Western portrayals of Islam and the Middle East have stirred up controversal attitudes in the Arab community, but why? A cartoon with a bomb strapped to the Prophet's head and South Park's depiction of Muhammad seem like mere acts of free speech to us, but Arab media in the Middle East is far more limited than ours. This is why independent news agencies, permitted by governments in only several countries, like Al Jazeera have become so popular within the Arab world. Offering differing perspectives and gaining a reputation far from biased government media sources, independent news sources are prominent voices in the Middle East. Nations that do allow independent press include Turkey and Israel. Most of the pubic press though in Israel is known for being pro-Israel. Why do you feel that Arab nations are controlling the press? Is such control healthy to a religion plagued with misinterpretations throughout the world? Why or why not? Could government control of the media contribute to the rapidly rising number of Arabic blogs and websites?
I feel that Arab nations are controlling the press because they want to filter what is being presented to their country. This causes the news put out by the press to be bias. I don't feel that this kind of filtering what the press says is healthy for a religion misinterpreted around the world, because it only gives people more reason to criticize the religion. Governmental control of the media definitely gives rise to the Arab blogs and websites because if the truth isn't being spread through the press, many arabs will want to spread through truth through websites and their own blogs.
ReplyDeleteI think the Arab nations are controlling the media to keep their people from being corrupted by the western nations. Maybe they feel that if they allow them to see the news they will start a revolution and change the government to a democratic government. I would say that for their government needs to have such control but it is not good for their image. The fact that they are so unknown makes them a good target and the fact that the only thing we hear about from over there are suicide bombs.
ReplyDeleteI think that Arab governments controlling what is said in the press is definitely an indication of how governments are trying to maintain the status quo in their countries. In many cases, the news is filtered so only certain topics get coverage, therefore making the news seem like propaganda. In countries where their true intentions are sometimes unclear or hard to understand for Westerners, it is easy to confuse press with propaganda. I do not think that Arab governments should be able to control the press, and many people in said countries agree with me, and that is why "free speech"news stations like Al-Jazeera have become so popular.
ReplyDeleteI think that Arab governments controlling the media and what is discussed is their way of showing other countries and cultures that they have "control" over their country, and that they can steer their people to believe what they show them. It's unfair that the Arab government hides information from it's people. They're restricting knowledge about their country. I don't think that they should be able to control this part of their lives because they should have the freedom of exploring their world and the baggage that comes with it.
ReplyDeleteI think the Arab governments control the media so people will only know what the government wants them to know. Like Bri said, the media is often filtered so certain topics get coverage and certain ones don't, we do the same thing in the US with our news. If you notice, our news does not consist of a 30 minute segment of happenings overseas, it is spilt up by the local news of poor weather conditions and WMUR's daily pictures of bears and other relatively pointless imagines. There is certainly enough happening overseas with the war to cover more than 30 minutes, but we choice not to do that mainly because ignorance is bliss and if people knew 100% of what was going on overseas or whatever, shit would hit the fan. I feel as though the Arab governments' control is for similar reasons. I do not believe that the US should be controlling the media, especially the news, the way the do because i feel that people have the right to know what exactly is going on, and on that note, i feel the same way about the Arab government.
ReplyDeleteOne way to control the people is to control the information they receive. While controlling the press is a relatively simple task, censoring bloggers and online commenters that have the power to remain completely anonymous is as hard as stopping the BP oil spill. People become so fed up with their voice being taken that they turn to the internet to broadcast their feelings. Hopefully the iron handed fist that controls the news in these areas will soon lessen as it will become impossible to stop the flood of information.
ReplyDeleteIf they control the media and the press then they control most of the information their people can receive, and eventually they gain even stronger control over the people themselves and what they are allowed to think....sort of like in 1984 I guess :D
ReplyDeleteControlling the press controls the people, just as many of the above comments have mentioned. Not only are they concerned about corruption from Western society, but they may see how skewed views are about the conflicts going on. The people then may become aggitated that everything is being portrayed in a different light and want to take action.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with most comments made all ready. A free press is necessary in bringing power to the people. Only when people are offered unbiased information can they truly know what is happening in the world around them and be able to make accurate decisions. In the Middle East, I think it is important to encourage free press because if we want our foreign campaigns to be successful, we need to offer the people something they wont eventually revolt against in the future.
ReplyDeletewell our press is biased and we're very misinterpreted throughout the world. controlling the press is probs just another way to keep things under control and to keep the people from wanting anything different than they've been taught and to keep them from questioning. or maybe people just get power hungry and control everything just because they want to be the ones who effect a ton of people. by the way, i think you spelled public wrong ( or perhaps you did mean "pubic?")
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