Blogs as News Media in the Arab World

Blogs as News Media in the Arab World

Kamilla Khabibrakhmanova

Arab Media

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

For many people, the internet has become an essential aspect of daily life. Its capabilities for transmitting information are virtually endless, as new technologies emerge almost daily. In an area such as the Middle East, where other forms of media frequently suffer from strong government censorship, the internet can provide a forum for disseminating information that would otherwise have remained hidden. While internet newspaper sites are a good way of publishing news, they are relatively easy for governments to track down and censor. Political blogs are a viable alternative, as they are informal enough to escape persecution from higher authorities, but still have enough credibility to be used as sources by opposition newspapers.

The internet, available to almost all Americans and Europeans at a non-prohibitive cost, is still a relatively new and restricted phenomenon in the Middle East. It first appeared in Tunisia in 1991, and then spread to all Arab states except Saudi Arabia in the mid-1990s. In 1999, it was made public in Saudi Arabia, and in 2000, it was allowed in Iraq.[1] Despite its late appearance, it is showing exponential growth throughout the region. Although only around 10 percent of the Arab World currently has internet access, this represents a fivefold increase since 2000.[2] Meanwhile, 69% of North Americans and 52% of Europeans are Internet users.[3] The relative unpopularity of internet in the Middle East is mainly due to the limited financial resources of many Arab countries-their governments are still trying to fight poverty and illiteracy, and thus computer skills and internet access remain at the bottom of a long list of priorities. In Egypt, free internet access is available, but most of the population is unable to take advantage of this because of the high cost of a home computer.[4] Knowledge of English and the Latin alphabet is almost a prerequisite to internet use, providing another educational barrier for most of the Arab population. In the West, free-of-charge online newspapers are popular because of their low cost, but in the Arab World, printed media remains cheaper than online time.[5]

Another unique feature of the internet in the Arab World is the government censorship that frequently accompanies it. Although the population of some countries, such as Egypt, is able to take advantage of mostly unhindered web access, others are not so lucky. Saudi Arabia and Tunisia have granted a monopoly to a state-run company in order to control internet access. Other governments have installed Electronic Filtering Programs to control access to certain websites.[6] The more popular, older method is to simply arrest and detain “dangerous” individuals responsible for controversial material made available online. They then face charges such as defamation, harming the state’s morality, incitement to violence, or challenging public morality.[7]

The blog is a new phenomenon of the internet community that has become immensely popular in the past few years. In 1999, there were under fifty blogs, but by the end of 2000 (only one year later), there were thousands.[8] Now, it would be impossible to count the number available online, probably somewhere in the tens or even hundreds of millions. Any individual with internet access can log on to a blog provider and create a free personal blog within minutes. In the West, many famous personalities, especially journalists, have blogs that they update with personal stories and articles reflecting personal beliefs. They provide an alternative environment for high-profile individuals to express their opinions.

In the Arab World, blogging is not nearly as widespread. This is mainly due to the later arrival of the internet, greater censorship, and decreased web accessibility in this region of the world. When the internet first arrived, online discussion forums were the rave amongst Arab youth. There, they were free to discuss topics that could not be discussed outside, such as gender relations, sexuality, politics, etc. However, by 2005, Arabs had become frustrated by the uncivilized tone that prevailed in these forums and began to switch to blogging as an alternative.[9] Salam Pax is most often seen as the “father” of blogging in the Middle East.[10] His blog started out in 2002 as a personal diary to keep friends updated on his life in Baghdad, Iraq. Gradually, it focused more on social and political commentary and eventually it came to consist of reportage that threatened the existing regime.[11] His writings later turned into a book and a movie, and prompted many other Iraqis to begin blogging about their lives under the new regime.[12]

Blogging in the Middle East began, and mostly remains, dominated by English discourse. Most Arab bloggers had no choice initially but to use English, since Arabic blog engines and tools where not yet available. The famous blog site blogger.com does not by default support Arabic, and they do not even list the Palestinian Territories in their list of countries when registering for a new blog.[13] French is the second most popular language, favored by bloggers living in North Africa and Lebanon.[14] More and more blogs are appearing in Arabic and popular blog sites are beginning to provide services in Arabic script in order to cater to the increased activity in the Middle East. However, it seems that English will remain the dominant blog language of the Arab World for a while to come. Many bloggers are hoping to gain an international audience by writing in English. It is also easier to evade censorship in English, since most governmental censors concentrate on content in Arabic.[15]

The small size of the blogging community in the Arab World leads to more lively and interactive discussion. It “forces people with contrary opinions, or even mildly divergent viewpoints, to engage each other”.[16] People who otherwise would not have the chance to meet and discuss important issues can now do so through their blogs. For example, Palestinians and Israelis can finally see the arguments of the opposing side and engage their opponents in a debate, something that is unlikely to happen on the streets. The Arab blogging community has so far been mostly limited to young Arabs, who bring opinions that are more liberal to the forefront. They are also much more likely to mix politics with personal issues in their blog posts, something rarely seen in the West.[17] There, blogs are either personal or issue-oriented, but not both. Another unique phenomenon of Arab blogging is the prevalence of religious-oriented sites and blogs.[18] Islamic groups have taken full advantage of what the internet has to offer to spread their message. For example, the website of the Muslim Brotherhood features a whole section related to blogging news.[19] Hofheinz makes the claim that Islamic groups have “clearly been more successful in their Internet designs than their liberal or secular counterparts”.[20] The internet helps with the pan-Arab message of many Islamist groups, since it allows for communication between separate states and regions. It also provides an environment that makes it hard to censor and crack down on activity, since websites that are taken down can easily be re-started.

The unique aspects of blogging provide it with many advantages when compared to printed press or even other forms of online media. One important feature is the lack of censorship, which is prevalent in the printed press of most Arab countries. Even though bloggers can be tracked down using IP addresses, they have a much easier time evading authorities than do journalists working for a newspaper.[21] Even in countries with internet censorship, new blogs can be easily started up after an old one has been closed. With rapidly advancing technologies, tech-savvy individuals can evade the government by keeping up with the new technological breakthroughs occurring almost daily.

Blogging also provides information from places that journalists are unable to reach. Previously, those seeking information on zones of conflict in the Middle East were mostly limited to satellite channels, since no one else had access to dangerous zones. This could often create a very one-sided presentation of the emerging events. Now, however, blogs provide an alternative for those looking for coverage of conflict areas. As such blog coverage increased, “the blogosphere became not just a space for debate but also for information and alternative views and accounts from the ground”.[22] Blogs from conflict regions automatically attract much more interest than those from other regions, and individuals who start blogs there have a lot of influence about how events are perceived around the world. As the individuals in zones of conflict realize this, more and more turn to blogging, and with each new conflict, the increased blogging activity leads to better coverage and livelier debates.

Blog posts are frequently of better quality than professional media. Since there are so many blogs available out there, competition to attract more readers can be intense. Those that become popular have to have something that others do not, and frequently what makes them stand apart is the quality of the reporting. While journalists feel pressured and rushed by deadlines, bloggers post when they are inspired to, and make sure that whatever goes online is up to their high standards. Haugbolle, when talking about the blogs that appeared during the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict, says that “compared to news coverage and editorials, blog postings were longer, more detailed, often more spontaneous and slanderous, and very often a lot more entertaining”.[23] Uninhibited by censors and a newspapers reputation, bloggers are free to post whatever is on their mind. They are their own editors, and those who hope to gain readership make sure that the material they post is of the best quality. As in Wikipedia, the quality of blogs is ensured by peer editing. If anything false or controversial is posted as fact in a blog entry, readers will immediately spark a debate about the validity of the presented information. Any blogger that has amassed a wide readership has to make each entry is immaculate before clicking the “post” link. Thus, while many disregard bloggers as “un-professional”, those that make it to the top of the blogging world may actually be better than the real professionals.

Blogs provide a link between groups that would otherwise find it hard to communicate and exchange views. One example is the exchange that occurs between Arabs living in the West and those in their home Arab countries. This creates a “new realm for Arab transnationalism”[24], tying together not only the Arab countries, but also Arabs living outside of the physical “Arab world”. Although internet use, and thus blogging, has been mostly limited to the Arab elite, it is beginning to help bridge the gap between them and the grassroots. Several bloggers have already begun online campaigns, posting information about police brutality or sexual harassment.[25] Eventually, this will lead to dialogue and coordination between the elite and the grassroots, allowing for effective and united political campaigns. The West has also begun to use Arab blogs to bridge ties between them and the Arab World. “Spirit of America”, a non-profit US-based organization committed to the spread of democracy in the Middle East and Iraq, has recently jumped on the blogging bandwagon. One of its new projects provides Arabs wishing to blog in Arabic with free web space and tools for maintaining their blogs. Their website claims that blogging “gives voices to those working for freedom and democracy in the Arab world.”[26] Thus blogs in the Arab world can serve as an excellent tool for bridging the gap between different geographic regions and social classes.

The phenomenon of blogging does not come without its downfalls, however. The lack of editors and censors allows anything to be posted. Blogs from regions with little other coverage, such as conflict zones, are usually taken for face value since there is little that can be used to verify the presented information. [27] These also happen to be the most important and popular political Arab blogs. Because of the sheer number of available blogs, individuals usually turn to those that support their strongest convictions. Thus, many times blogging communities are created from groups with strong leanings towards one side of an issue, and no substantial debate or dialogue occurs. The relatively small number of blogs in the Arab world has ensured a good amount of interaction between those of opposing views, but it remains to be seen if this will remain the case as the number of available blogs increases.

The effectiveness of blogging in the political sphere can best be demonstrated through blogging activity during several key events in the Arab World. In the West, bloggers realized a few years ago how effective blogging is during election season and Arabs are catching on to this. During the 2006 elections of Kuwait, blogging suddenly became a very important political tool. Young Kuwaiti citizens turned to online blogs to express otherwise suppressed views. One young Saudi blogger notes on his visit to Kuwait: “I was also impressed by the way they used blogs to express their views, organize their movement, rally for change and reform, and protest against corruption.”[28] During the elections, blogs were so prominent that the most exceptional posts would be featured in daily papers. The Orange Movement began a blog originating in the United States, maintained by overseas Kuwaiti students and one of the Orange organizers.[29] One of their most notable posts was by a woman who told about how two men had attempted to buy her vote with a Chanel handbag. She did not mention the candidate’s name, but it soon became public knowledge that she had been writing of Jamal al-‘Umar.[30] The blogging that emerged during election season in Kuwait provided the public with knowledge about candidates that would never have otherwise been made openly available due to censorship of the printed media.

Another important milestone for Arab blogging was the recent war waged by Israel against Hezbollah. Blogging in the region suddenly began to flourish, as individuals experiencing the conflict realized their potential to tell the world their side of the story. Blogs first gained popularity in the region after the murder of Rafiq Al Hariri in February 2005 and the mass demonstrations that followed. This gave birth to the Lebanese blogging environment.[31] When the Israel-Hezbollah conflict began the next year, bloggers suddenly became more active. They began to use their blogs as a real alternative source of information to traditional media. They would “bring together anything from home pages, political speeches, a conversation they had with their cousin who happened to be a Hezbollah supporter, and any other interesting opinion or piece of information that they had come across, into the discussion of the ongoing political events.”[32] Conversations on posts and articles became much more widespread. Personal and artistic blogs suddenly became more political as the war went on. People would e-mail and text message each other the web addresses of interesting blogs they had come across. They were regarded my many as more reliable than Western-biased popular media.[33] On the grassroots level, blogs became more important sources of information than printed media or the news on TV.

The increased blogging activity also encouraged dialogue with those living outside of Lebanon. Lebanese youth living in America and other parts of the West felt a need to get involved in Arab blogging when they realized that Western reporting of the conflict was “vague and biased”.[34] First, they used the “Lebanese blogosphere” to seek out more accurate and unbiased information, and gradually they became more involved through discussion and debate, and even wrote their own blog posts about their experiences with the war while living outside of Lebanon.

The popularity of blogging as an alternative to traditional media has not escaped the government’s notice. Although they are very difficult to track, many bloggers have faced persecution by their home governments. In 2003, Iran became the first country to jail a blogger, journalist Sina Mitlabi, for “endangering the security of the state.[35] Last year, several bloggers were jailed in Egypt for charges such as “spreading information disruptive of public order”, “incitement to hate Muslims”, and “defaming the President of the Republic”.[36] One blogger spent three consecutive 15-day detentions in prison, while another spent 45 days in detention for taking pictures of a sit-in protest.[37] Other countries do not arrest bloggers, but aggressively block those that they find endangering. In Saudi Arabia, the government blocked a popular blog, saudijeans.org, which resulted in a 27-day blogging strike. Eventually, the authorities conceded and removed the block.[38] Bloggers frequently remain anonymous to evade capture by authorities, although some loudly proclaim their identity instead. When their blogs are sufficiently well known throughout the world, authorities are much less likely to persecute them, fearing a worldwide outcry.

Blogging is a new phenomenon in the Arab World, yet in the West traditional blogs are already beginning to be viewed as outdated. New forms of interactive media, like “vlogs” (video logs) and podcasts with better, faster forms of interactivity keep emerging. Will this be the future of Arab blogs as well? Video blog posts are already catching on in some Arab blogs. Since blogging is a phenomenon predominantly of the elite, they are the ones that would be able to keep abreast of latest technologies, considering their financial capabilities. If so, the presence of blogging in Arab media can only grow stronger in the future years.

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[1] Arabic Network for Human Rights Oppression, “The Internet in the Arab World”

[2] Gal Beckerman, “The New Arab Conversation” Columbia Journalism Review. January/Febryary 2007.

[3] http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm.

[4] Michael A Gordon, “How Dot.Com is Cairo?” Middle East. December 2001, Issue 318.

[5] Hofheinz, 84

[6] Arabic Network for Human Rights Oppression, “The Internet in the Arab World”

[7] Arabic Network for Human Rights Oppression, “The Internet in the Arab World”

[8] Daniel W. Drezner and Henry Farrell, “The Power and Politics of Blogs”. August 2004.

[9] Hofheinz 93

[10] His blog can be accessed at http://dear_raed.blogspot.com

[11] “Salam’s Story” The Guardian. May 30, 2003

[12] Tynes

[13] Haitham, “Blogging in the Arab World”. Sabbah’s Blog.

[14] Tynes

[15] Tynes

[16] Gal Beckerman, “The New Arab Conversation” Columbia Journalism Review. January/Febryary 2007.

[17] Haitham, “Blogging in the Arab World”. Sabbah’s Blog.

[18] This may, however, also be seen as simply a continuation of the Islamist revival trend growing throughout the Arab World, and not a phenomenon unique to the online world.

[19] http://www.ikhwanweb.com/SectionsPage.asp?SectionID=143

[20] Hofheinz 85

[21] Gal Beckerman, “The New Arab Conversation” Columbia Journalism Review. January/Febryary 2007.

[22] Haugbolle

[23] Sune Haugbolle, “From A-lists to webtifadas: Developments in the Lebanese blogosphere 2005-2006” Arab Media & Society.

[24] Sune Haugbolle, “From A-lists to webtifadas: Developments in the Lebanese blogosphere 2005-2006” Arab Media & Society.

[25] Gal Beckerman, “The New Arab Conversation” Columbia Journalism Review. January/Febryary 2007.

[26] http://www.spiritofamerica.net/cgi-bin/soa/project.pl?rm=view_project&request_id=78

[27] With the spread of blogging throughout the world, however, it should be noted that the quality and accuracy of information presented should increase exponentially. Wikipedia, for example, started out being viewed as a not-so-credible source of information, yet now it is generally accepted as being even more reliable than encyclopedias due to constant updating and peer editing.

[28] “The Rise of Political Blogs”

[29] Mary Ann Tetreault, “Kuwait’s Annus Mirabilis”. Middle East Report Online. September 7, 2006.

[30] Mary Ann Tetreault, “Kuwait’s Annus Mirabilis”. Middle East Report Online. September 7, 2006.

[31] Sune Haugbolle, “From A-lists to webtifadas: Developments in the Lebanese blogosphere 2005-2006” Arab Media & Society.

[32] Sune Haugbolle, “From A-lists to webtifadas: Developments in the Lebanese blogosphere 2005-2006” Arab Media & Society.

[33] Sune Haugbolle, “From A-lists to webtifadas: Developments in the Lebanese blogosphere 2005-2006” Arab Media & Society.

[34] Vivian Salama, “From Long Island to Lebanon: Arabs blog in America” Arab Media & Society.

[35]Wael Abbas “Blogging in the Middle East is a Tough Choice” Deutsche Press. September 14, 2006.

[36] Gal Beckerman, “The New Arab Conversation” Columbia Journalism Review. January/Febryary 2007.

[37] Wael Abbas “Blogging in the Middle East is a Tough Choice” Deutsche Press. September 14, 2006.

[38] Wael Abbas “Blogging in the Middle East is a Tough Choice” Deutsche Press. September 14, 2006.