Media and Arab labour pain

Many media professionals, reform activists and revolutionaries fear the Arab media would be the victim of the “The Arab Spring.” Behind this fear are a number of reasons: 1)The exposure of press, media organisations and journalists to the widest process of "physical" targeting which killed many of them and led to partial or full destruction of many institutions. 2)Post revolutionary regimes (especially the Islamic ones), pressure and containing operations (rough and smooth) and attempts to silence many journalists and media organisations. 3)Decline of the countries which were not “hit” by the wave of protests and reforms by introducing amendments to their legislations to regulate media that impose further restrictions on the freedom of journalism and the independence of the media Syria was the country where many journalists (men and women) lost their lives, were killed, kidnapped, extorted and threatened by the opposing regime. The country witnessed an organised system in targeting journalists by using explosive devices and car bombs. Artists and singers were also subjected to physical assaults such as choking, breaking hands and severe beating which lead to disabilities. In Egypt, the new Egyptian President is reproducing the biography of his ousted predecessor. Predominant operations on media is going into full swing, and instead of basing the foundations for the independence of the media institutions of the state, the “marines of former [Hosni] Mubarak media” are replaced with the “rapid intervention brigades of the Brotherhood.” A television station was shut down and a chief editor of a newspaper was arrested,  but with always the excuse that they exceed their boundaries. In Tunisia, Ennahda is following the steps of the Brotherhood of Egypt, and taking the road of domination and acquisition in a way that the President of the country and the ally of the “renaissance” in the squares of the revolutions and its fields did not have patience about their domination plans. The Tunisian media is in turn exposed to systematic subjecting operations which reproduces the experience of the Tunisian agency of media and communication. In Jordan, away from the “Arab Spring” and close to it, the government is advancing in drafting a project to tame the electronic media not to “organise it”... and imposes big sanctions on the owners of the sites and their employees. They take advantage of the declining climates and the retention of the popular movement and the collision of the “Arab Spring” with the walls of the Libyan chaos and the Syrian civil war.  It’s not a “rosy” picture anyway, and doesn’t belong to any colour of the "Spring" (at least until now) justifying the pessimism and concerns, however we see that the level of boldness and courage of journalists, media professionals and their allies within activists, movements, revolutions and uprisings increased more than ever in this region. Journalism is able to defend itself  by support from huge armies of “citizen journalists” who are actively engaged, millions of whom work on the internet, social networks and private media. The Arab region is living the pain of the transition from long “years of stagnation and tyranny”. The media is not an “isolated island” nor is it distant from its communities, countries and governments. Certainly it is going through a harder and more bitter labour but the worst days are behind us now, gone and won’t come back after our people have “divorced” the culture of fear and subservience. They must conclude that media is higher than the rulers, and no tyrant can enter a battle with the media without losing, so let’s wait and see. -- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.