• Daily Star, Beirut, Lebanon, on Arab media in the information age: Daily Star, Beirut, Lebanon, on Arab media in the information age: This is the age of information, the age of communication, is it not? Unless one has been
• Daily Star, Beirut, Lebanon, on Arab media in the information age:
Daily Star, Beirut, Lebanon, on Arab media in the information age:
This is the age of information, the age of communication, is it not? Unless one has been asleep in a cave for the last 10 years, this fact is self-evident. For some, however, it has been a struggle to keep up with developments in this new age. … In the Arab world, there is a long way to go before indigenous media find their true place and their true voice in the region.
This is where the conference “Arab Media in the Information Age,” hosted in Abu Dhabi by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research … has a role to play. … United Arab Emirates Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan (proposed the following) three major points: state-dominated Arab media should develop partnerships with the private sector; regional media should fulfill a sociopolitical role by applying pressure on Arab governments to make them more accountable to the public; and all press laws in the Arab world are long overdue for review and should, in fact, be completely overhauled.
If implemented, these three courses of action would amount to a revolution in the nature and role of the media in Arab societies. There is no time like the present for such a revolution to begin. It is needed. …
At the end of the day, perhaps the Western media, for so long the envy of other regions of the world, could these days also benefit from the good sheik’s message.
