Challenges to Media in A New Environment

New media and new opportunities have raised new issues around the safety of journalists and citizen reporters, as well as the character of regulation and training in the media sector, especially in the newly democratic countries. As more and more news is being transmitted through the Internet, the number of cases concerning safety of journalists who operate online has greatly increased.

Four years ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that for the first time in mass media history, more online journalists are being jailed worldwide than of any other mass medium. Quality journalism is unlikely to flourish if media practitioners are constantly under the threat of abductions, hostage-taking, intimidation, illegal arrests, sexual attacks especially on female journalists, and most of all murders.

The protections afforded to traditional media workers must necessarily be extended to new media practitioners. The problem of impunity must be addressed because the majority of crimes committed against media workers usually remain unpunished and uninvestigated. Indeed, according to the International Safety Institute (INSI), the murderers of journalists are never prosecuted in nine out of ten cases. In this context, cooperation with media freedom watchdogs such as Reporters without Borders, Inter American Press Association (IAPA), and Article 19 is crucial to combat impunity.

In addition, the number of citizen reporters is also on the rise. They report on events mostly out of their own initiative. They include the brave individuals who decided to turn on their camera and to become more than a passive bystander as history unfolds around them in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere. Some of these individuals will return to their normal daily lives, but some continue to be committed to bringing news to the wider audience despite the danger this act of reporting poses to them and their families. Their contribution should not be unsung and their safety should not be ignored.

While social media offers an unprecedented amount of connectivity and information, there is a worrying trend of threatening the freedom of expression and press freedom online. There is an increase in cyber-attacks on sites that are critical of the ruling government, imposition of bans on certain social networking sites, and the arrests of bloggers (see example 1  and 2). Comments left by anonymous individuals on social networking sites are being used as justification to block certain websites, or as cause for mounting defamation law suits. Where does the responsibility of a defamatory comment made on a third party social media application lie? What kind of penalty, if any, corresponds to liability of such defamation cases? Defamation must be decriminalized both on- and off-line, and be made part of the civil code, in accordance to international standards. And much as attention may be given to curbing hate speech online, even more should be given to advancing information and media literacy so that users are empowered to be the final arbiters of assessing the content that they consume and produce online, operating with appropriate understandings of international principles of freedom of expression and the limited nature of limitations that can be placed on this human right.

The emergence of new media outlets, in the aftermath of the uprisings particularly in some Arab states, is altering make-up of the media market in the region. Previously, there was a reliance on international media rather than local news sources. National media outlets founded before the revolution were often controlled by the authorities. In this context, international and regional news outlets became central actors in the Middle-East media landscape. However, since the fall of the public authorities in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, there has been a mushrooming of new local media outlets. How will this new development influence the flow of information in the region? How will newspapers, radio and TV integrate with social media in terms of mutual value-additions and sustainability of quality journalism?In the post-revolutionary situation, the media sector is enjoying a much higher level of freedom, but at the same time it suffers a lack of norms and internationally-referenced regulation systems. There are significant questions about whether state-owned media in a given country can be transformed into (one or more) public service outlets media, whether they should be privatised, or whether the two strategies could be combined in one way or another. Whereas government advertising was previously abused to support state or “sweetheart” media, systems need to be built to channel it on an impartial basis whose logic is only the audiences that various media can deliver. Subsidy systems (operating on a non-political basis) may be needed to help emerging media (especially in marginalised areas and social groupings) become commercially competitive. Regulation is always a tricky issue, especially in post-authoritarian societies insofar as it is often seen as censorship. However, the regulation of media can be beneficial to citizens. For example, specific norms can seek to protect them by requiring fair coverage on broadcasting during elections, as well as restricting language inciting violence, and hate speech. Thus, a legal framework for independent regulation, complying with international standards, could be implemented to set parameters for the media sector, and particularly broadcast on the public airwaves.

Moreover, the media must learn to adapt to a new culture of self-regulation and strengthening of the professional standards. Those who were accustomed to “sweetheart” journalism need to learn a new mind-set of critical independence, and how to ask difficult questions of all sides, how to conduct investigative journalism and how to best contribute to a democratic culture. In the aftermath of revolutions, notions of ethics and editorial independence may not be fully implemented in the media sector. Thus, the development of adequate media training systems is a priority. For example, the newly established Egyptian Journalists’ Independent Syndicate, and the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (NSTJ) are promoting the reform of the media self-regulation system and the use of an updated professional code of ethics (see Joan Barata Mir, Political and Media Transitions in Tunisia: A Snapshot of Media Policy and Regulatory Environment, Commissioned by Internews, August 2011). The challenge is: in the rush to win the market in the new freer environment, how would the quality and professional standards of the press be ensured when powerful commercial pressures can point the other way? In the current transitional situation, it is necessary to promote professionalism within the media landscape; and to provide media practitioners a solid capacity building about international standards.

Food for Thought:

• Would sub-regional networks and media workers’ and journalists’ unions be able to protect their rights and improve their working conditions?
• How can the decriminalization of defamation law be accelerated, and how can defamation be incorporated into the civil code, in accordance with international standards?
• Where does the responsibility lie for a defamatory comment made on a third party social media application? Who should take ownership of opinions posted on social media sites?
• Who are the citizen reporters and how can their safety be supported?
• How is regulation for the media sector changing after the fall of restrictive regimes?
• How to develop relations between major international media groups and emerging local media?
• What is needed for state-owned media, and can part of it regain the trust of the citizens in countries where it was highly manipulated in the past?
• What are the needs of the newly emergent non-state media sector?
• What is needed to raise ethical and professional standards in a media sector undergoing radical transformation?