A New Political Sunna of Conformity, Arab Free Press Endangered……….
“Beirut, Lebanon, will host the 4th Arab Free Press Forum in the first of a series of exceptional events planned for the city this coming June. Organized by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), this year's edition of the Arab Free Press Forum will be held in the build up to the 63rd World Newspaper Congress and 17th World Editors Forum. As leaders throughout the Middle East and North Africa have been securing their hold on power or making sure it remains "in the family", the independent press continues its work, despite repressive government policies and economic hardships. Yet what are the prospects for the Arab independent press to fully play its role as a counterweight to power and an opponent of governmental abuse? Can it investigate, challenge and provoke within the current political environment? Can it report critically and hold those in power to account if faced with immense political, judicial and financial pressures?....……”
The oligarchs, especially in the Persian-American Gulf, are already extending their control of the media. They are buying, starting, and consolidating their hold. Saudi Arabia’s main satellite television news station Alarabiya is basically an official mouthpiece. They also own outlets in other countries. The two most circulating dailies Asharq Alawsat and Alhayat are owned by two royal princes. The list goes on across the region. From news outlets to entertainment outlets. Interesting, all this eagerness to own every entertainment channel they can get, from potentates who are not entertaining at all.
The petro-money is being spent to establish and enforce a new Arab orthodoxy, I’ll call it a political Sunna (orthodoxy) requiring a degree of conformity unprecedented in the modern Arab world. The ultimate goal: establish the monarchies and hereditary republics as the unquestionable legal, temporal, and theological authority over the Arab peoples.
With eager Western blessings, of course.
Cheers
mhg
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