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The empire strikes back - Is the newly-found media freedom already heading to an end?

The satellite broadcasters Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have been known for a long time as trailblazers of a cultural revolution in the Arab world. They were the first to offer programming that wasn't controlled by the national censors.
Over the years more and more media laws have been passed in the Arab world creating a kind of retroactive regulation. It was just this past year that Arabic information ministers expanded their control over the Arabic media and satellite broadcasters. There is currently movement in two directions: on one hand, the control over the media has increased, and on the other hand, the content that should be regulated is being accessed on the Internet.

In the areas of politics and society, the Internet continues to develop new forms of information and communication opportunities - all with unforeseen consequences. The virtual world will soon be nearly as important as the real world. The entire Internet, especially the portals and communities like Wikipedia and Facebook will continue to grow as well as being used and changed by the government for their own purposes. The complexity of the Internet has lead to tools like blogging being used not only by the opposition, but also by the government for its own purposes.

Who is going to determine the content and technical standards of the worldwide web in the future? Will the freedom of the Internet be undermined by the massive influx of money, technology and people? Can the user trust the credibility and autonomy of online platforms? 

Hosted by Deutsche Welle

Panelists:

Nakhle El Hage, Director of News & Current Affairs, Al Arabiya News Channel

Hussein Amin, Professor at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, American University

 Philip Rizk, Freelance journalist Daily News Egypt, AlJazeera.net

Samar Fatouh

Friday, 5 June 2009, 11:30 a.m., Room FG