The Official Media: Need for New Role, New Vision [Archives:1999/08/Viewpoint]

There is no doubt that the media plays an important role in our lives. The influence of the media is greater among societies that are less advanced culturally and educationally because they are not equipped to assess the information passed on to them. In this sense, the Yemeni media has a much larger influence on the public than media in advanced countries where the public is more knowledgeable. This fact adds to the responsibility of the media in Yemen.

There are newspapers that are owned and operated by the army, government, independent companies, political parties, special interest groups, etc. In other words, the written media offers a variety of views and positions. But the state enjoys full monopoly over radio and television stations.

In a society that suffers from more than 50% illiteracy, and in a culture where reading is not a powerful habit, radio and television almost totally dominate the media’s influence over the public. That in turn means that the state really has its say with the public, no matter what the independent or opposition newspapers write.

In general, the official media has two over-riding objectives.
1. It has the job of informing and educating the public.
2. It has the job of legitimizing the regime in the eyes of the public and of building support for the regime.

The Yemeni media does more of the second objective. Being too beholden to the politicians in power, the official media has failed to really focus on informing and educating the public. Most of the programs on television and the radio glorify the rulers and constantly remind the public of them and of their efforts on behalf of the nation.

That is all well and good. But a little bit more air time needs to be devoted to educating and informing the public. The country badly needs more public awareness on such issues as population growth and family planning; environmental protection; use of natural resources, especially water; civic education and concepts of human rights and political participation; respect for the constitution and law and order; etc. Those are the broad and general issues. But there are also small things that need to be passed on to the public. Even simple matters like who has the right of way in traffic flow, where and how to dispose of garbage, how to keep records of the family’s immunization efforts, the need to interact in the children’s education, etc.

It is high time that the official media developed a vision for its objectives. It is also important to develop new ways to achieve its goals, including a changing role in society.

One of the key differences between a dictatorship and a democratic system is the role of the media in general, and that of the official media, in particular. If those individuals in charge of the media feel they are more responsible towards the public than towards the politicians, and perform their job on that basis, then that is a sign of a democratic structure.

The public is waiting for a new role and a new vision for the official media.

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