Journalism and Press Freedom - Essay Example

JОURNАLISM АND РRЕSS FRЕЕDОM- МIDDLЕ ЕАST istitution’s Name Name Introduction Journalism is the way of disseminating information and ensuring that it reaches people. Dissemination of information or news takes place regularly. The newspaper as the main medium of transmitting marked the 1700 century. Magazines were introduced in the 18th century while radio and television came in in the 20th century. The internet, which is the most social and fastest means of disseminating information, came in the 21st century. Countries like England were some of the firs countries to publish newspapers and magazines reporting on polarized political situations. The 18th century saw an increase in trade and commerce due to agrarian revolution leading to a lot of interest in information dissemination. There was a boom in journalism as periodicals production increased due to trade. Writers became more independent. However, journalist did not enjoy their popularity as many governments introduced taxation on newspapers. There were more than 52 London papers and over 100 other titles by the year 1802 at the beginning of the 19th century(Hargreaves, 2005). Journalism continued to gain popularity due to civil wars against slavery by philosophers. The Times were some of the newspapers that sent their journalists to collect information during civil wars and political conflicts. Radio as a means of journalism began in 1920’s and reached its peak between 1930 and 1940. Internet journalism began in 2000 due to personalization, globalization, localization, and pauperization. Role of Journalism in the Society Journalism plays an important role in the society although its role is not specific. Pieces of information keep changing depending on the target audience. Newspapers continue to be a major source of information despite facing a lot of competition from radio, television, and internet. This is because newspapers serve the diverse culture found in the field of journalism(Shannon E. Martin, 2003). Journalism has the mandate of ensuring that people learn the truth by disseminating all information necessary for public awareness. People can never attain freedom without knowing the truth, which mainly comes through journalism. Journalism is an important part of democracy since people depend on the media as their major means of expression(Barendt, 2007). The press is therefore the voice of people who are voiceless(Asante, 1997). Press is the pillar of democracy. Journalism has also the role of shaping the social lives of its people. Through the press people are informed of innovations which they embrace and change their lives. The press also changes political opinions and is continuously in use in preventing civil wars especially in Asian and African countries. People will continue having uninformed decisions if they are not able to access credible and ethical journalism. A vibrant democratic world requires that journalist enjoy freedom of expression and movement in order to come up with comprehensive and convincing information for the public. Journalists are now acting as intermediaries and mediators in politics(Meyers, 2010). Journalists continue to provide reliable, credible, and truthful information to the public, which continues to enhance democracy. The media as an institution is also important as a mean of economic development. The media enlightens the public concerning economic activities, which are useful in raising their living standards. Other economic functions of the media in the society are that it createsjobs; provide profits,and helps in satisfying consumer demand. Press freedom and the type of political systems Press freedom has been under attack for quite a long time. Currently, most of the countries continue to face bias in press freedom. Countries like South African journalism continue to face threats while conducting their activities due to apartheid(Muhlmann, 2010). According to an article published by Seumas Miller, (2007) third world countries do not enjoy press freedom. In South Africa, violation of human rights and press freedom is influenced by authoritarian leadership, which is enacted by legislation of illegal laws and security forces(Dabashi, 2012). The media as an institution is also important as a mean of economic development. Although the law and the constitution provide freedom of expression and speech as their first clauses in the constitution, the laws play a minor role in providing freedom of the press. A simple way through which press is decimated is by the newspapers gaining protection from most governments while other means of communication such as radio, television and the internet continues to face discrimination(Phares, 2010). The press is treated in a discriminating way. Under certain situations, reporters are denied to publish the news and reports they come across on the basis that the news is illegally acquired since the reporter was not involve in the initial investigation. However, such news may be broadcasted in the television, radio, and the internet yet denied on the newspapers. Such kind of discrimination continues to face the media. VigdorSchreibman followed proper government policies and established an online reporting newsletter. His online publication gained popularity and he garnered over 10, 000 readers in online discussion groups. He also managed to come up with 500 subscribers each who paid $ 2.95. Mr. Vigdor demanded for congressional press credentials but the government denied him this opportunity(Darwish, 2012). The reasons for denial was that he was not earning any salary and was not employed by any journalism company and still he could not prove that the online newsletter was earning profits. The lingering question in this circumstance is how free is free and who is the press. Another question that we may ask is what is the criteria for deciding individuals who are the press. The media needs freedom of conducting its investigation as well as the freedom to report its findings to the public. Development of Journalism in the Middle East Countries Middle East countries are war prone areas. However, there has been a sharp improvement and decline to war due to media freedom. New media technologies such as the internet, television, and the satellite are contributing to democracy due to their role of providing convincing information to the public. The more the media in the Middle East continues provide better information to its people, the more they are able to make better-informed decisions about their government’s hence promoting democracy. Media in the Middle East resulted into the freedom of expression, promotion of public debate, mobilizing democrats, and prompting authoritarian type of leadership to be less authoritarian hence leading to democracy(Policy), 1990). Researchers argue that the recent surge in the satellite plays a great role in journalism. The fact that television is able to reach many households in poor societies amongst the Middle East countries means that the levels of literacy are increasing hence people are able to make informed decisions regarding life in general. Initially only Egyptians and Saudi’s were the dominant countries in terms of journalism. However, the introduction of Al-Jazeera a Qatar based channel brought competition leading to more access of information by Middle East countries. According to Eutelsat, 70-90% of households in Algeria had access to television network by the year 2002(Sakr, 2004). The number was 40-50% in Saudi Arabia and 30% in Syria and Jordan. The breakthrough in media broadcasting in Arab countries is due to the introduction of conflicting debates according to Faisal al-Qassim who is a presenter at Al-Jazeera. Faisal said this while addressing journalist in the University of Cambridge in the year 2002. He argued that the dialogues were good sources of changing the religious and culture of Islam, which is more dictating. His aim was to change situations at homes, schools, and mosques where preachers, teachers, and fathers are allowed to behave like dictators. The ability of many media houses to discuss family and social issues attracts a lot of attention hence many viewers get enlightened. Journalism and press freedom in Middle East According to the press release by Freedom house 2013, the percentage of people living with press freedom is reducing to its lowest level over the decade(Trgeted News Service, 2013). This means that press freedom is under attack and reducing at an alarming rate. Amongst the countries affected, include Mali, Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya in Africa. The condition remained unchanged in the Middle East while in Latin America the situation is deteriorating. The report arguesthat the decline is due to the authoritarian regimes, financial instability, and tightening European economic crisis. According to the president of Freedom House, Ecuador, Paraguay, Thailand, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, and Maldives are some of the Middle East countries that are regarded as “Not Free” in terms of press freedom. Governments in the Middle East countries are using techniques that influence the authoritarian leadership hence affecting traditional media. A good example is China which has been detaining, jailing, censoring, closing down stations, and also bringing legal charges on journalist who criticizes certain kind of information especially matters concerning the government and politics. Middle East countries are prone to war and the report indicates that amongst the 197 countries that were examined in 2012 32% of the countries are rated as not free. It is also unfortunate that amongst the 8 countries that are rated the worst in press freedom, Middle East has Iran, North Korea, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan represented. Most governments are able to control broadcasting and skew coverage in order to influence voting patterns on their favor. Such cases are evident in Venezuela, Russia, Ecuador, and Ukraine. Economic hardships and constraints continue to affect press freedom in the Middle East especially since lack of funds reduces the number of journalist. The media’s ability to perform watchdog activities is also affected by financial constraints. Due to this, most of the public get inadequate information. Hungary continues to struggle with press freedom despite the tightened legislative and tightened controls by its government. Middle East and West African countries are still rated the worst regions in terms of press freedom. Arab Spring Arab spring is a term that the media uses to signify revolution of nonviolent and violent demonstrations. Arabian spring was evident immediately after the Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown in January 2011(Al Bawaba Limited, 2012). The Arab spring is a technique where there is civil resistance leading to demonstrations, clashes, strikes, and rallies where the social media are actively involved in organizing, communicating, and increasing awareness to the public. The Arab spring uses the media to try to stop the government from censoring their work. Most governments in the Middle East countries counter attack demonstrators of the Arab spring. Members of the public facing dissatisfaction mostly by the services their local governments are offeringcause the Arab spring. Dictatorship by Arab leaders, political corruption, and human rights violations are some of the reasons for the uprising of the Arab spring. In other countries like Egypt, Arab spring is caused by poor economy, unemployment, rising cases of extreme poverty, demographic factors, and unequal provision of education to the public. The Arab spring has led to overthrowing of some of the world’s longest serving dictators in Arab countries by September 2012. Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ran away in January 2011, while President Hosni Mubarak resigned in February 2011. The president resigned after witnessing 18 days of bitter protests. The Arab spring has also seen Muammar Gaddafi losing his seat as the Libyan president and even facing his death after being overthrown in August 2011. Ali Abdulla Saleh who was the president of Yemen entered into a power sharing deal due to Arab spring. He lost his seat as the president after elections were held in February 2012. This kind of pressure from the Arab spring has led to democracy and even forcing some other leaders to announce their intentions to step down as leaders after their leadership terms are over. An example is Sothern Sudan president Omar al- Bashir. In addition to this Iraqi prime minister has also made his announcement not to continue with leadership roles coming 2014. Nasser Mohammed Al-Sabah, the prime minister of Kuwait resigned due to pressure and forces from the public. The Arab spring continues to play important role of promoting democracy. For this reason, the actions of Arab spring leaders continue to catch international attention. Tawakel Karman is a man from Yemen who has been actively involved with Arab spring. He was amongst the three laureates awarded with the prestigious Noble Peace Prize in 2011. References Al Bawaba Limited. (2012). The National. General Interst Periodicals- United Arab Emirates, 1-4. Asante, C. E. (1997). Press Freedom and Development. New York: Greenwood Press. Barendt, E. (2007). Freedom of Speech . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dabashi, H. (2012). The Arab Spring. The End of Postcolonialism, 182. Darwish, N. (2012). The Devil We Don't Know: The Dark Side of Revolutions in the Middle East. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Hargreaves, I. R. (2005). Journalism - A very short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Meyers, C. (2010). Journalism Ethics: A Philosophical Approach (Practical and Professional Ethics) . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Muhlmann, G. (2010). Journalism for Democracy . New York: Polity. Phares, W. (. (2010). Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East. New York: Simon & Schuster. Policy), D. a. (1990). Judith Lichtenberg. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Sakr, N. (2004). Medi Development and Democratisation in the Arab Middle East. Global Dialogue, 6, (2) 98. Shannon E. Martin, D. A. (2003). The Function of Newspapers in Society: A Global Perspective. Westport, CT: Praeger. Trgeted News Service. (2013). Freedom of Press 2013: Middle East Volatility amid Global Decline. Targeted News Service, 1-4. Read More