1. Building Regional Strategies for Media Development in the Middle East and North Africa
- Author:
- Fatima el-Issawi and Nicholas Benequista
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- National Endowment for Democracy
- Abstract:
- Experts from 13 countries in the Middle East and North Africa agreed on the priorities that could provide the basis for greater collective action to defend independent media in the region. This report provides a summary of those deliberations. Prominent journalists and publishers, digital news entrepreneurs, civil society leaders, and scholars described a crisis in the media sector with complex driving forces at the global, regional, and national levels. To confront this crisis, they concluded, would require stronger bonds among all the defenders of free expression and independent media across the region. The experts identified ways that they could increase collaboration, especially in countries that allow media and civil society to operate with some degree of freedom. They also stressed the importance of solidarity to protect journalists in countries where authoritarian regimes are active in the suppression of independent journalism through intimidation, harassment, and violence.
- Topic:
- Authoritarianism, Media, Journalism, Repression, The Press, and Freedom of Press
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, and North Africa