Limited Scope of Democratic Content

Do you consider that satellite stations could be a catalyst for the process of democratisation in the Muslim world?

Shir Mohammad Rawan: I think the media in the Arab-Islamic world have become very important, especially since the events of September 11th. That's particularly true for the satellite stations, since many people, many intellectuals use them to inform themselves and to develop their own opinions.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't want to overestimate their significance, which is what often happens in Western society. We have two sets of communication infrastructures in the Muslim world, the modern and the traditional. And one shouldn't ignore these traditional channels of communication—for example, the mosque as a place where people exchange their opinions, or the extended family which plays an important role in passing on information and creating opinion.

Religious institutions and the bazaar are also important places for communication. But in spite of that, it's true that the modern media have an increasing role in the region's democratisation process. One example is the way in which issues are discussed nowadays on satellite stations like al-Jazeera, al-Arabiya or Abu Dhabi TV which, ten years ago, one would only have spoken about in the family.

But there's still a silent consensus about what can be reported on and what can't, and that's not just in the newsrooms of the state television stations. How can the media contribute to democratisation if the free expression of opinion and free reporting are still handled like hot potatoes?

Rawan: I see the satellite stations as a kind of "third estate for third party states." In other words, issues in their own countries are taboo for stations like al-Jazeera, but they can report freely about regional and global issues.

Let's take the recent presidential election in Tunisia as an example. After the election we heard that, as so often in these countries. the president had been elected by around 98% of the vote. Stations like al-Arabiya reported very thoroughly and critically about the election result, and said that something didn't seem to be right.

That's an indirect signal for these countries that there's something wrong, that the elections and the system don't have anything to do with reality, even if the local stations can't report about it. All the same, one shouldn't go too far and say that the media have the same role as in the West. But, in my opinion, even to be able to report about the critical issues is a positive development.

But don't the regional satellite stations suffer from political influence and control by those in power as a result of their economic dependence on them? Take al-Jazeera, which is financed by the Emir of Qatar and which can report on everything but the domestic situation in the emirate.

Rawan: That's true. That's why I say that these stations aren't a third estate in their own countries yet, but only in third party states. In other words, domestic issues are taboo. But issues from the neighbouring states, or regional and global issues, can be reported on freely. Al-Jazeera is not a completely independent station, it's a station which has to make certain concessions.

Al-Jazeera comes under fire from the West for allegedly promoting Islamic extremism in the region by broadcasting sensationalist videos of kidnappings in Iraq or video messages from bin Laden . . . .

Rawan: Naturally ethical rules have to be obeyed in regard to what is broadcast. I know there's criticism from elements in the US government that al-Jazeera is a propaganda station for the terrorists.

I don't see it like that. You have to see it in a more differentiated way. It's true, not everything should be broadcast without a commentary.

At the same time we have examples from the Iraq war where al-Jazeera was criticised because it had shown dead American soldiers. But before that, CNN, for example, had shown very humiliating pictures of captured Iraqi soldiers, which also isn't according to the Geneva Convention.

So one shouldn't use two scales to measure by. If you let one station show a particular kind of picture, and say other stations can't do so, then that doesn't find much acceptance among the people.

Nowadays regional satellite stations in the Islamic world offer a whole range of modern programming, starting from religious talk-shows all the way to soap operas and music shows. Do these entertainment programmes merely mirror or even just copy Western media conventions? And isn't their purpose merely entertainment, just as in the West, rather than to provide serious information and education?

Rawan: That's true. The globalisation of the media and the arrival of the satellite stations has broken the state's broadcasting monopoly in the Muslim world. Programmes have become more varied. And so entertainment plays a much more important role in television today.

And then there's the internet, about which there have a number of studies in the Arab world. For example, it was assumed that the internet would be used more intensively in countries where there is a lack of freedom of information. But it's been discovered that people there use the internet in such countries more for entertainment and social contact, and less as a platform for political information.

That means that, just as in the West, people use the media primarily as a means of entertainment and less as a way of getting information. It's also true that many stations in the Muslim world try to copy Western programme formats in order to win more influence with the public.

That is very worrying, since there are many issues and cultural characteristics in the various societies of the region which are linked to their traditions, their histories and their present situations, and these are entirely ignored by these Western TV formats.

Interview: Arian Fariborz

© Qantara.de 2004

Translation from German: Michael Lawton

Dr. Shir Mohammad Rawan is a specialist in communications at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. His research topics are in the fields of globalisation and the media and their role in the dialogue between Muslim and Western countries as well as modern and traditional communication in the Muslim world, especially in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.