The dubious role of politically motivated media

It is a pity that the media has become just a tool in the hands of some Arab regimes to push through their dubious agenda which final goal is to harm the Arab world at all levels.

The subtle art of suggestion

We have been witnessing this malaise for decades, particularly at the time of the so-called Arab Spring, when the “crisis with the media” intensified. The ills with the media still persist — lack of ethics, spreading of lies, hatred and crises across the Arab world. In fact, the media has often turned into a major enemy of the Arab world as it has been used to brainwash people and persuade them to inadvertently carry out the agenda of certain countries, some of whom are easy to identify while others are not.

Using duplicitous technicalities, falsification of facts, misleading ideas, fake witnesses and playing on the emotions of viewers to cause instability in some countries and incite hatred among people of the region will not continue for long as these schemes have now been exposed.

Anyone who objectively analyzes the content published or broadcast can infer that some media channels play a role more pernicious than that of terrorist groups and more devastating than that of some countries when they want to target another country. This role is being presented in a way which might deceive some but it is quickly exposed when one observes it with impartial eyes. They begin the message under the misleading impression of promoting patriotism or certain key sentiments, then they propagate their lies and deceit to execute their hidden agenda.

Warnings ignored

For many decades, the balanced and rational Arab media has been warning of the mysterious or suspicious agendas of some Arab media outlets. Some people thought that such claims were quite far-fetched and exaggerated, but we have witnessed the proof of these dire predictions, especially during the so-called Arab Spring where media channels funded by some countries were used to play a specific role — i.e. to exploit fame these channels achieved in recent years to incite people to resort to chaos and destroy their own countries and to stir up parties against each other.

All of us have witnessed the outcome of these schemes, in which the media played its dubious roles to serve projects that aimed at destroying the region. Every day we witness the machinations of such media outlets, which lack ethics and jump from one scheme to another.

Some media channels clearly become convenient tools for regimes and certain agencies to implement agendas. All this money is paid for wicked projects that target the Arab world, not for freedom of the press, but for professionalism.

It is only logical to boycott this kind of media, as it should not be classified as “media” only because it has a media infrastructure. We have to talk about the reality of its role, not what it pretends to be. No one would argue that this should be considered a crime; as lack of ethics is the characteristic of those and probably their only product in the Arab world.

This article was first published in Arabic.

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Muna Busamra is the editor-in-chief of Dubai-based Al-Bayan newspaper. She tweets under: @MunaBusamra