Flexible journalism to get past the wall
By: Abdelrahman Mansour
Tags: News, Innovation, Journalism, Fake News, Politics

For decades now, Arab governments have been building a massive wall to obstruct the establishment of independent journalistic platforms. The State’s ownership of the major print houses helped consolidate its absolute control over the publishing industry in Egypt. Even privately-owned newspapers have had to be printed at State-owned printing houses due to the high cost of establishing private printing houses and because of the difficulty in obtaining the special security permits required by the insurance and State authorities.

Despite these restrictions, some private newspapers managed to acquire the necessary permits and secured a large readership. However, another barrier remained in their way to success: advertisements. For dozens of years — and it is still the case today — private companies with close ties to the State have dominated the advertising sector in Egypt.

Private newspapers that displayed objectivity in covering current events were deprived of ads. Some newspapers were able to overcome this deprivation, up until the year 2013, which saw the State gain total control over the advertising sector, whether print or digital. The message was clear: If you want your share of ads for your paper, be friendly to the oppressive regime; otherwise, don’t cover news about the President and his government.

Shortly after the start of the Arab Spring, many independent media-related initiatives were launched with a common and constantly evolving aim: online journalism. Those initiatives were funded by donor institutions or businessmen. When those news outlets started reaching large audiences and having a tangible influence on a society with no access to objective journalistic sources covering politics and the economy, the State initiated a severe crackdown on them. Blocking Egyptian and other Arab news websites in Egypt proved to be the most successful way of curbing this new wave before it would spark more enthusiasm for political change in the hearts of people angered by daily oppression and poverty.

Three years have passed since the Egyptian government took a decision to block 21 independent news websites. When that happened, these websites shifted to social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, as their outlets. However, following the 2016 US election and the increasingly worrisome “fake news” phenomenon, Facebook and other social media platforms took a decision to change their algorithms such that video and entertainment content would become more favored and the reach of written news more limited.

In light of this complicated situation, and as part of a journey full of challenges and experimentation, I am trying to find answers and solutions to the crisis of media in the Arab world. I want to develop a model designed to get past the massive wall blocking the independent press from reaching Arab citizens. Here are my findings so far:

1. Networks, not platforms

According to an Arab proverb, the lighter your burden, the easier you can move. Establishing a new media platform requires a lot of funding, as well as building a wide network of journalists and managing a huge workflow to produce dozens, or even hundreds, of news pieces daily. All this can be lost in the blink of an eye if the government decides to block your website or storm your headquarters and shut them down.

To avoid these scenarios, I believe that building and developing a network of small journalistic initiatives is more suitable for countries going through political transition. Such initiatives would allow for a variety of news products, not all of which would be focused on political content. They would also help develop the journalistic skills of many reporters who have a lack of technical knowledge due to working for many years in huge news institutions.

In addition to that, a multitude and diversity of news outlet brands would give confidence to audiences and provide many opportunities to choose between different news products. The variety of content, such as media initiatives, comedy shows and chat bots, would help circumvent attacks by the government, which always aim to slander journalism brands by dubbing them as traitors or foreign agents.

2. Comedy. A lot of comedy.

Bassem Youssef’s show “Al-Bernameg” shook the Arab media scene. Youssef always described his show as entertainment, but its news role was never a secret. Information and videos featured on the show were usually taken from news and media platforms. The show was discontinued due to the Egyptian State forcing TV networks to cancel it. Youssef then left Egypt to avoid arrest or at the minimum a travel ban.

Later, many other political comedy shows emerged, but they were also discontinued, either because of TV networks’ fear of facing severe consequences if these shows were too critical of the regime, or as a result of lack of funding.

Comedy plays a major role in revealing the fragility of dictatorships that cannot bear criticism. Investing in comedy shows that significantly make use news content can have a great future, especially in light of the lack of objective journalism in the Arab world, and of the counter-revolutionary forces’ control over most media platforms in the region.

Source: Media Use in the Middle East from Northwestern University

3. Remaking the news

Newscasts are still engaged in monologues. Who has thirty minutes in the morning to watch a newscast that could completely change by midday!? People are disillusioned with the classic 30-minute newscast involving short, anonymous headlines that might even be fake. How do they go back to following news with more credibility? By “remaking the news”.

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Let’s make daily news easy and accessible. A few years ago, short one or two-minute videos that briefly explain a single event or issue became viral. But how many events take place in the world every day? Dozens. What if we make one-minute videos to cover world news? What if we create this minute several times a day? There’s a chance to remake short newscasts that tether users to a certain time to follow the news. Scrolling down through many videos on social media platforms lead to a lot of high-quality videos going unnoticed. Tethering the remaking of the news to specific times every day could reinvent digital news.

4. Artists and the making of followers

Celebrity news has always been very popular, especially with teenagers and young adults. People like to follow actors, singers and models, and the involvement of such social influencers in political life makes their followers much more interested. What if those celebrities use their fame to help deliver the news to their fans and a larger number of people, especially teenagers and young adults?

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Both the Arab spring and the recent US elections have seen involvement by celebrities in political events or awareness campaigns related to voting or combating corruption. We need to educate such influencers about how to take part in current events to reach wider audiences and to build more confidence in journalistic products and the news industry in general. Followers are usually loyal to those celebrities. Therefore, investing in building confidence in journalistic brands through constant contributions from influencers could have a great effect in bringing back society’s confidence in journalism.

5. Solutions journalism

The last eight years have brought about depressing news to hundreds of millions of Arab people. Disillusionment with the state of affairs and a state of frustration and despair have led many Arabs to stop following the news, particularly young people who have seen revolutions being defeated in Arab States in real time. Although many people are still interested in following the news, the news is often presented to them in a gloomy tone and entwined with words like depression, hopelessness and a dark future.

This is why it is so important to invest in “solutions journalism” that is hopeful. Such journalism should be developed by combining it with general policies people hope to see in their countries. Due to Arab governments constantly putting experts in the spotlight who say what the ruling regimes want to hear, many other analysts and experts have been left in the dark, especially in the fields of the economy, public health, housing and employment.

By producing a kind of journalism that helps citizens improve their professional lives, interact with their society and get involved in efforts to improve the general living conditions in the Arab world, journalism could regain its status in the life of Arab people. This time, it would be tied to finding a better life and being involved in building societies able to peacefully come together to create a better future.