Arab press lacks professionalism

THE absence of professional standards in journalism has made the Arab press lose the trust of its readers. The Arab press is no longer a source of news in the field of politics, economy or culture. That role is now played by the foreign press, which has self-respect. The absence of press freedom in the Arab world has made the media lose its vital role, turning it into a strange line of work that cannot be explained or described. It has thus become something completely different from its historical role.

One cannot explain or define the Arab press, including the one in the Gulf states. Day by day, the press is becoming more distant from the role that was set for it when it was founded in the early 18th century in Britain and France. Many of my colleagues in the field of journalism also feel that the Arab press suffers from a major problem. However, they too are not able to explain exactly what it is. The absence of two things is the root of the problem: Professionalism and freedom of expression.

For the sake of clarification, the differences in production methods and the modern technology utilised by the Gulf press for the purpose of publishing and distribution are not being considered here. My primary focus is on the absence of professionalism, which leads to huge mistakes in the media's work. It is true that the Arab press is part of the Third World's press and it cannot compete or be compared with its counterparts in Europe or the US. Perhaps the Arab press could benefit from advanced western media and build on expertise accumulated during the past few decades. It is worth noting that the first Arabic newspaper was published in 1828 in Cairo. It is useful to highlight mistakes that occur due to the absence of professional standards, without specifying the names of the daily newspaper in which these mistakes were committed. What is unfortunate is that these mistakes are still occurring in most Arab newspapers and TV stations. I read the following statement in an Arabic newspaper: "The state begins carrying out vengeance against the rioters ..." This is a disaster, simply because there is no country that carries out vengeance attacks against its citizens and neither is it supposed to. A country is keen on upholding and implementing the law in a cautious and precise manner and uses legitimate violence only when necessary, as per laws and regulations.

The media plays a positive role in some advanced countries, where it influences the decision-making process. An official institution would leak news pertaining to a certain resolution. The press then gauges public opinion on the decision. This allows the official institution to decide whether to go ahead with the resolution or make some amendments to it. While in the Arab world, the common man only knows about these resolutions once they are published in the newspapers, which indicates that the Arab media has no role in the decision-making process. Another newspaper carried a story with the headline: 'Islamic preacher arrested on charges of murder.' The question here is what is the relation between being an Islamic preacher and the killing? This means that the journalist who wrote this headline is giving a religious colour to a criminal offence. Logically and ethically, people who engage in Islamic Dawah and Christianity missionary work do not kill. Although each rule has an exception, terms such as 'Islamic preacher' or 'Christian evangelist' should not be used to give the issue a sectarian colour.