[Peace-discuss] Money, Power and Turf: Winning the Middle East Media War at Any Cost

[David Johnson]

December 12, 2019 

 
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/12/money-power-and-turf-winning-the-mi
ddle-east-media-war-at-any-cost/> Money, Power and Turf: Winning the Middle
East Media War at Any Cost

by  <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/ramzy-baroud/> Ramzy Baroud 

 

It is hardly surprising to see Middle Eastern countries at the bottom of the
<https://rsf.org/en/2019-rsf-index-middle-easts-journalists-deliberately-tar
geted> World Press Freedom Index, as the worst violators of freedom of the
press. But equally alarming is the complete polarization of public opinion
as a result of self-serving media and, bankrolled by rich Arab countries,
whose only goal is to serve their specific, often sinister, agendas.

One does not need to highlight of how state-controlled media in the Middle
East lacks the minimal required degree of partiality, let alone integrity.
Only a deluded person would argue that governments that kill, torture and
imprison journalists, intellectuals and social media activists have an iota
of respect for the freedom of the press and expression - in fact, of any
kind of freedom at all.

Of the 180 countries classified by Reporters Without Borders' annual
<https://rsf.org/en/2019-rsf-index-middle-easts-journalists-deliberately-tar
geted> report on press freedom, seven Middle Eastern countries are listed at
the bottom 10% category of the world's worst violators.

In 2018, Israel, which often prides itself on being "the only democracy in
the Middle East", ranked 88th, a hardly shocking realization, considering
its constant targeting, killing, wounding and arresting of Palestinian
journalists. The Palestinian Authority achieved an even worse rank, at 137th
place. It is telling that not a single Middle Eastern country has made it to
the top 30% rank.

In countries like Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, where independent
monitoring of government behavior is almost entirely absent, hundreds of
journalists simply  <https://cpj.org/mideast/egypt/> disappear in the black
hole of brutal prison systems - malnourished, medically neglected, and
routinely tortured.

In November, an independent panel of United Nations' experts
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/experts-call-morsi-death-egypt-arbit
rary-killing-191108184704797.html> resolved that the death in jail of
democratically-elected President of Egypt Mohammed Morsi was a
"state-sanctioned arbitrary killing". If this is the fate of an elected
President, imagine the fate of ordinary journalists who dare criticize the
Egyptian government for its systematic violence, corruption, and lack of
transparency.

However, we often place all of our focus on this sad state of affairs and
neglect the bigger picture, the fact that honest, objective, and
trust-worthy journalism in the Middle East is suffering a long, agonizing
death. This is not only an outcome of government crackdowns on the media,
but also of the well-financed propaganda empires that have recruited
thousands of journalists in the region and beyond to fight an ugly,
seemingly endless turf-war.

However, it has not always been this way. When the United States invaded
Iraq in 2003, a generation of capable and courageous Arab journalists rose
from the ashes of that war. While Western journalists allowed themselves to
be embedded among US soldiers, thus, entering Baghdad and other conquered
Iraqi cities on the back of American tanks, Iraqi and Arab journalists were
<http://www.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/a21893.pdf> killed, imprisoned and
tortured. Navigating the small margins of freedom available in their own
countries, journalists in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere
responded to the plight of Iraqis, writing openly against the US, Western
designs in Iraq and the entire region.

In the following years, a new breed of Arab journalists took their places in
the trenches as citizen-journalists. They challenged us all, narrating
stories that were never told and writing about issues that state-sanctioned
media would never dare touch.

All of this culminated in the brave display of unabashed reporting that
first accompanied the revolts and upheaval in the Arab world, known as the
"Arab Spring". Whenever state media failed to report on the bloody
crackdowns by government security forces, citizen-journalists stepped in,
filling the gap and exposing the atrocities with the hope of holding the
culprits to account.

But that brief honeymoon quickly disintegrated, when counter-revolutionary
forces managed to regain the initiative. Over the last eight years, Arab
governments gradually understood the significance of the press and
especially social media in mobilizing the public. The massive crackdown on
these journalists has not ceased since. Thousands of journalists were
imprisoned and tortured. Many disappeared, leaving no trails to inform their
families on whether they are dead or alive.

The ongoing onslaught was quickly joined by another form of media warfare.
All state-run media throughout the Arab world were stuffed with loyalists.
All opposition-run media were either shut down or faced numerous
restrictions that made it nearly impossible for them to play a meaningful
role in challenging their countries' official discourses.

As Gulf Arab countries descended into their own internal conflict, large
sums of money were dedicated to expanding their political outreach and
influence. Thousands of foreign journalists, with no cultural or political
connection to the Middle East, were shipped in, to replace their Arab
colleagues, and to participate, willingly or otherwise, in the dirty
propaganda campaigns championed by one rich Arab countries or another. The
boundaries of that war extended to the rest of the world where newspapers
were acquired, websites set, and TV news stations established, all with only
one goal in mind - countering the propaganda of the enemy and imposing their
own.

Sadly, many journalists willingly allowed themselves to participate in this
shameful display, betraying the basic standards of good journalism, in fact
good moral judgement. Of course, there are those who refused to sell out
despite the repercussions of their choice. The thousands of journalists who
are currently held in Middle Eastern jails are testimony to the courage and
bravery of our colleagues.

But this is not the end of the story. Good journalism must not be allowed to
die. We must fight back, in the name of Tareq Ayyoub who was
<https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/2011/12/2011121085517490112.html> killed
by US forces in Iraq in 2003, and Yaser Murtaja who was
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/palestinian-journalist-yasser-murtaj
a-dies-shot-israeli-forces-180407054201619.html> killed by Israeli snipers
in Gaza in 2018, and thousands like them, who are either dead or spending
tortuous years in Arab or Israeli prisons.

We cannot let fear control us or money compromise our values. Arab regimes
have their own agenda - the need to survive at any cost. The Israeli
government has its own agenda - silencing any Palestinian call for freedom.
Rich Gulf States have their own agendas - defending their political,
economic and strategic interests. But who will stand for the agenda of the
people, for their freedom, human rights, and ultimate liberation? If it is
not us, then who?

 <https://www.facebook.com/CounterPunch-official-172470146144666/> Join the
debate on Facebook 

More articles by: <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/ramzy-baroud/> Ramzy
Baroud

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His
latest book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (Pluto Press, London,
2018). He earned a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter
and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International
Studies, UCSB. 

 

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