Brigham Young University %28BYU%29 More Like This Preview No discussion of the political, economic, democratic, or developmental arena of a country or region is complete without a discussion of its media system. The ideal relationship is a symbiotic one, where political systems provide freedom of expression and access to information while the resulting healthy environment and participatory civic society help fuel democracy and development. Media systems are complex enough when addressing one country, and certainly a major challenge when addressing the "Middle East" in the larger sense of including non-Arab countries. Although the traditional press... No discussion of the political, economic, democratic, or developmental arena of a country or region is complete without a discussion of its media system. The ideal relationship is a symbiotic one, where political systems provide freedom of expression and access to information while the resulting healthy environment and participatory civic society help fuel democracy and development. Media systems are complex enough when addressing one country, and certainly a major challenge when addressing the "Middle East" in the larger sense of including non-Arab countries. Although the traditional press is no longer as important, it is believed that electronic media systems have been the active agents of change during the last twenty years, principally because the main factors involved are satellite television and new media, particularly the internet.