This opinion piece in Middle East Online caught my eye today. It documents the exponential growth in media outlets across the Middle East, sparked - the commentator says - by the popularity of Al Jazeera. Now everyone wants a piece of the airtime action, it seems, and the result is the airing of a more diverse range of opinions, perspectives and ... talkshows! Indeed, even Oprah has found a new audience across the region, as the influx of entertainment from the west gathers pace. One suspects the intercontinental cultural traffic may be moving in one direction though, with local versions of 'Pop Idol' also achieving huge popularity. It would be great to see as much traffic coming the other way - after all, improvement of cross-cultural understanding is by its nature a two-way process. Here's hoping! Keep tuning the dial...
Sunday, December 16, 2007
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2 comments:
Fascinating! This cross-cultural communication is brilliant and very welcome.
This quote from the piece stands out:
"The English news channel (of Al Jazeera) refers to militants, while the Arabic channel (also of Al Jazeera) still uses the term "martyrs.".... The Arab newscasts throughout the region shy away from using the word "terrorist," on the grounds that it is the American frame on the war. Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna was CNN's Jerusalem bureau chief until CNN's senior management "ordered me to use the word 'terrorist' rather than militant, which I refused to do."
The philosopher-mathematician Liebniz once thought that if people eliminated all ambiguity by adopting his system of logical expression it would make war impossible. Should we now be looking for common definitions of terms like 'terrorist', 'martyr' and 'militant'?
By tweaking your satellite dish in the UK, you can pick up TV signals from anywhere in the world. This is widely used by foreign nationals who want to keep up with events back home but not generally available to a wider audience. I'm not sure how much foreign stations would be watched since, at the last count, there were 250 home-grown channels available (including Wine TV, Wedding TV, Sumo TV and a dozen shopping channels).
I'm all for more channels: everyone is entitled to a shout - and the remote is a powerful weapon.
I think the proliferation of Middle East media is a different manifestation of the same attempt to democratise the media that you see in You Tube and Current TV. It's the samisdat of our time. Programming and editing are given over to (or taken over by) the citizen or the interest-group. No longer must minorities feel that they cannot be heard - unless, of course, everyone is watching the shopping channels.
POSTSCRIPT
It's a shame that we have to wait for the Official Secret's clearance on the "Bomb Al Jazeera" memo - that could have shed interesting light on Western attitudes to the Middle East.
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