18 January 2006

An important aspect of the Arab mass media - especially satellite television - that has not been sufficiently assessed, is the power to deliberately mobilize masses in order to achieve political objectives. The best example of this of late has been Lebanon's Future Television and its role in fostering mass street action and political change in the country.

Future Television (FTV), run by the Hariri family and reflecting its political interests, has helped shape political developments in Lebanon in the 11 months since the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and a few dozen others - public figures and innocent bystanders, all killed in bomb explosions in recent months. Its broadcasts have included non-stop political reports, analyses, debates and opinions. These have been wrapped in a powerful, emotional package of graphics, content and continuity that, particularly in the period after Hariri's murder, deliberately sought to bring people out into the streets to engage in political action.

The station succeeded, probably beyond its own expectations, in helping compel the Syrian Army to withdraw from Lebanon last April, to arrest and indict top Lebanese security officers, to elect to Parliament a majority, and to create a climate where the United Nations initiated an international investigation into the Hariri murder. FTV's senior management has now analyzed its own role in the massive, sustained popular political mobilizations that changed Lebanon last winter and spring. Their important conclusions clarify two political phenomena that we should expect to see in the Arab world in the months and years ahead: the continued development of mass media, and the fact that angry citizens will increasingly channel their sentiments through this media.

I learned more about this when I spoke recently with the chief executive officer of FTV, Tarek Aintrazy, during a media-related conference in Dubai, where he made a presentation on the station's broadcasting in 2005. His views are significant for what they tell us about the media's performance and impact in a moment of political emotionalism and change, but also for their implications for media in other Arab countries.

Aintrazy believes that the activist, engaged media, especially FTV and Beirut's An-Nahar newspaper, were key reasons why mass mobilizations succeeded in changing the Lebanese security regime, a transformation that he equates with the toppling of the Soviet Union 15 years ago.

Television played a key role for four main reasons, he notes. It is the only truly mass medium that has almost 100 percent penetration of households. Its impact is not hurt by the relatively high illiteracy rate in parts of the Arab world. It converges well with the tendency of many Arabs to be politically subdued and laid-back, preferring to receive information without making efforts to seek it out. And, television has an unmatched ability to communicate human emotions, if it is used to do so.

Aintrazy says, "Al-Jazeera and other satellite stations opened a platform for ordinary Arab people to talk and debate, but they did not call the people to action or try to mobilize citizens. Future Television and An-Nahar, mainly, deliberately called on people to act after the Hariri murder, and did so repeatedly, openly, all day long. It worked."

A more thematic analysis of FTV's impact during the months after Hariri's February 14 murder shows that its programming and tone passed through several successive intriguing stages. At first the broadcasts "nationalized grief," highlighting the trauma impacting the entire country, showing the crime as being directed against all Lebanese, not just a family or party. Then it "personalized the loss," making every viewer share the impact of the act and the loss. After that it built up a dynamic between "the personal and the political," promoting individuals to translate their personal grief into political action. And finally it "mobilized the masses to march," resulting in a million or more people in the streets on March 14.

Such deliberate politicization of the media, however, comes at a cost, and Aintrazy lists four specific ones that FTV experienced. The station lost its objectivity, though because of a deliberate decision it made to fight the prevailing security regime. The station suffered a "wear-out effect," as viewers tired of coverage after a time and sought to return to their normal lives. The commercial consequences included tens of millions of dollars of lost advertising, because advertisers generally do not want to be associated with political views and causes. The station also suffered more intolerance from the security forces, which, Aintrazy says, included media-targeted direct threats, smear campaigns, assassinations of other journalists, and failed assassination attempts, leaving a residue of fear in the company.

This particular media experience in Lebanon was isolated, a development specific to events in 2005. Yet it will prompt others throughout the region - politicized citizens and security regimes alike - to absorb its lessons and react accordingly. I expect other Arab media companies to embark on this same path, moving from expressing political sentiments to mobilizing for political change, because people deprived of a right to engage in political life will find the vehicles allowing them to do so in media - but also, and more ominously, in religion, tribalism, perhaps terrorism, or worse.

Rami G. Khouri writes a regular commentary for THE DAILY STAR.