Coote New Zealand Futures Trust New Zealand

On Media A workshop report from US Institute for Peace examined Arab media, August, 05 (http://usip.org/virtual diplomacy/publications/reports/18.html), with special focus on attitudes to US and to the West. The relevant Arab governments play a double role since mostly, they control the media, where they appease the ideological positions of their own threatening insurgencies while focusing public ire on external factors rather than domestic oppression. Recently, low-cost access to Arab satellite TV has resulted an explosion of channels all competing for market share. Their populism shapes the Arab "street", fuelling a sense of victimisation perpetrated by Israel and US against Arabs and creating a prism of individual and collective humiliation and resentment. Though critics who raise questions are perceived as undermining Arab solidarity, more of this is occurring. Al Jazeera, the dominant channel, directs its professional skills towards provocation and debate rather than factual reporting, a common approach among professional Arab journalists. Censorship, the competition for audience attention, and the lack of expectation that the press will act as fourth estate contribute to this. Print media is still influential for elites, but online sources are diverse and growing though shadowed by governments. Young people, who have considerable attraction to Western values, recourse to the Web and the growing numbers of local "blogs" The public reporting by western media of investigation in US and Western media of government officials, including Secretary Rumsfeld showed the reality of holding officials accountable. Gruesome terrorist acts shown in realtime provoked widespread revulsion against such "jihad." Competition in saturated markets encourages some channels to seek more credibility by more open reporting for niche markets. The interdependence of media, public and government patrons in oppressive regimes appears to be loosening. Is the "blog" phenomenon a real revolution in expression of popular opinion? Sceptics query whether claims that mainstream media are dinosaurs has longerterm validity. These have the capacity to survive since they provide us with factual