and many areas demand great attention. This review sketches a preliminary draft of various areas of relevance in regard to the afore-mentioned topic. Western (and more specifically American) perceptions of the Arab world are very tightly linked to Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, backwardness, totalitarianism, and lack of democracy, as witnessed in many products of (US) popular culture, news coverage and even foreign policy decisions. However, the development of new media, whether the Internet or satellite broadcasting, has provided the Arab world at large with the opportunity and the tools to start a conversation, an exchange of ideas and meanings with the West. During times of conflict, (and the Arab world is always in the throes of one war or the other) news media are at the forefront, creating and disseminating meaning, not only to the region, but also to the world (and arguably to the global public sphere) and as such, are a prime subject for analysis. This review begins with the concept of public sphere, and attempts to chart issues raised, especially in its relation to the state, democracy and media. The review then moves on to Al-Jazeera, and its perception in the Western world. Finally the review covers opinions in the possibility of Arab satellite media helping in the transition to democracy, and the opportunities it might provide to advance more developed political exchange with the West. While this paper identifies and explores some of issues, its scope only allows for an initial inquiry. Many areas need to be more exhaustively researched. This research is also the springboard for a search for new angles by which to approach the desperately needed dialogue between the Arab Middle East and the West.

The Public Sphere
Habermas introduced his concept of public sphere as a place where private individuals meet to discuss matters of public importance, a place of deliberation and discourse, where a consensus could be reached, in order to then influence the state in its policy making. Habermas envisioned the public sphere as the ideal democratic platform, accessible to all, disregarding status and favoring the merit of an argument, where any issue of public concern could be raised. The public sphere has been a favorite topic of debate recently, especially with the advent of new media such as the Internet, which is perceived to be the public sphere’s tool par excellence. Participatory media allows for people everywhere to participate in global discussions, more versatile voices are heard, via blogs, YouTube videos and others. The public sphere has become “global”. While this may be true, this also raises some interesting issues. One argument leveled at the model is that it presupposes the possibility of a consensus, and does not allow for a plurality of publics (Gitlin quoted in Taka 1982). This is especially relevant with the plurality of opinions online. Moreover, in faithful application of the Habermasian model, what is the global public sphere addressing? Which issues are of collective concern? Who are the “state(s)”? Are the citizens of the public sphere necessarily identifying with a nation-state or other entities? (Dahlgren 2002). These questions are especially relevant when pertaining to what is called the “Arab” public sphere. It is common practice to talk of an Arab public opinion, but is correct to assume that there is only one Arab opinion? The Arab world covers all countries from the Persian Gulf to the Atlantic, it includes monarchies and republics, with diverse religious constituencies, and different cultures. Although the main religion is Islam, majorities vary between countries in terms of sects, and other religions co-exist. Arabic is the main official language but exists in different dialects across the region, but communication (mediated or not) also occurs in English, Kurdish, Berber, French, Armenian, Spanish and Italian… (Iskandar 2007) Is it possible to lump then all these countries into one voice? Or are there multiple Arab spheres? Lynch suggests that a development of the notion of “Arab Street” (as it is often called by Western media and scholars) can be considered to be the Arab public sphere. The Arab Street is traditionally, the physical space, where active violent demonstrations occur, in resistance to imperial projects of the Western world. However, Lynch points to the Iraq wars and analyzes Arab reactions to a) the Invasion of Kuwait, b) the first Gulf war, c) the subsequent sanctioning of Iraq and d) the second (and on-going) Iraq war. He documents the changes from original opposition (of Saddam’s invasion, and support for Kuwait) to support of the Iraqi people (especially in terms of humanitarian crisis). This support was created via constant reporting by journalists and intellectual elite, during the decade between the two gulf wars, of the results of sanctions in newspapers and television. So an Arab public sphere does exist, but it defines itself via pan Arab issues (Iraq and Palestine), where all countries relate to a joint destiny against imperial (and Zionist) projects in the region (Iskandar 2007, Lynch 2003). The adoption of pan Arab issues as the main causes of public concerns in the Arab world has its roots in the fact that most Arabs have limited freedom to discuss domestic issues (political issues or social taboos) at home. The Arab world is known for a tight rein on journalism, which varies from outright censorship and political intimidation in some countries, to supervision in others. (Gher and Amin 1999, Iskandar 2007, Sakr 2001). Most political systems in the Arab world are less than democratic, if democratic at all. However Habermas’ public sphere notion is intrinsically and ideologically linked to democratic processes, and nation-building. Is the public sphere then a cause or a product of the transition to democracy? Traboulsi (2005) argues the essential universalism of the notion, which does not take into consideration other transitions in modes of government, as in the case of most the Arab world colonization to self-government (whether the ensuing rule is democratic or not). There is room to study the objective development of public spheres in the Arab world, whose first concern was not democracy per se, but a movement towards freedom and liberty and then social political organization and processes.

Global Objective News
While the Internet has been heralded as a more participatory tool in the global public sphere, its penetration in the Arab world is still minimal. On one hand, the threshold price for access is still too high for a big part of the population: studies have found that there are less than 18 computers for every 1000 persons (Sabry 2005). This and the high rate of illiteracy rate - literacy in general, but also the language barrier, as most websites are in English- have limited the potential of the Internet. It is important to note that many bloggers have made a name for themselves as citizen reporters. In the case of the Iraq War: Salam Pax’s Where is Raed? garnered much media attention. But it remains a fact that in order to be considered a “credible”, authoritarian source of reporting, the blogger still needs to achieve recognition by more traditional press and media. It is satellite media, however that has flourished in the Middle East since the 1990s, especially with the much heralded Al-Jazeera news channel, based in Qatar. It has been proclaimed to have single-handedly changed the face of news reporting in the Middle East, as a more credible news source than most censorship laden national news broadcasters, and offered new impetus to the afore-mentioned Arab global sphere. By offering the (positive) kind of press described in the Habermasian model. By far the most significant development in the recent news world history, Al-Jazeera has placed itself as the “other” voice of news, reporting from the side of the Arabs. Its slogan: The opinion and the other opinion make it clear that it wants to fight what it perceives to be an imperialist media, which CNN and BBC represent. However, it also offers the “other” alternative opinion inside the Arab world. It has consistently pitted rival factions within regimes against each other in interviews and talk shows, it has provided air space to dissident voices who otherwise would not be heard. It has also (and historically so) been the first Arab news media to conduct interviews with representatives of the state of Israel, in its efforts to ensure that both sides of every story be reported. Although it is perhaps too ambitious to call Al-Jazeera a truly global media, since Arabic is not the global language, and the content caters more to the Arab world, it is however global in stylization, programming and format (Sabry 2005). It certainly is transnational and has managed to reverse some of the uni-directional flow of information from the West to the East. Although respected in the Middle East as a credible source of alternative news and herald of Arab public opinion, Al-Jazeera has had much less success in the West. Its coverage is considered to be biased and slanted. The notion of objectivity in news reporting is slightly different than it is in philosophy. In news reporting, objectivity is another word for neutrality. Reporting the news objectively requires writing up the facts, with as little interpretation as possible, avoiding being influenced by exterior forces, avoiding ideological slants. By airing Ben Laden tapes, by showing “controversial” images of dead soldiers, Al-Jazeera has been condemned, in the US specifically as an “irresponsible” and “biased” channel (Johnson and Fahmy 2008). However, due to their presence in territory not covered by Western media, who relied on reports from “embedded reporters”, Al-Jazeera and other Arab satellite broadcasters’ footage has been utilized in the West, especially in reporting civilian casualties. This meta-coverage only occupied around 6% of all news footage however (Johnson and Fahmy 2008) and can not be said to constitute a serious exchange, or chance for dialogue with the West as hyper-globalists contend, especially when considering the amount of “domestication” the footage receives when aired on other channels, with ensuing demonization of the channel. (Samuel-Azran 2007). [Contra-flow however is growing, especially when considering the development of one particular dynamic, namely the Arab diaspora across the world, whose reliance on Al-Jazeera and others for new from home increases the amount of penetration of Western markets. (Rai and Cottle 2007).]
Al-Jazeera’s Arabic station has been the object of great controversy, however what would be interesting at this point to study is the impact of Al-Jazeera English (AJE), the newly formed English station. AJE broadcasts from four different hubs: Kuala Lumpur, Doha, London and Washington DC, with a diversified staff from different parts of the world, and claims to cover more international news. How does Al-Jazeera English want to portray itself? Where does it place itself on the news map (in relation to Arab issues, global issues)? On the other hand, an analysis of the reception of AJE in the West could be enlightening as to the kind of communication breakdown the Arab World faces. Will AJE be able to bridge the gap, if it speaks exactly the same language as Western media, and even uses some of its former star reporters? Does the weight of Al-Jazeera Arabic prove to hard to bear? Does this pose ideological problems? Language problems? Cultural problems? Political problems?

The Role of the Journalist
Most modern studies about new Arab media focus on the pan-Arab, although there is a lot of literature about traditional press in the Arab world. This problem arises mainly from a lack of resources, a difficulty in conducting surveys and receiving straight answers in countries where censorship and government control are still strong. New satellite media however, are more open and have the advantage of trans-nationalism and have been very important in reviving a sense of “renewed pan-Arab” feeling. In this new pan-Arab field, Mellor raises important questions about what the role of the journalist should be. She suggests the interpretation of journalists as “cultural intermediaries” as opposed to the more classical view of journalists as “gatekeepers”, arguing that their position should be one of transition, in-between producing/constructing/selecting and interpreting/analyzing, reading public opinion while forming public opinion. She suggests more empirical studies be done about the role of journalists within their communities, how they identify it, what they think of using Modern Standard Arabic as opposed to vernacular Arabic-to relate more directly with their audiences, how they define their professional skills, how they deal with democracy-building , and how they perceive professional ethics in relation to their culture but also in comparison with foreign cultures and practices. (Mellor 2008). Can the journalist be even more engaged in political issues? Gilboa studies the active integration of journalism in the political realm, in what he calls “media-broker diplomacy”, and identifies three separate ways in which journalists have so far engaged in political activity: direct intervention, bridging and secret mediation. Journalists have been able to instigate talks between rival leaders, by transmitting information and messages, and advancing negotiations, offering the possibility for new mediation when all official channels were locked.According to his study, media-broker diplomacy has been successful six out of eight times, a high record in conflict resolution. However, this study only focuses on “star reporters”, such as Friedman, Seale, Koppel and Cronkite, whose reputations were firmly established. It does not account for the potential of “regular” journalists in more ordinary situation to be part of mediation between conflicting parties. Also this debate raises the same questions as Mellor, as to what the real boundaries of journalism are, how journalism is defined, what are the ethical and professional consequences of such action, making the news instead of reporting it. Literature about the role of media in many conflict-resolution worldwide (South Africa and Apartheid and others…) will provide interesting further reading.

Conclusion
In mapping the literature about Arab media, its role in the Arab and global public sphere, the following points are the most salient: Literature about Al-Jazeera abounds. This literature places the network as both controversial and as the success story in the field of Arab media. However, this research deals explicitly with its Arabic channel. Al-Manar (the Hezbollah channel) has also been extensively covered, no doubt due to its controversial nature. A lot has been written in terms of objectivity in relation to the coverage of the two more important conflicts in the Arab world, namely the issue of Palestine and now Iraq. The role of media in other conflicts within the Arab world is less explored (of less concern?). The apparent absence of significant, thorough literature (at least in preliminary research) about more local media stands out. Many sources cite the lack of empirical studies within the Middle East, due to difficulties in obtaining data: statistics and surveys are difficult to conduct, numbers offered by governments and other institutions are often incomplete or misleading, and some studies have faced cultural obstacles. The consumption of news media in the Middle East, and the effect of the local media in news dissemination can be further studied, and the relationship of media to democracy-building, especially in the post-colonial region of the Middle East is one interesting angle to pursue. I think here especially in terms of Lebanese news media, which is especially active, and enjoys greater freedom of speech than other countries. In Lebanon specifically, the role of journalists as political actors is very developed, as many politicians were originally prominent journalists, and (tragically) in recent years, two prominent journalists have assassinated, while one escaped an assassination plot, thus testifying to the great importance and status of journalists in the political arena.

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