Review: The Arab Press

For the basic themes of this book, read this, then subtract two decades.

That said, “The Arab Press” is the original study of press in the Arab world. Rugh notes in this book, which looks across sixteen Arab countries, that the press in the Arab world reflects and takes the shape of the country it’s in.

There is an intimate, organic relationship between the media institutions and society in the way those institutions are organized and controlled. Neither the institution nore the society in which it functions can be understood properly without reference to the other.

This is certainly true in the Arab world. The news media there, in fact, are particularly interesting in this regard because of the roles they have played during the third quarter of the twentieth century as most of the Arab countries gained their full independence and developed their own national institutions (Rugh xxvi).

The main thesis of Rugh’s book is that arab news organizations take the shape of, and reflect the country their in. It’s hard to generalize about Arab press because there are some countries with significantly freer press than others.

The Four Models of Journalism make an interesting appearance in this book however (though they’re slightly altered). Rugh asserts that, in the arab press, there are four basic press models:

(1) Authoritarian-

“the media support and advance the policies of the government, which controls the media either directly or indirectly through licensing, legal action, or perhaps financial means. The regime allows the media some discussion of society and the machinery of government, but not of the people in power” (Rugh 25).

This system arises from the assumption that truth arises not from the masses, but from the elite few. This press model is perhaps similar to public relations model in the United States, though in the U.S. few people would consider this legitimate journalism.

(2) Libertarian- holds that

“the media must be completely free of government controls and provide the consumer with sufficient objective information and variety of opinion so that the consumer can make up his or her own mind. The libertarian media are both an outside check on government—the watchdog function—and a vehicle for what Milton called a “free and open encounter” of ideas which should help reasoning people distinguish truth from error” (Rugh 26).

This press model is perhaps most similar to the American model of the press. Multiple, competing viewpoints. Objective, independently verified facts as a foundation.

(3) Social Responsibility- formed in response to the libertarian model, Rugh said this model has had a harder time taking hold in the Arab world in it’s pure form for both cultural and economic reasons. There are segments of society that didn’t have either the funds or the reputation to create their own press in the 20th century that was strictly their viewpoint. They had a better chance of being heard in the libertarian model.

This is the party press. The press with a bias, presented openly and delivered unapologetically. The press has a social responsibility to back a certain viewpoint (Rugh 26). This model corresponds with the European model of the press.

(4) Totalitarian- this is press model that perhaps isn’t even worth consideration in American, but overseas, it is.

“Under the totalitarian system, all information media are centrally controlled by the government, whether they are in private or public hands, and unapproved foreign or other competing media may not be distributed at all in the country. Unlike the negative controls of an authoritarian media system, which merely restricts anti-regime content in available media, totalitarian controls are intended to force the media into a positive, active role of agitation and propaganda within an overall scheme to mobilize the population. Most importantly, while the authoritarian system generally is concerned only about mass media and outward obedience and allows free speech in private, in the totalitarian system, the rulers attempt to control all aspects of a person’s life, demanding an individual’s positive, active commitment in public and private to their goals” (Rugh 27).

This is the PR Model on steroids. This is the Stalinist USSR. This is 1984. Thankfully, this has few homes in the world today, but in previous imperialist days, the Arab media saw this press model in their homes.