How best to support the development of Arab media in transition

Posted by Emma Heald on January 24, 2012 at 11:15 AM

by Larry Kilman

With repression of Arab media lifted in some countries following the 'Arab Spring' revolutions and reforms, what needs to be done to develop a professional independent press in the region?

That was the question posed during a panel discussion Monday at the Arab Free Press Forum in Tunis, and the answer is - quite a lot of things.

Of course there is journalism training, but the needs go far beyond reporting. The challenge is how to turn media into commercial ventures.

"Journalists often don't have proper management experience or marketing experience," said Hafez al-Bukhari, President of the Yemen Polling Centre.

"A challenge in Yemen and equally in some other Arab countries, is how can media activity become a business activity? We need real, appropriate training for media production and management, it is different from traditional training workshops for journalists," he said.

Investment is another challenge, the panellists agreed. And advertising is not regulated by market conditions but by relationships and interests.

No matter how Arab media develops, they must have patience, because development doesn't happen overnight, said Tatiana Repkova, Founder and Director of the Media Managers Club.

Drawing on her experience in Eastern Europe, Ms Repkova said editorial independence was acquired in a "step by step" experience. First comes independence from government - "due to revolution, it can happen overnight". But harder to shake is dependence on political or business interests. And professional training is needed to remove the influence of journalists' own relationships and prejudices, she said.

Independence from business interests is particularly difficult to achieve, she said. "Issues of financial independence are never ending, anywhere in the world," she said.

Guy Berger, Director of Freedom of Expression and Media Development at UNESCO, said the appropriate legislation was also a key issue for media development. And not just media law, but an independent judiciary.

"You might have good laws but who is going to interpret those laws?" he asked.

The other panellists were Mansoor al-Jamri, Editor in chief of Al Wasat in Bahrain, and Yousef Ahmed, General Coordinator of the Arab Network for Freedom of Expression and moderator of the session.