A conference on Arab media which opened here Sunday heard calls by two Emirati officials for the Arab world to embrace reform and not allow extremists to hinder change in the name of Islam. Any attempt to make Arab media more effective will remain fruitless so long as the current "painful" situation persists in the region "at the political, educational, cultural and social levels," said United Arab Emirates Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan.
This is a situation "in which repugnant views are promoted that describe people as atheists with whom there should be no exchange of views, whether such people are Muslims or non-Muslims," he said, implicitly referring to Islamist extremists who hold others to be "heretical."
The Arab media, "however much it is empowered with resources and ability to use IT, cannot perform what is expected of it unless there is a comprehensive process of radical reform throughout the Arab world. Our media cannot project a beautiful image of an ugly situation," Abdullah said.
Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum, who has turned his emirate into a hub of regional media and attracted international giants, said Arab media should not be required to do more than they can as they "do not operate in a vacuum."
Arab newsmen shoulder a big responsibility in promoting and "rationalising the dialogue" about reform, "but the biggest responsibility falls on Arab leaderships, through spreading (a climate of) intellectual freedom and protecting thinkers," said Mohammad, who is also the UAE's defence minister.
The Emirati official told Arab and Western journalists and academics taking part in the conference on "Arab media in the information age" that Arab media were both in need of reform and a major player in the broader process of change.
Hailing Arab satellite channels which have broken new ground, Sheikh Mohammad said a "hot" issue facing journalists as they tackle reform was the "ambiguous relationship between reform and national identity, including its changing elements and permanent components, chiefly Arabism and Islam."
Since reform must be consistent with the age and benefit from its "successful models", and "since the achievements of our age are attributable to others", there is a major debate about the effects of reform on the Arabs' national identity and these are being "exploited to resist reform and change," he said.
Saudi journalist Abdulrahman al-Rashed, who heads the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite news channel, took a swipe at critics of entertainment programs on Arab TV stations who view material such as video clips of singers and dancers as a violation of conservative Islamic values.
"Because this is the era of extremist fundamentalism, ordinary things have become unacceptable. Incidentally, Oriental dancing existed well before satellite channels and took place in homes and weddings," he said. Speakers at the three-day conference, which is organised by the Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, also discussed the inadequate educational content of Arab TV programming and one slammed state-guided media for entrenching a culture of submissiveness to the ruler. "Footage of (people) kissing (the ruler's) nose, shoulder and knee is aired repeatedly," said Ali Fakhro, a former Bahraini education minister who spoke about the media's influence on education.
And when the ruler is shown with citizens, "the emphasis is on bowing or any gesture that reflects submissiveness," he said.