Social media changes UAE landscape

The last few paragraphs of my column in Gulf News today on the latest press freedom rankings which saw the UAE decline because of Internet filtering and other factors:

One overriding message from the Arab Spring is that technology has provided a powerful tool for the free flow of information. Old approaches towards regulation and control are still effective, but Facebook, Twitter and YouTube increasingly allow for messages to circumvent restrictions.

Indeed, some of the conversations once reserved for the blocked Al Hewar website are now taking place in plain view amid the UAE’s vibrant Twitter community.

Aided by new technology, the trend towards more communication and less ability to control appears to be inevitable. But, how governments choose to respond to this new reality is still up for debate.

Perhaps next year’s press freedom rankings will help us answer the question.

This column meshes nicely with my other published pieces on press freedom and freedom of expression in the UAE. Click on the links to read “Civl courts should handle defamation” and “UAE journalists need more legal protections.”

Research compares English and Arabic press in Abu Dhabi

Here are my slides from my presentation in Beirut today at the Arab-U.S. Association of Communication Educators. My co-author, Saba ElGhul-Bebawi, and I examined a month’s coverage from Al Ittihad and The National in Abu Dhabi. Here’s the abstract:

This study explores differences in journalistic practice between two newspapers in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The authors compare one month of coverage of The National, an English-language newspaper, and Al Ittihad, an Arabic-language newspaper, to examine how each critically reports the news. This research aims to understand how both newspapers construct news for the audiences they serve and, in turn, understand the extent to which each newspaper affects the formation of media literacy within the United Arab Emirates. Using Kovach and Rosenthiel’s Principles of Journalism as a theoretical foundation, this study uses textual analysis to examine the presentation of photos, placement of articles, and the construction and omission of news. The conclusions provide insight into the differences in journalism practices between the two newspapers.

Several members of the audience, including NPR’s Andy Carvin, live-tweeted the presentation. See a storify version of their comments here.

You can download the presentation here.

(Nearly) All the news that’s fit to print

The National’s coverage of the activists on trial in Abu Dhabi has been reasonably good given the lack of complete press freedom enjoyed in this country. Yesterday’s article contained robust coverage of Sunday’s court appearance. The article included defense criticisms that the accused weren’t given access to prosecution documents and were being held in solitary confinement. However, the article which appeared in print and now appears on the website, differs slightly from the original report.

The third paragraph from the original report (which I copied after it appeared online) is missing:

Some (of the accused) have have been harassed by other prisoners, gotten lice and suffered foot injuries from being kept in chains, according to the lawyers, Abdul Hameed Al Kumaiti and Mohammed Al Rukun.

I have no idea who made the decision to delete this paragraph, but the details certainly seem relevant. Perhaps the editors at the paper don’t want to repeat unproven allegations about mistreatment. But, the lawyers made these allegations in open court at a public hearing, so it seems well within in the boundaries of good journalism to report them.