By Ahmed Essa Al ZedjaliThe revolution which has taken place in Egypt recently did not come out of the blue. It has not been orchestrated by internal political powers such as the opposition parties or the Muslim Brotherhood as claimed by the former Egyptian regime.
The Egyptian revolution was not influenced by foreign powers or subjected to foreign pressure. As a matter of fact, technology has played a vital role in the success of the revolution.
The Egyptian youth have mastered the use of technology and managed to use it in a way that served their own goals despite the government’s efforts to the contrary. A new Egyptian generation was born. A generation that has managed to use the new media such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter in serving its own cause.
The former Egyptian regime used to maintain an iron grip on the print and broadcast media. It used to control and influence the media in a way which would serve the interests of the regime.
It used to justify this approach by arguing that this was necessary for security reasons. This was a mistake on the part of the former Egyptian regime. The regime maintained the old-fashioned style of the Egyptian media and interfered in its affairs.
The regime also appointed old-fashioned officials to run the media, who could not cope with the new media. As a result of this, the Egyptian media became weak and was unable to keep up with events. This meant that the Egyptian media became the mouthpiece of the regime, which had lost its credibility.
The reliance on old-fashioned traditional media has weakened the regime. This weakness was exacerbated by the emergence of powerful satellite television channels, an interactive Internet, and an enthusiastic youth.
All of these factors pulled the rug from under the Egyptian media, which remained in the sixties’ mentality; consequently, it could not resist the invincible new media.
The former regime in Egypt could not understand that maintaining its old-fashioned media would weaken it and would shift the people’s attention away from the official media. The Egyptian people have sought a credible alternative media, which would deal with the real facts as seen by the people.
The youth have been able to get access to real facts as soon as they occur via different communication means such as mobile telephones, satellite TV channels, Internet -- etc. The technological development has enabled Google to provide an alternative for those who wanted to communicate with each other via the Internet, when the former regime decided to stop the local Internet network.
The youth revolution has succeeded and the regime has lost out simply because it tried to maintain the status quo with regard to the media. The regime has lost because it tried to suppress the media and this made the regime lose its credibility and eventually it became unable to keep up with the new media such as the social media and Al Jazeera satellite TV channel, which had been the real leader of the rebellious Egyptians. On the other hand, the situation of the Egyptian media, which was given one assignment and that was to conceal the real facts, was pathetic.
Unfortunately, Arab countries, which have benefitted from the Egyptian expertise in devising their own laws as well as their security and media strategies, have followed Egypt’s example in making security considerations prevail over media considerations.
These countries should immediately review such approach in a way which would take into consideration the horrible fate of the Egyptian approach.
The restrictions imposed on the local media in Arab countries are not the right solutions. These restrictions would weaken local media and would reduce its importance as a social safety net. Facebook, Twitter and others could pose a real threat to Arab countries which continue to adopt old tactics in dealing with its people and this would make Arab regimes an easy target for Al Jazeera.
The lesson learned from what happened in Egypt is that running the local media on the basis of security obsessions is not the solution. I believe that more freedom of press would serve the interests of the authorities and the society.
Such freedom would also help in alleviating the impact of any sudden tensions and would prevent things from getting out of hand.
I think the time has come for Arab regimes to learn from what happened in Egypt and to work on supporting and strengthening their own media away from security obsessions. Arab regimes should help their media in order to enable it to operate along with the new media.
These regimes should open the door for the youth and listen to them. We live in a new world order, which cannot and should not be led by old-fashioned mentalities.
The Egyptian revolution was not influenced by foreign powers or subjected to foreign pressure. As a matter of fact, technology has played a vital role in the success of the revolution.
The Egyptian youth have mastered the use of technology and managed to use it in a way that served their own goals despite the government’s efforts to the contrary. A new Egyptian generation was born. A generation that has managed to use the new media such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter in serving its own cause.
The former Egyptian regime used to maintain an iron grip on the print and broadcast media. It used to control and influence the media in a way which would serve the interests of the regime.
It used to justify this approach by arguing that this was necessary for security reasons. This was a mistake on the part of the former Egyptian regime. The regime maintained the old-fashioned style of the Egyptian media and interfered in its affairs.
The regime also appointed old-fashioned officials to run the media, who could not cope with the new media. As a result of this, the Egyptian media became weak and was unable to keep up with events. This meant that the Egyptian media became the mouthpiece of the regime, which had lost its credibility.
The reliance on old-fashioned traditional media has weakened the regime. This weakness was exacerbated by the emergence of powerful satellite television channels, an interactive Internet, and an enthusiastic youth.
All of these factors pulled the rug from under the Egyptian media, which remained in the sixties’ mentality; consequently, it could not resist the invincible new media.
The former regime in Egypt could not understand that maintaining its old-fashioned media would weaken it and would shift the people’s attention away from the official media. The Egyptian people have sought a credible alternative media, which would deal with the real facts as seen by the people.
The youth have been able to get access to real facts as soon as they occur via different communication means such as mobile telephones, satellite TV channels, Internet -- etc. The technological development has enabled Google to provide an alternative for those who wanted to communicate with each other via the Internet, when the former regime decided to stop the local Internet network.
The youth revolution has succeeded and the regime has lost out simply because it tried to maintain the status quo with regard to the media. The regime has lost because it tried to suppress the media and this made the regime lose its credibility and eventually it became unable to keep up with the new media such as the social media and Al Jazeera satellite TV channel, which had been the real leader of the rebellious Egyptians. On the other hand, the situation of the Egyptian media, which was given one assignment and that was to conceal the real facts, was pathetic.
Unfortunately, Arab countries, which have benefitted from the Egyptian expertise in devising their own laws as well as their security and media strategies, have followed Egypt’s example in making security considerations prevail over media considerations.
These countries should immediately review such approach in a way which would take into consideration the horrible fate of the Egyptian approach.
The restrictions imposed on the local media in Arab countries are not the right solutions. These restrictions would weaken local media and would reduce its importance as a social safety net. Facebook, Twitter and others could pose a real threat to Arab countries which continue to adopt old tactics in dealing with its people and this would make Arab regimes an easy target for Al Jazeera.
The lesson learned from what happened in Egypt is that running the local media on the basis of security obsessions is not the solution. I believe that more freedom of press would serve the interests of the authorities and the society.
Such freedom would also help in alleviating the impact of any sudden tensions and would prevent things from getting out of hand.
I think the time has come for Arab regimes to learn from what happened in Egypt and to work on supporting and strengthening their own media away from security obsessions. Arab regimes should help their media in order to enable it to operate along with the new media.
These regimes should open the door for the youth and listen to them. We live in a new world order, which cannot and should not be led by old-fashioned mentalities.
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