Ayoon Wa Azan (The Press Is ‘Business’)

As I participated in the various programs of the 11th Arab Journalism Award in Dubai, moving between the sessions that preceded the awards ceremony – and choosing sessions that I felt would benefit me in my work-, I noticed a special focus on the new media. Perhaps this was in reflection of the young age of the Secretariat’s staff. Since I belong to the generation of the traditional media, my verdict must be objective. I say that the future belongs to the new media, which relies on modern technology and the internet, reaching viewers and readers in every corner of our world. My other verdict is that the print press is suffering, and its crisis will not end unless it embraces the new media, and offers the readers the best of both worlds. To be sure, radio, television and internet websites are much quicker in delivering important news to the readers, but commentary, analysis and background information all require ink and paper. The above does not mean that the youths have gotten it all right and that others have gotten it all wrong. For instance, I entered into a heated discussion with young men and women who believed that journalism carried with it a ‘noble message’, and that journalists must ‘make sacrifices’ on account of the ethics of this profession. A view as such reflects the idealism of youth, but not reality. In the end, the press is a ‘business’ just like any other, and one based on profits and losses – not idealism. I embarked on a career in journalism because I could not study medicine or engineering. However, many of my colleagues went into journalism because they were partisans, and they all wanted to promote their respective ideologies and beliefs, and partisan obligations. What happened was that, thanks to those, we went from bad to worse, until we reached the abyss we find ourselves in today, because all parties, from the extreme fascist right to the extreme socialist or Trotskyist left, have failed miserably. I argue that dealing with the media as a business is sounder than dealing with it as being a noble message. Having established that, the successful journalist needs knowledge, ethics and credibility to gain the reader’s confidence, just like a major corporation needs to produce a car of a quality that corresponds to its price, in order to find buyers. The time of the slogan ‘Every citizen is a sentry’ in Lebanon has long since been gone – in the sense that every citizen must be vigilant like a policeman to safeguard his country. Today, ‘Every citizen is a journalist’ applies more. While I do not object to this, it is a fact that not every citizen has studied journalism, or is a professional journalist. For this reason, many websites publish unreliable information, rather than true professional reporting as we know it. This situation will no doubt change. Indeed, survival is for the fittest, yet I hope that such change will not come about by stifling the new media - just the like traditional media was stifled before. Rather, the new media must become subject to fair laws that protect the participants in this business, which can be ultimately summed up by two words: information and opinion. Information must be accurate so that a correct opinion can be built upon it, an opinion which is otherwise sacred, as long as it does not infringe upon the freedoms of others. In other words, the freedom of expression of the writer ends where the freedom of any person he writes about begins. I have attended the Arab Journalism Award in Dubai since its first year, and in every subsequent year, up to the current 11th year. I have always found colleagues and friends there, gathered under one roof, and whom if I wanted to meet elsewhere, I would have had to visit a few dozen capitals and cities. I was also pleased that the Award honored our dear colleague Dr. Badria Al Beshr, who received the award for best column, and our friend Rafiq Khoury for his role in the evolvement of the Arab media. The private sessions on the sidelines of the public ones are sometimes as interesting as hearing an expert speaker talking about his subject of expertise. Further, there are 12 categories for the Award, and no doubt, each winner must be an authority in his or her respective topic of choice. I was pleased to see that young people were the dominant element in the audience, as well as in the Secretariat of the Award. I also noticed that women were significantly represented, and perhaps even more so than men […].