journalism and a world in transition. james cameron memorial lecture 2011 by wadah khanfar

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 JAMES CAMERON MEMORIAL LECTURE “Journalism and a World in Transition” By: Wadah Khanfar Fo rmer Director General of Aljazeera Network 6 th October 2011 City University, London  Journalism and a World in Transition I'm grateful to the trustees of the James Cameron lecture and award for the opportunity to lecture at City University, London, and especially to Moni Cameron, who's here. I am distinctly honoured to be the first non-W estern Journalist to give this prestigious lecture. Friday the 11 th of February was almost past when I drove my car shortly before midnight from the Aljazeera offices to my home along the Corniche Road in Doha. I was exhausted. The past sixteen days 1

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8/4/2019 Journalism and a World in Transition. James Cameron Memorial Lecture 2011 by Wadah Khanfar

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 JAMES CAMERON MEMORIAL LECTURE

“Journalism and a World in Transition”

By: Wadah KhanfarFormer Director General of Aljazeera Network 

6th October 2011

City University, London

 Journalism and a World in Transition

I'm grateful to the trustees of the James Cameron lecture and award

for the opportunity to lecture at City University, London, and

especially to Moni Cameron, who's here. I am distinctly honoured to

be the first non-Western Journalist to give this prestigious lecture.

Friday the 11th of February was almost past when I drove my car

shortly before midnight from the Aljazeera offices to my home along

the Corniche Road in Doha. I was exhausted. The past sixteen days

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had been some of the most exciting and tense days in my life and in

the lives of millions of the region's inhabitants. The Egyptian

revolution kept the eyes of the Arab masses glued to Aljazeera on

their TV screens day and night. Inside the newsroom, we followed

developments inside Egypt moment by moment as news reports

arrived from our sources in Tahrir Square, as well as in other

Egyptian cities.

 The Egyptian regime decided to close down the Aljazeera offices

and to ban its reporters and crews from working; thinking perhaps,

that by banning Aljazeera the truth about what the country had

been going through could be obscured. That was not the first time

an office of ours had been closed down in the region. On that same

day, we sent out a message to our viewers in Egypt telling them: “if 

the authorities have banned our reporters from working, then every

single one of you is an Aljazeera reporter.” Hundreds of activists

responded immediately by supplying us electronically with a stream

of news and video clips via social network sites. We dedicated a

team of our editors to the task of receiving and documenting these

contributions and then relaying newsworthy items to the newsroom.

We succeeded in breaking the siege imposed by the Egyptian

security apparatuses, thanks to the faith our viewers had in our

mission and to our faith in their capabilities. We set up an entire

network of volunteers and activists who supplied us electronically

with news. In the meantime, our own crews spread out within Cairo,

within Alexandria and within other Egyptian cities doing their job

secretly. Aljazeera technicians succeeded in providing live coverage

from Tahrir Square by means of small satellite transmitters, which

Egyptian security could not locate.

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 The Aljazeera newsroom worked flat out during those days; leaves

were cancelled, working hours were stretched and our editorial

teams worked nonstop. Although food and drink is customarily

banned inside the newsroom, during those breath-taking days we

resorted to providing journalists with meals as they sat working at

their desks. On several occasions I had to intervene personally to

oblige some colleagues to go home and have a few hours of rest.

 Those were the days when Aljazeera, both in body and soul, was in

a state of unison with its viewers and cohesiveness in its coverage.

It was transformed into a lofty edifice, charging forward unabatedly

and tirelessly.

Realising that it had failed to hinder Aljazeera coverage, the

Egyptian regime adopted what turned out to be the most serious

measure ever taken against the channel since its birth. The

Egyptian authorities managed to switch off Aljazeera transmission

via the most popular satellite in the Middle East region, Nilesat. In

the meantime, the Libyan regime ordered the jamming of the

channel's transmission on the other satellites. They succeeded in

obscuring the Channel from its viewers across the Arab world.

During those tough hours I had the feeling that we were

transmitting only to ourselves in Doha. Our screen, which had

become the hope of the revolutionaries in Egypt and the conduit of 

their voice to the world, ceased to be.

Our engineers managed to find new frequencies on alternative

satellites. Yet, we still could not reach our viewers quickly enough

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via those new frequencies. Then we were contacted by a small-size

satellite TV channel asking for permission to relay Aljazeera

transmission via its own frequency. I immediately granted

permission and instructed my colleagues to announce that we

would grant permission to whoever wished to relay our

transmission. Within less than two hours, Aljazeera was being

transmitted via 14 different satellite channels, which chose to

suspend their programmes in favour of Aljazeera. We succeeded in

thwarting the biggest attempt to obscure our screen thanks to the

initiatives undertaken by a number of different channels. That was a

great role for which we remain hugely indebted, a role that restored

our zeal and determination to pursue our mission to the end.

On the evening of Friday the 11th of February it was announced in

Cairo that the Egyptian President decided to step down. We were

stunned; feelings of happiness swept across the Arab world from

the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Gulf. Spontaneous demonstrations

were staged in various Arab capitals. The masses celebrated the

victory of the revolution. Our screens were pinned on Tahrir Square

transmitting to the world without comment the singing of the

victorious songs. That was a watershed moment in the history of 

the region, as well as in the history of Aljazeera. Undoubtedly, that

was a moment in my life I would never forget. I laboured to restrain

myself and maintain calmness. Yet, my colleagues inside the

newsroom erupted in excitement embracing each other; some even

could not withhold their tears of joy. As I watched attentively the

coverage of the events, and eagerly monitored world reaction,

guards at the outside gate of Aljazeera compound phoned to inform

us that people had been assembling outside the gate asking for

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permission to be allowed inside to thank Aljazeera for its coverage. I

received a delegation, listened to their honest and candid

expressions of gratitude, thanked them for their feelings, told them

that we had only been doing our job, and returned to the newsroom.

 Just before midnight, exhaustion had overwhelmed me. I drove my

car back home looking forward to a few hours of deep and

enjoyable sleep. The Corniche road was packed with thousands who

came out to celebrate. I ended up stuck in the traffic jam. Some

people recognised me, got out of their cars and came rushing to

hug and kiss me. I could not help but let my tears flow. It was a

profoundly emotional moment.

I learned from my experience as a reporter and then as director of a

media institution an important basic fact: that we should always

posit people at the centre of our editorial policy. I don't say this

simply to reiterate a beautiful slogan with which we decorate our

literature or market our institutions. I truly believe this to be a moral

commitment, a scientific approach and an essential interest.

  To begin with, we should acknowledge that in the media we

shoulder a mission, which journalists should remain aware of as

they perform. This mission is about serving the public interest

without bias for one particular opinion or party or current or

ideology. Without such a noble mission, our profession could easily

become a commodity on sale. Without it, journalists would never

qualify to speak for the public interest and the people would never

trust us. They simply need to see us favour them when it comes to

power and authority. In fact, people of power and influence would

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pay no attention to a media that is not brave and straightforward.

At the practical level, a journalist cannot comprehend the political

reality and predict where things are likely to go without learning the

history of nations and their accumulative experience.

Many major world media institutions failed to predict certain

seminal historic events during the first decade of this century

starting with 9/11 through to the consequences of the wars on

Afghanistan and Iraq, and the world economic crisis all the way to

Arab Spring. All of these were pivotal events that the media could

not foretell. Worse still, when these events unfolded, the world

media could not comprehend them; preferring at times to reiterate

ready-made claims and packaged analyses that were seriously

lacking in depth and expertise.

What has led the media to lose its ability to predict events?

 The answer to this question might be derived from an analysis of a

number of problems that befell the world media. The consequence

has been a weakening of the attachment of the media to a fixed

point of reference centred around the people and their collective

conscience and overall interest.

 The first problem is that the media began to adopt the attitude of 

the elite by looking down upon the masses. The masses are

perceived by many political and intellectual elites as barbaric

demagogues and commoners, an irrational body that is driven here

and there under the influence of instantaneous reactions deemed

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irrelevant and therefore unworthy of investigating their motivations

or foretelling their repercussions. The masses, especially in the Arab

world, have suffered decades of disinterest, marginalization and

humiliation. The official media never hesitated to lie and employ the

services of Sultanic columnists in order to falsify and fabricate.

 Those in power and those in charge of their media firmly believed

that the people had no will and lacked the ability to think or

understand.

 The experience of the past decade has proven beyond doubt that

the popular will has a much greater impact on events than the

planning of the authorities or the thinking of the elites. Nations

have a collective mind that is the product of intellectual, religious

and social interactions and that is consolidated by centuries long

historical experiences. Such a collective mind becomes an internal

inherent compass that is resistant to influences aimed at forcing it

to change direction. It becomes the means through which nations

receive guidance to comprehend reality and pursue major pathways

and upon which they rely during turbulent times in order to sketch

future hopes and pave the way ahead for future generations to

accomplish their dreams.

 This collective mind is stronger than powerful armies and more

formidable than media propaganda and all types of authority. One

cannot hope to influence the movements of nations and peoples

without comprehending the way this collective mind operates.

Similarly, we cannot hope to predict the future of these nations

without paying attention to the internal compass inherent in the

accumulative memory.

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I arrived in Kabul toward the end of 2001 in the aftermath of the fall

of the Afghani capital into the hands of the Coalition troops. I was

eager to observe the features of the Afghani collective mind. The

Afghans are a unique nation with a deep-rooted historic experience.

 They are proud of their heritage and history. They are famously

generous and sanctify gallantry.

I accompanied my cameraman to a cafe close to Kabul

Intercontinental Hotel. The cafe and the hotel are nothing but

rundown structures devastated by decades of continuous war. We

sat around an old disjointed wooden table waiting for the

unsweetened green tea served by a wooden-legged 50 year old,

Haji Goll. Nearby, two Pashtun-turbaned Afghan young men sat.

Seemingly, our Arabic conversation attracted their attention, so

they approached us and spoke to us in clear Arabic, expressing their

happiness to see us in their midst. We learned that they were from

Kandahar and that they came to Kabul on foot searching for

relatives in the capital but failed to find any. They hoped that their

relatives had already fled to Pakistan before the war and had not

perished in the fighting.

We had a conversation about the war, the Taliban and Kandahar.

 They returned to their table and before I left the cafe I settled the

bill for both tables. ّIt was nothing, no more than a couple of dollars.

A few minutes after we departed the place the two young men

came running behind us calling on us to wait for them. When they

caught up with us they said they were very sorry I had paid for their

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two cups of tea and insisted on paying their bill and ours since we

were guests in their country and should not be paying. I refused

thinking that the two exhausted young men with their old garments

and seeming poverty might accept my hospitality. I was so shocked

that one of them, with his eyes full of tears, insisted on me to take

the money from him. “You are our guests”, he repeated many

times. Only then had I realised that I had no option but to take the

money. This taught me that attending to the guest was a principal

value in Pashtun culture. After all, Mulla Omar preferred to see his

emirate collapse than hand over his guest, Osama Bin Laden.

I still remember my meeting with the commander of the American

ground troops in Baghdad in the wake of its occupation in 2003. I

was at the time head of Aljazeera Bureau in the Iraqi capital. The

American general was puzzled about the attacks carried by the Iraqi

resistance on coalition troops. He asked: “Why do they hate us

while we are the ones who brought down the dictatorial regime of 

Saddam Hussein. We even brought them 18 billion dollars to rebuild

Iraq.” I explained to the general that the Iraqi people, who are

aware of their esteemed historic status in this region, do not accept

the occupation. Baghdad, which led the world for five centuries

during the reign of the Abbasid Empire, regarded the occupation an

insult to their historic dignity and national pride. The American

commander looked at me with puzzled eyes and said: “I do not

understand what you are saying.”

 The Americans, together with much of the world media, did not

realise that the occupation of Iraq was not simply a question of 

bringing down a dictatorial regime. They were wrong to think that

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the Iraqis were going to receive them with roses. It was amazing

how superficial the view of the Coalition troops of Iraqi society was.

 They could not see the profound deep rooted plurality in Iraq's long

historical experience. They did not know that the Iraqi collective

psyche would simply reject the occupation and would compare it to

the 1258 tragic Holako-led Mongolian occupation of Baghdad.

The media relationship with the centres of power and

influences

It is only natural for states to seek to serve their best interests and

for armies to endeavour to win their battles. The same might apply

to corporations. But it is unacceptable for the media to become

mere tools of governments or states; to the extent of failing to rely

on their vision and analysis of events and approach where the

people remain the frame of reference and point of departure. Most

of the coverage provided by many world media of the events of the

last decade reveals that there had been a defect prevalent in the

role and self-perception of the media. Or else, what turned the

media from an authority whose role is to keep an eye on the other

authorities into a power centre that is congruent with the other

political and economic power centres, united with them in

objectives and purposes?

  The media was described as the fourth estate because the

profession's founding fathers established strict rules and values that

became the journalist’s constitution. We can see this was always

present in the works and reports of great journalists such as James

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Cameron and Alistair Cooke They realised right at the outset of the

birth of the mass media that the power of the media lies in

representing the public interest before the three other estates. The

media simply have no power without the people. In order for the

media to be able to represent the people before these three centres

of power, a journalist should speak the truth in the face of might,

should question the authorities, should resist becoming an

unaccountable centre of power and should draw clear lines in

dealing with government, corporations and various other parties. He

or she should never dissipate into any of these and should not

compete in the service of interests that contradict honest and

credible representation of the masses. It would seem that putting

the commercial view ahead of professionalism has given priority to

profiteering, and turned media institutions into commercial

enterprises that are highly connected to centres of power and

influence, and at many times even woven into them, in pursuit of 

maximal profits even if at the expense of the profession's code of 

ethics. When this happened, a schism emerged between the

media’s moral values and the utilitarian quest for profit-making.

Hence, the media lost its spiritual link with the masses in favour of 

immediate material gains.

  The transformation of the media into a centre of power and

influence instead of remaining a means of checking the activities of 

the centres of power and influence has changed the nature of the

media role. Centres of power and influence are erratic by nature;

they act to serve their own interests and they do so not in

accordance with a fixed set professional rules. Pursuing changing

interests has been at the expense of people's confidence in the

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media, which is often in partnership with the centres of power

promoting what they stand for and proving to be too associated

with their objectives, priorities and slogans.

 Thus, it is of paramount importance that the media should adhere

to a well-established epistemological frame of reference that does

not vary in accordance with political whims or commercial interests.

In our search for a fixed pivotal point around which our editorial

mission is centred we find nothing better than the people with their

collective mind and their instinctive opposition to oppression,

arbitrariness and corruption.

The media and the changing world centres of influence

For many decades, the West dominated the economic, political and

media life of the world. Yet, the last decade has seen a shift in the

economic centres of influence from the West to the East. The

communication and information technological revolution has

provided unprecedented global plurality. Today, our world is

multipolar and the Western media is no longer the only point of 

reference. Global media institutions have been launched in the

South and in the East. We've also seen the emergence of citizen

media or social network media, which has contributed to the

plurality. Yet, Western media institutions have not changed at the

same pace as the rest of the world. Realising the changing global

reality quickly enough is an important challenge facing Western

media institutions. Take for instance news headlines. These are still

focused on local Western concerns while major events in the South

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and the East are neglected. Additionally, much of the coverage is

instantaneous reporting of latest news without historical or political

contextualisation of events. The fine details we bombard our

viewers with do not provide them with profound knowledge about

the event and its significance; a news bulletin is, thus, turned into a

puzzle board.

Analysts, or those known as experts, who appear on TV screens,

often provided repetitive stereotypical analyses of world events.

Our institutions are in urgent need of competent world reporters

who would dedicate their effort and enough time so as to

comprehend the characteristics of societies and peoples and inform

themselves about their historical and social backgrounds. Only then

would they be able to present in-depth media worthy material; they

would then be in a position to envision reality with an expert eye

and be able to predict the future with a much higher level of 

accuracy.

 The best people to provide valuable information about any society

are the children of that society who belong to its culture and are

part of its collective conscience. So would those who dedicate a

long time and much effort in comprehending the essence of these

people while exhibiting genuine respect for cultural, religious and

social diversity. Only then would their vision emanate from within

those societies rather than performing simply as explorers or

tourists content with having collected some general information to

be re-produced in the form of a superficial journalistic discourse.

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 Journalism of Depth

What I like to call “Journalism of Depth” is the media that regards

the collective conscience of the masses to be its point of departure.

It is the media that believes, as a matter of principle, in the

potential capabilities of the people and respects their choices.

Experience has proven that the masses as a whole are more aware

than the political and intellectual elite; they are shrewd, highly

politicised and possess an instinctive insight that enables them to

discern good from bad. When politicians belittle popular awareness

they doom themselves to exclusion and failure. For instance,

drawing on the experience of the Arab Spring we've found Arab

despotic regimes behave in the same pattern. Initially, they denied

the existence of a problem blaming the media instead and accusing

it of exaggerating trivial incidents. Then they resorted to blaming

outside forces and showering all kinds of labels on the protest

movement. Protesters were at times called lackeys, at times

children, and at other times microbes and parasites. Qadhafi

described his opponents as intoxicated rats. Such terms were heard

from all the Arab regimes in description of the people they

confronted. All these regimes agreed among themselves on one

thing: to belittle the people and ridicule their conscience, their will,

and determination to insist on their rights.

At times some journalists see nothing in the people apart from an

opportunity to make material gain. They see them as consumers

whom we sell commodities at huge profits that keep our bank

accounts growing. In either case, the people are not the centre of 

action. Nor are they an appreciated point of reference. They are

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simply a tool with no intrinsic value.

 The journalism of depth is one that considers the people to be the

centre of its editorial policy; it seeks to give the masses a voice and

a platform. It should be courageous and be prepared to withstand

so much pressure by disaffected centres of power. The moment it

maintains its position and insists on its policy, the people will rally

around it. Then and only then, the people will restore confidence in

the media and offer it their support, appreciation and respect.

I spent the last week of my work as Aljazeera Director General

visiting Tripoli and Misrata. As I was touring the old marketplace in

the Libyan capital I was struck by the reception accorded to us by

the Libyans who were so thankful and appreciative. The presence

of Aljazeera crew in any square or park would lead to a traffic jam.

 The warmth, love and spontaneous gestures of gratitude by the

people, who surrounded us and asked to be photographed with us,

was truly overwhelming. In Misrata, and while taking a stroll along

its war-torn streets, I stopped before a simple exhibition set up by

the inhabitants displaying the weapons and ammunition used by

regime against their besieged city. A banner bearing the name of 

Aljazeera cameraman Ali Al-Jabir, who was assassinated by

Qadhafi's security men in Benghazi, was raised in front of the

exhibition.

Al-Jabir's photo brought the memory of the day he was assassinated

back to me. I had received a phone call from the newsroom

breaking the sad news to me. I returned to the channel and

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appeared on TV to offer my condolences. I promised our viewers

that Aljazeera would never be forced to retreat and that its

coverage would continue no matter what. That was a very sad night

in the newsroom but it was also a night of pride especially upon the

assembly of tens of thousands of Libyans spontaneously in the

centres of different towns to offer prayers for the martyr. They

continued to gather and shout slogans up to the early hours of the

morning. That day, I called all our crews in the field and told them

they had the choice of remaining there covering events or returning

to Doha, stressing that we would understand their decision to

return. They all insisted on continuing despite the direct threats on

their lives.

 The Libyans reserved a special place in their hearts for Aljazeera.

  This is the sentiment I felt wherever I travelled inside Libya. I

recalled the story told to me by our colleague cameraman Ammar

Hamdan, who was detained together with three of his colleagues as

they covered the brutal attack launched on Al-Zawiyah by Qadhafi's

troops. He and his colleagues spent nearly two months in the

colonel's prisons. Following his release, Ammar Hamdan narrated to

me how the prison warden took him aside before his release and

told him with tears filling his eyes: “I'm truly sorry for what we did

to you. We had no choice but to detain you and I swear that had it

not been for concern about the safety of my family I would have

fled and joined the revolutionaries.” He then handed an apple to

Ammar and said: “I have only this apple, which I picked from my

own garden, to give you as a gift. Please deliver it to the Aljazeera

director general when you return and tell him that the Libyans are

dying to be delivered from this tyrannical regime. Please do not let

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us down; continue your coverage. May Allah keep you safe and

bless you.” Ammar told me the story handing the apple to me. Our

eyes were filled with tears.

At the practical level, the coverage in the field is the most authentic

expression of the journalism of depth. It is more sincere, more

spontaneous and closer to the people and their concerns. Because I

was once a reporter I've always felt a sense of estrangement inside

the newsroom. The field is alive and interactive while the newsroom

is quiet and stereotypical. The field is an excited spirit while the

newsroom is a mind whose role is to organise and balance. It is true

that the role of the editor sitting in front of the computer screen

inside the newsroom is essential in order to fine-tune the news and

determine priorities. Yet, I have always been closer to the field; this

is the spirit I regained last month when I visit the Dadab Somali

camp on the Kenyan-Somali borders. I spend the Eid Day with those

who fled the hell of famine. I felt their suffering, pitied their poverty

and need. But I also witnessed in the faces of their children how life

triumphs over death. The kids received us with their tender smiles

and hopeful eyes. Despite their weakness and hunger, those were

people who loved dignity and looked forward to a better future.

Our media institutions today hesitate to dispatch their reporters to

the field. The recent economic crisis forced these institutions to

reduce expenditure on external assignments. Reporters have been

compensated for with reports prepared inside the newsroom.

Undoubtedly, such reports are of less value and lower impact

compared to those arriving from the theatre of action.

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Field reporting has retreated because of the economic crisis and so

has investigative journalism and in-depth reporting, which are at

the heart of journalism of depth. These are the real tools for

questioning those in power and authority and without them what is

shown on the screen would seem rather superficial, indulging

mostly in narration. Such journalism is less costly but it is also of 

less value. Without field coverage and investigative journalism our

screens would lose the best forms of journalism. Managers of media

institutions should therefore be cautious. Saving money should not

involve incurring an essential loss on our viewers and readers.

Despite the negative aspects associated with news reporting during

the past decade, a new positive spirit has recently emerged within

the media sector. The spread of what is known as the new media,

what I would rather call the peoples' media, has opened new broad

horizons for people to express themselves. It has brought an

unprecedented climate of media democratisation. Had it not been

for electronic activists, who supplied us with news and pictures

during the revolutions of Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, we would never

have been able to defeat the persistent endeavour by the security

agencies to obstruct our professional crews. It is true that some

professional editors are still doubting the feasibility of media

reporting via the social networks because of the difficulty in

verifying the authenticity of these pictures. However, practical

experience has proven to us that we are able to develop tools for

verifying news and authenticating pictures. I may add that editorial

teams responsible for monitoring these websites have developed

important expertise that enable us to identify authentic sources

from non-authentic ones. It is true that we have made some

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mistakes because of the enormous quantity of material arriving via

the internet. It is true too that the quality of pictures are well below

those caught by the lenses of professional cameramen. However,

the mistakes have always been very few and the pictures taken by

activists have defeated the official media blackout. Furthermore,

activists themselves have been improving their means. The

repetitive doubting, for instance by the Syrian authorities, of what

Aljazeera transmits of news and pictures received via facebook,

twitter or youtube and the accusations levelled against us that we

fabricate such material, all of this inspired activists to come up with

new ideas including a better documentation and authentication of 

demonstrations. This they do by means of including in their footage

the names of streets or images of landmarks or well-known public

squares in the various cities; as well as including the date of each

clip using a newspaper front page where the date of issue is clearly

printed. The peoples' media is youthful and smart; it grows and

develops and in doing so it gains more expertise. In contrast, the

official media disinformation campaigns appear naïve, pathetic and

laughable. Once again, the people have proven to be smarter than

the ageing self-isolating political elite.

  The world of the internet, peoples media, social network sites,

Wikileaks and others has undermined the ability of the centres of 

power to monopolise what is presented to public opinion. Our media

institutions should warmly welcome these means and should

encourage them. We should set up integrated interactive news

rooms of which these means would be fundamental components.

We should train our reporters and editors to benefit from them and

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deal with them in accordance with the known professional

standards.

On the other side, a growing number of media institutions have

begun to interact positively with the challenges imposed on the

media. This year, we've seen a marked improvement in the field

reporting of the Arab Spring. We have also seen some excellent

examples of in-depth investigative journalism such as the joint

coverage by Aljazeera and the Guardian newspaper of the

Palestinian papers.

We are in a desperate need for the formation of a coalition that

would bring together journalists, media institutions, human rights

organisations and internet activists in order to break the wall of 

silence that certain governments and centres of influence are

endeavouring to impose on the sources of information. We must

monitor legislations and official measures and lobby for essential

reforms that will open the horizons before journalists to learn all

aspects of the truth. Without transparency and access to accurate

and full information, the media will remain hostage to what the

centres of influences choose to leak in the service of their own

narrow interests and in distortion of the full picture.

  The world is going through a period of major transformation

particularly in the aftermath of the revolutions that swept across the

Arab world and the successive economic crises. Despite the major

challenges facing our media institutions, there are bright spots that

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need to be developed further. Such a task requires full

determination to rectify the media compass so as to be centred

around the people. Collaboration among the various media

institutions, including the sharing of resources and the exchange of 

expertise, will undoubtedly help us regain the initiative and revive

respect for the media in the eyes of the public. The idea is to

remain always loyal to the esteemed mission for which the late

 James Cameroon and his colleagues of various languages, races and

nations worked.

 Thank you very much.

 

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