JULY 2000, pages 48, 84

Special Report

Prospects for Middle East Media Reform Assessed at Montreal Global Broadcasting Conference

By Alan L. Heil Jr.

Every two years, international broadcasting executives and specialists from around the world gather in Canada to assess challenges in their rapidly changing field. At this year’s Challenges conference from May 22-24 in Montreal, sponsored for the sixth time by Radio Canada International (RCI), there were well over 100 participants from 41 nations. Among them were Middle Eastern broadcasters who described changes in Arab viewing and listening habits, and predicted those still to come.

First, some background. In the just-published third edition of Broadcasting to the Arab World: A Survey of the Electronic Media in the Middle East, its author, Douglas Boyd of the University of Kentucky, notes that Arabic is now second only to English as an international broadcast language. The BBC, Voice of America and Radio Monte Carlo Middle East are major players, joined as broadcasters of Arabic by nearly 40 other transnational broadcasters, including RCI.

Among those at the Montreal meeting who offered fresh insights at plenary conference sessions and in workshops on Middle East broadcasting were Palestine Broadcasting Corporation chairman Radwan Abu Ayyash; Cairo Radio vice president for special programs Aziza el Gamal; Tunisia Radio and TV director Kamel Abdelkader Cherif; Israeli Vice Consul in Montreal Barnea Hassid; and RCI Arabic Service broadcasters Sami Aoun and Pierre Ahmaranian.

There was general agreement that:

• throughout the Arab world, broadcasting is largely government-controlled, and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
• the use of radio to advance the peace process or resolve conflicts, being discussed in some other regions, appears to be only a remote possibility in the Middle East. In Dr. Boyd’s view: “Peace radio may be an oxymoron in the Arab world.” As PBC chairman Abu Ayyash observed: “We tried to create an atmosphere in which everyone can share, but with stone-throwing, air attacks, and general tension in the Middle East, you can’t expect official radios to talk about love and peace.”

In two informal regional workshops, however, conferees offered some examples indicating that information consumers in the Arab world might, in the years ahead, experience a wider spectrum of views, a sort of Middle East-style glasnost . This would occur because of:

• station-to-station joint ventures in cultural programming and staff exchanges, between European, North American and Arab stations and among Arab networks; and
• the impact of technology: satellite TV, expanded medium wave by international broadcasters and, in due time, the Internet. Arab world listening to external shortwave has declined significantly in recent years, the conferees agreed.

Joint ventures:

Egypt’s Aziza el Gamal said that a program linking French and Egyptian children had been particularly successful. Young people at each end of the electronic dialogue were asked what they thought of life in the other country. French participants thought the Egyptian people had trouble parking their camels. A lively discussion ensued, and each learned a great deal about the other country and shed a lot of misconceptions in a very short time.

People-to-people dialogues involving all age groups and centering primarily on non-political topics may gradually enrich regional educational, cultural and, occasionally, even informational programming. Live roundtables can break down barriers and begin to alter the tone and content of traditional broadcasts in the Arab world. Mr. Abu Ayyash cited potentially groundbreaking dialogues in such areas as engineering, medicine, legal affairs, labor issues and journalism.

Israeli diplomat Barnea Hassid concurred. He attended one of the workshops and cited efforts by former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to develop a jointly financed Arab-Israeli industrial park in Quebec and joint ventures elsewhere. “We’re optimistic,” he said, “that someday we’ll surmount all the differences, and broadcasts could help.”

RCI Arabic Service staff member Sami Aoun said that in his service there is a striving for dialogue, even at times on political matters. He recalled that RCI frequently broadcasts the views of Arab opposition, as well as government figures, who visit Canada. He added that Arab broadcasters visiting Montreal on professional exchanges have benefited greatly—as has his service—from the contacts. “Why not be interlocutors?” he asked.

In terms of radio dialogues which might foster better understanding, Ms. el Gamal and Mr. Abu Ayyash both drew from experiences of their respective networks. The Egyptian broadcast executive said that Cairo Radio plays a positive role by covering holidays of both Coptic Christians and Muslims in its broadcasts.

Palestinian chairman Abu Ayyash pointed to joint programming ventures or broadcast exchanges between his station and state radios in Tunisia and Egypt, as well as with the Voice of the Arabs in Cairo. He disclosed that 350 professionals at the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation have now been involved in exchange programs with other countries.

From time to time, Abu Ayyash added, “we can create news from people-to-people dialogues.” He reported to a plenary session of the Challenges VI conference that leaders and peace negotiators may have one kind of dialogue in the Middle East, but that experience has shown the people-to-people contacts can be even more effective. And, on occasion, even newsworthy. He cited as an example the U. S. Institute of Peace-sponsored Seeds of Peace youth summer camp program bringing together Arab and Israeli youths in the state of Maine in the United States, now in its 10th year.

Technological change:

Dr. Boyd cited the growing impact of new media delivery systems on Arab world broadcasting. Satellite TV, slowly expanding medium wave transmissions by international radio broadcasters, and in some areas, the Internet, are beginning to open up media choices for listeners and viewers in the region.

In the United Arab Emirates, Boyd said, state TV has had to recast its formats to attract viewers because of competition from programming from abroad which can be received via home dishes. In one city in the Gulf region, 12 foreign TV channels are now available to the home viewer.

Viewership of Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV is growing because of its candid airing of the views of opposition politicians in other Arab countries. “It’s popular,” Boyd said, “because it’s so different.” And he noticed during a recent visit to Damascus that “the number of rooftop dishes which have appeared lately is astonishing.”

In his Broadcasting to the Arab World, published last year, Boyd concludes: “By the time of the next survey, external television, and possibly radio via satellite, will likely be an increasingly important source of information for Arabic speakers.” He suggested more research by Arab broadcasting stations, and more contact with listeners for program analysis and feedback.

Alan Heil retired as deputy director of the Voice of America two years ago and served as that organization’s Middle East correspondent from 1968-71.